What Makes You Run through the Snow in Sandals?

I just saw The Social Network and was struck by one moment in the movie that everyone in the theater loved: Mark Zuckerberg gets an idea so great that he runs outside in sandals through the snow. He hesitates for a second in the cold and then keeps going. I think it was so well received not just because it was funny but because people identified with it.

Everyone knows that moment where you say: “Oh crap, I shouldn’t have done that. Forget it, I’m doing it anyway.” Aaron Sorkin did a brilliant job of making sure every audience member identified with Zuckerberg and it happened the moment he became human; the moment they saw his passion, his risk-taking in a silly way that made them think of what would motivate them to do the same thing (unconsciously), and the story unfolded with everyone invested. Mark Zuckerberg’s level of entrepreneurial risk-taking and genius may be unattainable for most of us but we can resonate with passion so great that we do something that seems a little stupid.

I asked some of the social entrepreneurs in my social network: What makes you run through the snow in sandals? Here’s what they said:

• "The many people with autism desperately needing to be respected in society makes me run as I think I can provide hope and meaningful jobs." - Thorkil Sonne, Founder of Speciliasterne and Specialist People Foundation
  
• "The possibility of empowering and making a difference to other people." - Ashni Mohnot, Founder and CEO of Enzi

• "The prospect of a world-changing venture and everything that comes with it – the risk, the excitement, the potential… in many ways startups parallel love." - Cody Simmons, Founder and President of CO-Fund
  
• "The idea that a smart, hard-working young woman in Peru or Vietnam or somewhere else had to drop out of nursing school because she couldn't get $700.  In the grand scheme of things, it's not that much money.  It's just that, in most developing countries, no one believes students are worth a loan." - Kushal Chakrabarti. CO-Founder and CEO of Vittana
  
• "The awe of a great vision and the happiness of coming one step closer overshadow every physical restriction." - Bjorn Herrmann, Principal of Supercool School (and promoter of literally running through the snow in sandals)

• "I was ironing when I decided we were using the wrong bottle design to buy household products. Fear + excitement filled me. 4 years later, Replenish is a reality." - Jason Foster, Founder/CEO of Replenish

The journey may take years, and the idea might come to you while you're doing a mundane task but I think everyone can agree that it all starts with a step in the "right" direction, whatever that is for you. As for Zuckerberg, we may think we know what motivates him to follow his passion. But a young billionaire who drives an Acura, rents a modest house, and makes a $100M gift to a school to which he has no personal connection  is hard to predict. He is not a stereotype and neither are you.

Howard Thurman, spiritual adviser to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., phrases this blog’s title another way: “Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.” What makes you run through the snow in sandals? What makes you come alive? Go do it.