I glance down at my watch, 6:36 pm, still indicating the time back home. After seven hours on a plane with seven more to go my mind is starting to race. I feel like I’m the only one awake. The plane we’re on has the cabin lights dimmed and most of the passengers on board are asleep, trying to acclimate themselves to the time difference at our next destination, Dubai, where it’s 2:36 in the morning. There are a few screens I notice playing airline movies that people have passed out to, but everything is quiet. The plane engines are humming peacefully, and as I press my face to the window I can see the white light on the wingtip blinking in the starry night outside. It’s one of the most beautiful views of our world that anyone can see, a sky glittering with stars in perfect darkness at 37,000 feet above the ground.

I just attempted to join my fellow passengers in slumber, but no luck. I know the jetlag’s going to screw me tomorrow, but I can’t help it. My mind is starting to race. I’m a gen-y, internet, mobile, web addict — and seven hours of no technology is torture for people in our generation. It’s a sad fact of life, but I’m not anxious because of my inability to access my iphone or email — I’m anxious because I just realized I don’t know how to process the emotions going through my head right now.

When I travel for work, my mind is focused on the task at hand. Who I’m going to meet; what I’m going to do; what I’m going to say; simply put — the objective of my travel is very defined and the outcome, good or bad, is usually eminent and obvious.

The same can be said when I travel for pleasure. But even when traveling for pleasure our minds know what to think, how to prepare for what’s coming next, and what we’re trying to accomplish..

But I’m not traveling for work right now or for pleasure.

Am I?

This trip has no concrete outcome for my company and I’ve got an hourly breakdown of my schedule for the next ten days speaking and touring Zimbabwe nonstop until a final meeting with the Ambassador and a return flight home literally two hours later — so this isn’t a vacation.

What am I supposed to feel right now? Although my mind is racing a million miles a minute, ironically, it’s also stuck. Have you ever had that feeling? When the questions start hurling at you that you never paused to think through until it hits you like a wall of bricks?

Why am I going to Africa? What’s my purpose? Who’s sending me there and why do they care enough to pay my way? What do the people in Zimbabwe expect of me? Will I be able to deliver? What am I supposed to deliver again?

Then it hit me: I’m going to Africa because someone, somewhere, believes I can help. That belief I carry of an educated individual and their right to self-determination is a transformative energy I’ve been asked to help others see within themselves.

I see the outcomes that an education coupled with entrepreneurship can produce in America on a daily basis; I can only hope that our friends in the developing world recognize the exponential possibilities of this powerful combination in their own countries. I believe simply having this mindset can set a continent on a path to lift an entire generation out of poverty and despair faster than any other generation in human history.

African youth today, will be African leaders tomorrow and they need to believe with all their heart that the future in front of them can be as far-reaching as their dreams allow them to be; and that no force on earth is big enough to stop them if they are united, honest, ethical, hardworking, and patient.

I always believed that I’d have to sell a big company, write a world famous book, create an invention, or have celebrity friends who’d want me to tag along on their missions so I could begin helping others, but I’m quickly learning that hard work and sacrifice without all the accolades will allow you to live your dreams faster than any other path in life.

There isn’t a day that goes by where I don’t feel unqualified for the task at hand or the burden of proving my worth to the world, but in true entrepreneurial fashion I’m going to push forward and do my best to contribute and set an example for the next person on this journey.

I’ve learned that I’m not unique in my aspirations of wanting to help others. There are millions of people around this world, young and old who may feel unqualified, unproven, or too inexperienced to help — and my message to all those reading is the same: You are ready to start if you believe in yourself.

Your passion to help others coupled with your energy is enough to get started. You don’t need to go to Africa, India, South America, or the Middle East on a long journey in order to have an impact

Start in your own community with what you have because what you have is plenty. If you are able to read this post — you have everything you need in the world to change it. An education.

It’s 7:31 pm at home now and my mind is starting to shift gears.

I’m motivated. I’m excited. I’m energized. I’m humbled. I’m honored.

It just hit me. I’m going back to Africa, and I’m ready to get to work.

This story was originally published on my blog, www.fahadhassan.com 37,000 feet above the Atlantic on May 9th, 2014