Stop Waiting for Permission

In 1982, a 31-year-old doctor named Barry Marshall intentionally poisoned himself. Twenty years later, he was awarded the Nobel Prize for it.

Marshall, an Australian doctor, had a hunch:

The medical field was absolutely certain that ulcers were caused by stress and spicy food. Marshall, who had discovered bacteria in stomach biopsies, thought otherwise.

So he wrote a paper detailing his findings.

When Marshall submitted it to the Gastroenterological Society of Australia, reviewers shot the theory down, rating it in the bottom 10% of those received that year.

So, facing ridicule and rejection, Marshall took drastic measures:

He drank a petri dish of bacteria to prove his theory.

Marshall thought it might take years to develop the ulcer, but three days later, he started noticing symptoms. By day eight, he had developed gastritis. And by day 14, they had to put him on antibiotics to slow down the growing illness.

His work became a breakthrough in understanding the link between infections and stomach cancer, and in 2005, Marshall was recognized for his work with a Nobel Prize.

In life, people often fail because they’re waiting for permission to be right.

They wait for the job title to say “expert.”
For the degree to make them credible.
For applause before they act.

But truth is objective—it can be pushed forward by conviction and courage even when you don’t have credentials.

Rarely is the answer to drink strange dishes of bacteria.

But often, the answer is this:
Waiting for permission gets you… nothing.

If you believe in something, believe in it.

History doesn’t remember the people who waited to be validated.

It remembers the ones who were right too early—and spoke anyway.

See you Monday,
Mark Manson

#1 New York Times Bestselling Author
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