Musician and producer Ryan Leslie shares a principle from a Rotary competition speech he gave twelve years ago: believe in what you do and don't let others limit your creativity. He argues artists should be free to sing, rap, produce, or dance without restriction, and outlines a formula of drive, desire, discipline, and dedication for achieving your dreams.
Good morning, Believe Nation! Today's message is believe in what you do. Over to you, Ryan Leslie.
My words of advice are really the same words that I spoke on when I was a teenager and I needed money for college, and so I entered a speech competition for Rotary International. International, and the topic that they asked me to speak on was, "Do what you believe in and believe in what you do." And even now, 12 years later, when I look around, that's what I strive to do every day. Do what I believe in and believe in what I do. And for everyone out there that has an aspiration to do something, don't let anyone tell you what you can and cannot do. If you've got a dream and a goal and a passion to do it, you know, I can't tell you the amount of people that told me like, "Look, Ryan, stick to stay behind the synthesizer, or if you're going to sing, don't try to rap, or if you rap, don't try to sing, or if you produce, don't try to be an artist, or if you're an R&B dude, don't try to go into the rock or alternative side, or if you don't dance, don't try to dance, or if you dance, don't decide that you're just going to stay behind the keyboard. Really, for me, I think artistry, the beauty and the joy of artistry and the beauty and the joy of just having the freedoms that we enjoy in life is that that we can pursue anything that we want to pursue, and with the right mix of drive, desire, discipline, and dedication, we can achieve anything that we want to achieve. And so for all y'all out there that have a dream, I encourage you to keep striving, pushing forward towards that dream, and make it happen, man.
