When I was younger, I studied the greats, absorbed their wisdom, and let their ideas shape me. That foundation mattered.

But hitting my twenties and thirties meant outgrowing that. I had to challenge what I'd learned, disagree where I disagreed, and carve my own path. That wasn't easy.

It wasn't rejection—it was evolution. You don't discard your teachers; you graduate from them. Their influence stays baked into how you think, even when you're no longer following the same playbook.