[Blog] Just. Do. You.

In his song "There’s A World Out There," Paul Brandt makes a bold and powerful statement:

“Don’t tell me the sky’s the limit when there are footprints on the moon.”

Famous quotes, like Brandt’s, are often loosely thrown around at commencement ceremonies and throughout motivational speeches with little to no interrogation, especially with respect to how they can be applied to our everyday lives and experiences. As we all work to answer life’s big and small questions, Brandt’s quote provides a valuable framework for taking risks and making important decisions.

Don't Tell Me

Throughout high school and college, I was given a syllabus that told me exactly what time to show up, what books to purchase, how many papers to write, the topics of those papers, and the maximum amount of words or pages those papers could contain. Multiply these requirements by four or five courses and you can easily see how my schedule was determined for me in advance. There was so much structure that I began relying heavily on a framework where other people told me what to do and my success was measured by how closely I followed the rules.

After graduating, I realized one, important fact: it was now up to me. My success was no longer determined by a semester-long course, and there would no longer be mid-term or final exams to assess my progress along the way. I, alone, had to make life’s toughest decisions regarding where I would work, which goals I would pursue, where I would live, and how I would spend my time. No longer would others tell me what to do and then validate my actions, work, and progress with grades. A year out of college, the "right" choices became more and more ambiguous, and this frustrated me. After all, I was so accustomed to the strict rules and guidelines from professors, and I tried my very hardest to recreate this structure when taking risks and making big decisions in the real world.

With no grades to benchmark my progress and achievement, I now needed to fill this void with the validation and blessing of others in order for me to believe that I was making the right choices. With this goal of affirmation in mind, I found myself asking others for advice and then entering those conversations intent on persuading the other person to support my course of action rather than leveraging their perspective as a data point in my decision-making process. Perhaps the worst part about this type of behavior was that it placed the other person in the unrealistic position of being able to determine what was going to make me happiest in the long run; something only I could truly decide. They couldn't "tell" me what to do. I had to be comfortable figuring that out for myself.

The Sky's the Limit

In addition to trying to influence the solicited advice I was receiving, I also became more and more caught off guard and impacted by unsolicited advice. You’ve probably encountered, at some point in your life, a family member, friend, classmate, or colleague who is just trying to be helpful. They may overhear you discussing your different desires: a new career path, a job you want to pursue, a book you want write, a house you want to buy, or a trip you want to take. They may respond or interject with unsolicited advice, and it usually sounds something like this:

“If I were you, I wouldn’t do…"

"Wow! I could never see myself doing that..."

Really? You really want to do that? I feel like you'd be better doing this"

These comments, on their face, are not problematic. The larger problem lies in the fact that they can confine your aspirations to narrow definitions of success—as determined by the person giving you the unsolicited advice. To these people, your goals are limited to what they deem possible or by what they have seen others do in the past. Hence, why the sky is their limit. It is as far as they can see, which causes them to reduce their and other people’s dreams to what is right in front of them instead of making room for what could be. The danger with giving power to these voices and their approach and thinking is that it rarely makes room for the unconventional or the unknown. It rarely affords an opportunity for risk-taking, and it has the power and potential to deter people from pursuing opportunities and interests that they know and believe will make them happy.

For these reasons, it is important to reflect and determine what you think is best for you, to trust your gut, and to boldly and confidently run with the decision, even when others may not validate or understand your course of action. We have to push past the assumption that the status quo is always safer than the contemplated risk. We must push past the idea that inaction is always better than a risky action. We must be willing to stretch and broaden the limitations that we allow our minds and other people to set for us.

There are Footprints on the Moon

With footprints on the moon, we no longer have an excuse or reason to confine our goals and dreams to what we can see. Why do we continue to place more weight on success, comfortability, and tradition at the expense of taking risks and pursuing things that truly pique our interest? When will we begin to realize that it is okay for our proverbial “calling” to be outside of the traditional paradigm of success and respectability? Can we be confident and comfortable in our own skin when the decisions we make are not wholeheartedly validated, supported, and endorsed by others?

These are tough questions that we all must grapple with from time to time, and I hope that Brandt’s quote can help us change the way we view our lives, our purpose, and our capabilities. We have to literally unlearn the many misconceptions we have internalized regarding success in order to truly determine what we feel we must do to gain meaning and fulfillment in life.

Key Takeaways

In the end, it is ultimately up to ME to make the decision that I think is best for ME.

As you make another tough decision, consider using Brandt’s quote as a framework.

It essentially requires you to:

• Be honest with yourself about what you want to do or accomplish

• Be comfortable with the fact that people won't support your course of action

• Be open to the fact that others may not be able to envision the goal that you have for yourself

It is through pushing past the limitations and barriers that we impose on ourselves that we can have an impact and leave our footprint on the moon, on the stage, on the field, in the classroom, in the studio, in the courthouse, in our communities, or maybe on Venus.

Special thanks to Kehinde Adewunni, Nick Beese, and Mona Hassan for your edits.