For most people, especially college kids, their professional lives are expected to be on a tried (and true?) course: High school, undergraduate degree, possibly a graduate degree, entry-level job, corporate ladder climb, and finally, for a few years at the end of their career, they imagine a time of true autonomy in their career.

The twilight years of one’s career are when most actually expect to truly leave their mark. They are the years that you’ve worked to get to... only achievable after paying your professional dues. Only after years of studying, years of slaving over menial tasks just to slog into the next menial position one rung up from the previous, do you finally get your chance to shine. But who made these rules? And why do we follow them?

To put it simply, there’s a huge danger in subscribing to this train of thought. In my opinion, the more time we waste not pursuing the things we love, instead putting in the “work” to earn the right to do so at a later time, the less time we end up with to invest in our own ideas and passions.

There is no guarantee that you will live a long life. And there is also no guarantee that putting in work to climb the metaphorical corporate ladder will eventually yield the results you want. The longer you wait, the more likely you will be to lose sight of what you really want and the more likely it is you will settle for being able to pay your monthly bills with that soul draining desk job. So why not throw the rule book out the window, take some gambles, and go for your goals now?

Everyone has the ability to succeed, and often the biggest problem is your own inner voice telling you that you can’t, for whatever reason. But you know what that voice is actually doing? It’s trying to protect you from hearing “No.” For some reason, our culture instills in us that there is shame in failure and rejection. There isn’t! There is only one type of person who will ever hear no, and that’s the person who is brave enough to ask in the first place.

So. sure, you can go your whole life never hearing no and never facing rejection, but that means you have to spend your whole life sitting on the sidelines. I have heard no from research proposals, internships, and jobs... but I can say that every single no has made every single yes even sweeter. Nothing easy is worth having, and a no won’t kill you. So don’t settle for being alive, get out there and actually live.

With that being said, I want to give a shout out of some of the most outstanding people in the world, who did throw rule book out the window and accomplished more than most dream about. Some succeeded early, and some succeeded far after most people would have given up. These are the kind of people that inspire me to keep pursuing my own goals, and I hope they inspire you as much as they do me.

Gabrielle Turnquest

Gabrielle Turnquest is the youngest person ever to pass the UK bar exam. She passed her exams at age 18.

Jaylen Bledsoe

Jaylen Bledsoe began a tech company at the age of 13. The company is now worth $3.5 million dollars.

Jack Andraka

Jack Andraka was in the beginning of his high school career when he developed a potential method to detect pancreatic cancer in its early stages.

Boyan Slat

Boyan Slat designed a sustainable, passive solution to clean plastic debris from the ocean at 20-years-old.

Don’t fret though, there are plenty of people who didn’t find success until much later in life...

Martha Stewart

Martha Stewart didn’t find real success until well into her 40’s. She published her first book at age 41 and launched "Martha Stewart Living" at 48.

Diana Nyad

Diana Nyad dreamed of becoming the first person to swim from Florida to Cuba. She failed five times before finally accomplishing her dream at age 64 (and without a shark cage!).

Oprah Winfrey

The famous host didn’t launch her keystone talk show until the age of 32.

The only thing truly holding anyone back is an unwillingness to try. Everyone has obstacles to deal with. But that’s all they are: obstacles. And obstacles can be overcome. There’s something all successful people have in common and that’s pushing past the inevitable failures. So after a particularly grueling semester, I just wanted to remind everyone why we are out there hustling every day. It’s easy to get lost when dealing with life’s curveballs, but if you refuse to fail, then every complication is just a temporary setback.

So, next time you feel like sitting on the couch for a week straight inhaling potato chips while sniping mothas on COD because something didn’t go as planned, remember everything in life is temporary. As fast as things go down, they can just as quickly go up. You are your only limit, so why not be limitless?