Let’s say you’re a revolutionary, ambitious and idealistic person. But you know nothing about how to plan your life or where/when to put your efforts.

If that’s the case, forget about changing the world. You will change, maybe…your own house.

Six years ago I met an organization called AIESEC. They promised me I would be part of a youth movement with a purpose of striving for peace and fulfillment of humankind’s potential.

I got hooked. Since the beginning, I dreamt of how could I make this world less unequal and enable people to have the power of choice.

I said yes to this organization and I received the first punch from it: leadership and changing reality is not an ideal state. You will not make any difference by shouting that you want to make a difference.

You must have a goal, get your hands dirty, count hours of effort in each day, month, year. Making yourself clear in terms of communication. Find the right way, but switch your direction in the middle because the last one was inefficient. Then, you discover a better way that will show itself very chaotic. And then, perhaps, you get on the right road towards what you aim for.

My role at the time was searching and providing better tools for training and communications as an AIESEC member in my local office, AIESEC in Curitiba, Brazil. Even though I was just one piece in the 40,000 piece puzzle that AIESEC is made of, I realized that “every single person gets a chance to change the world.”

And that is how I saw the complexity of creating a movement. It is needed that some people think about strategy, that some implement it, while others take care of the individuals that make the movement happen. Some others will echo the purpose to anyone refuses it. All of it with financial sustainability to exponentially grow the power and effectively change the system. And we all know that the system shall be changed.

Therefore, I continued in AIESEC for five years and seven months, taking on 14 different leadership roles and working in 16 different countries. In my city, in my country and globally. I can guarantee that several numbers grew during these years. Travels, personality tests, team experiences, leadership experiences, conferences, events, written notebooks, connections on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram.. Connections for life. Real friends. Real people.

I was just a piece of 14 different puzzles that, in sum, translated into enabling 53,500 people having a leadership experience abroad. Each one of them joining their own puzzle pieces contributing to change the world.