In this brief motivational interview, host Evan Carmichael opens with a technical glitch before introducing the theme “Don’t ask for permission.” He hands the floor to filmmaker Ava DuVernay, who argues that women—and anyone in creative industries—must stop seeking external approval and instead forge their own path. Evan and a co‑host expand on this, describing how society conditions us with “permission slips” from school to adulthood, and how entrepreneurs must take calculated risks, citing Amazon’s early days as an example of daring innovation that later yielded “gold.” Evan shares his personal evolution: he now trusts his instincts, launches ideas without waiting for friends or family’s nod, and accepts the risk of failure as a learning tool. He also distinguishes between personal projects, where he can be bold, and work that impacts clients or partners, where he must weigh consequences and be confident his choices will succeed. The segment ends with a prompt for viewers to comment with their own stories of taking an independent path.
Chapters
I can't get a good clap on.
Christ. Is it because you're hearing maybe?
Is it loud?
It's pretty loud.
No. That felt better. I heard the ring. It still feels like it's not—
Because it's your hearing.
You clap loud. Good morning, Believe Nation. Today's message is— Good morning, Believe Nation. Today's message is—
Don't ask for permission. Over to you, Ava DuVernay.
You know, we have to work without permission, especially as women in this industry. Who are we asking for permission to do what we want to do? That should be eradicated. You need to set a path, and start walking. And that is what I've tried to do and what I try to encourage folks to do. Walk with me. Let me walk with you. Let's walk with each other. I think so much of the industry is very permission-based. And once you get out of your mind that you have to ask anyone to do what you want to do, you'll be better for it.
So what do you think?
I think that in our culture, we are very much permission-based. Even in school, right? May I go to the washroom? We're sort of conditioned. That anything that you want to do for yourself, you need that permission slip. And in life, as you get older, you realize you sort of still in that mentality of the permission slip, but maybe some people learn earlier, some people learn later that you don't need that. You can pave your own road and that you can walk this path even in spite of the fact that everyone, you know, your family might think it's a bad idea. And when we're talking about entrepreneurs, it's, it's taking a chance, taking an opportunity, right? Doing something a little bit differently. I mean, you take calculated risks, but you're still taking risks. And it's not always going to be what the crowd thinks is right. And you know, when you think of Amazon, for example, selling books online, right? That was like insane. Who would want to order books online? But like, you pave your path, you see it, you see something there, you work through it, and then you make, uh, you make gold.
And you make gold. Yeah, that's how you make gold. I like it. I see this in two different ways. One is when it's just related to you, and then one when it relates to others as well. When it's you, I don't think you should care as much about what other people think. You know, I was dealing with somebody in the comments today, he's like, "Don't you care about how putting this person up on your channel reflects on you?" Like, I don't care. I don't care what you think of me. Like, I'm putting out value, I'm doing this because I want to do this, and as I've grown older as an entrepreneur, I care less and less about how people see me and what they think of the stuff that I'm doing. I know that the intention is always pure, my intention is good, and so I just learned more and more to trust my instincts and what I want to do. I get an idea, I just do it. I don't care if Alex likes it, I don't care if Jason likes it, I don't care if anybody else likes it. I like it, I want to do it, you don't want to join me, I'll be an army of one, I'm gonna put it out, it's happening. That's my mentality, and I've just gotten more and more stubborn in trusting in my own beliefs. He's had to deal with it. So if there's something that you want to do, just go and do it. You don't need your friends' permission or your family's permission or anybody else's permission. Just go and start doing it. And that's a big step for a lot of people. The other one is when it relates to others, and if you're dealing with clients or friends or relationships, you have to factor that in. What's the impact on them going to be as well, right? Is it going to hurt them? Is it going to harm them in some way? And if it has a potential negative impact, then You could still not ask for permission, but you better be right. You know, I will do this to my clients a lot. The brand, the brands that I work with, they want to do something that I just feel is not going to work. I feel like this is not going to work, you guys don't get it, you don't understand. And instead of me fighting with them, I just don't tell them, and I just do it. But I better be right. 'Cause if they want me to do something and I do the opposite and it doesn't work out, then that's pretty bad on me. As an example, my book, I wanted it formatted a certain way. My publisher didn't like it from the start. I want it this way. So I spent however long, months and months and months, writing it in that format to the point where now it's really too late to go back and switch it, right? So I've boxed myself into this corner because I felt it's the right thing to do even though she didn't like it. So now it's on me. It better work, right? And I'm confident that it will. I like it. I'm a fan of it. Obviously I wouldn't have done it. So there's a risk. I think if it's something with me, I'm willing to take a lot more risk. I'm okay with failure, happy with failure because I'll learn from it. But when it involves other people or, you know, clients or relationships, You gotta add a little bit more, uh, just awareness of how it's gonna impact their lives as well and have that kind of certainty that it's gonna work out. Otherwise it's on you. You're gonna be ready to deal with the consequences.
Yeah. So the question of the day today is, what was one personal story you can share with us of where you took your own path?
Leave it in the comments below and join in the discussion. Thank you guys so much for watching. Have an amazing day. Continue to believe, and I'll see you again tomorrow morning for another shot of espresso.
