Why Ambitious Goals Should Be Abandoned
The art of following your passions even if they deviate from your original plans
You may be familiar with the show Good Luck Charlie. Young me loved that show. It was a sitcom on Disney in the early 2010s that revolved around the Duncan family adjusting to the birth of their fourth and fifth children, Charlie and Toby. The episodes feature Teddy Duncan, played by Bridgit Mendler, adding to a video diary that offers family and life advice for when Charlie is older. The show aired for about four years. It marked Bridgit Mendler’s first starring role as an actor. Previously, she most notably had supporting roles in Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel and Wizards of Waverly Place. But at 18, this marked her first big break and the beginning of an unconventional career.
Good Luck Charlie received positive viewership and reception. It began an avalanche of Mendler starring in shows while her music career also gained traction. She was an actor and singer, which made sense when working for Disney. While balancing a budding career, she enrolled at the University of Southern California (USC) part-time and majored in anthropology. She talked about going to college while being in entertainment,
“I’m really grateful for what I have, and I think it’s cool that, because my career path is not as formulaic, I can kind of decide when I want to take time off to do certain things.”
She was open to where life took her and not dead set on a script. Some may even say she was aimless, but in a positive manner. The possibilities were endless. She didn’t subscribe to a formulaic career path. She realized she could take her career as it came. Three years after beginning, she dropped out of USC. In 2018, she enrolled in a master’s program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). She completed her masters in 2020 before continuing her education at Harvard Law School and graduating with a law degree in 2024.
Mendler’s musical and acting careers ended in 2019 when she became serious about her education. After enrolling at Harvard and MIT, she co-founded a satellite data startup Northwood Space with her husband and today is the CEO. They recently passed their first major development test by connecting with planet imagery satellites in orbit. Who would have thought that an actor and musician since childhood would become the CEO of a satellite data startup? Most startup founders would not choose to be a musician and actor as previous careers. But maybe that is why it worked. Bridgit Mendler wasn’t following a plan.
It seems to be a solid strategy. Brandon Aubrey spent his youth focused on soccer and played four years at the University of Notre Dame while receiving many honors. He was selected in the first round of the Major League Soccer (MLS) draft by Toronto FC, but his pro soccer career lasted two years. However, his professional sports career was only beginning. His wife saw an NFL kicker miss a field goal and told him, “You could do that.” That was all he needed to hear. He wasn’t stuck on making soccer work when another opportunity presented itself. His soccer career led him to become an NFL placekicker. Now, he plays for the Dallas Cowboys and is considered the NFL’s best kicker after being named first-team All-Pro last year.
J.K. Rowling developed the idea of the Harry Potter series when she was working as a bilingual secretary and researcher at Amnesty International. Jimmy Graham played four years of basketball at the University of Miami before spending his professional career playing tight end in the NFL.
A common thread exists between all of them. They wandered from their original path. What initially seemed to be the right objective became a springboard into a different life. Brandon Aubrey’s soccer skills allowed him to become an NFL kicker. Bridgit Mendler’s music and acting career allowed her to become involved with the MIT media lab, the place where she began her education. COVID allowed her to focus on her startup with the world locked down.
We never know where paths may lead, but to ever discover where they might take you, you must be open to dropping off your current path and abandoning your ambitious plans. They weren’t stuck obsessing over their ambitious objectives. But they were open to riding the waves and seeing where opportunities might take them. The results speak for themselves.
You might think this only applies to careers, but serendipity doesn’t discriminate. When we hear about how lovers first met, they talk about meeting on the first day of school at orientation when they both happened to be late. Or being a regular at a cafe. In a hardware store. When one moved down the street from the other. When one took a leap online and messaged the other. Or someone finally mustered the courage to ask the other to dance.
Think about how we met our friends. One of my best friends, who is my roommate, I met in junior high. Our paths diverged when we went to different high schools. I never considered that I wouldn’t see him again. During our first week at college, we ran into each other, after more than four years of not talking, and decided to rush fraternities together. We ended up joining the same fraternity. Now, eight years later, we share the same address. It was never part of the original plan, but I was open to any path.
Being open to serendipity and not being so entrenched in your audacious goals can apply to anything. Often, the best discoveries happen when we aren’t searching. We allow for serendipity and adjust as new information comes in. We don’t power through and brute force our way to our grand objective. We don’t go searching for friendship. Friendship finds us. Searching for romance only highlights being alone. The lovers find love, but they never have to seek it.
We should follow our passions and chase chances, even when they don’t align with our big dreams but seem interesting. Paths diverge, plans change, and life is unpredictable. The willingness to change paths is fruitful. Of course, guarantees don’t exist. Some paths will fail, but few achieve their dreams and goals by being rigid in their plans and objectives. Serendipity is a powerful force, and we hear it all the time from those ahead of us. People far into their careers talk about how someone took a random chance on them and the rest is history.
Bridgit Mendler and Brandon Aubrey are examples of it on a mainstream level but take notice. I am sure you will begin to see the power of going with the flow, allowing serendipity, and not being so stuck in your ways in life. It is less of obsessing over big plans and more of surrendering to life and serendipity. Life is always happening and much occurs when we are busy doing other things. We don’t want to miss chance opportunities because we are too blinded by our big plans. We have a right to follow our passions and take chances even when they conflict with our ambitious goals.
-Scantron
Appreciate you reading and let me know your thoughts in the comments!