027: Channeling Your Passion to Change the Word: Justin Miller of CARE for AIDS
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Summary:
At 18 years old, Justin Miller sat in a room listening to Bono talk about the AIDS crisis and knew that he had to be part of the solution. What started as an idea for a documentary has, 10 years later, grown into the incredible and impactful organization that is CARE for AIDS.
In David’s conversation with Justin, they talk about channeling passion, staying focused on your mission, how to scale your business and how to protect your time.
Welcome to episode 27 of the Executive Minds Podcast.
Links + Resources:
CARE for AIDS on Twitter
CARE for AIDS on Instagram
Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less by Greg McKeowen
Three Takeaways:
1. You don’t need to have it all figured out before you launch.
Justin was only 18 when he developed his passion for the AIDS crisis. He didn’t have the connections, time, experience or resources to launch an AIDS prevention organization, but he knew that he was meant to do something. So he did. Because sometimes you just have to take the first step.
2. Focus gets your further.
One of the keys to CARE for AIDS success has been their ability to focus on their mission: Preventing children from becoming orphans due to AIDS. It doesn’t mean that Justin or his team don’t see the many other needs in the communities they serve, but they know that staying focused—and saying yes and no to the right things—will allow them to have the most impact.
3. Even passion needs to take a back seat to personal care.
If you’re a passionate launcher, then you can absolutely relate to this. Passion is a special gift and a driving force, and one that some entrepreneurs can temporarily get swept away with. But the passion that fuels you can burn you if you stop caring for yourself in the process. For Justin, this means setting boundaries with his schedule. It means time blocking parts of his day to pour into his team. It means acknowledging that even though he is saving lives in Africa, his wife and child always come first. Passion is an incredible thing, but we need to steward it correctly to be successful with it.