License and responsibility

What does one receive when they are given a license?

Permission.

Once permission is granted, what is often lost?

Sadly, the need to earn permission.

After getting a marriage license, how hard does the typical couple try to continue impressing one another compared to before they got married?

After getting a license to practice, how hard does a doctor work to keep studying compared to before they got the letters after their name?

This doesn’t just apply to licenses that are distributed by governing bodies. Any time we are given permission, we are given license. And every time we are given license, the responsibility to continue acting in a way that earns trust rests on our shoulders.

Pop-quiz:

What is the first antonym listed when you search the word “license” on thesaurus.com?

Answer: Responsibility

There are two sides to that piece of paper hanging on the wall. The front- facing license gives permission to act within a certain scope. The unseen side-effect of that permission is that the motivation to develop and grow is no longer external. The responsibility for your meeting of standards is relinquished from your professors, partner, your trainers, your parents, and anyone else who may have had a stake in your “success”.

Once the carrots of passing the test or getting the piece of paper are no longer dangling in front of your nose, what drives you to keep growing is responsibility.

Responsibility, the antithesis to your otherwise unchecked permission to act, is what gives a license power. Without responsibility, a license is a crutch that replaces the muscles you used to earn it.