Halsey has learned plenty about how making choices can impact her trajectory in life and her career — both in good and bad ways. The multi-platinum selling singer wanted to share the advice about making choices that she received from her mentor in her new commencement speech for new grads in iHeartRadio’s Commencement: Speeches For The Class of 2020.
“I asked a mentor of mine what the key to success was and they told me, ‘making the decision.’ And I said, ‘well that seems like a pretty cheap answer. I mean of course making the right decision will lead you to success but how do you know that you made the right decision. And they corrected me, ‘I didn’t say making the right decision. I said making the decision,’” she said. “They told me it doesn’t matter if it’s right or wrong, action is always better than inaction. Our fear of making the wrong decision often stops us from making any decision at all. But don’t be fooled into thinking indecision is safety for the unknown is a bigger monster than your knowledge of your own failure.”
Throughout her speech, Halsey reminds the Class of 2020 that they are bombarded by choices every single day and while it may seem daunting to actually choose something, it’s important to put fear aside and just make a choice no matter what.
“The freedom to choose can often feel less like a freedom at all and more like a detriment. With so many choices available to you comes the fear of making the wrong one,” she explained. “It feels like the constant fear that you’re making the wrong choice makes so many of us refrain from making any choice at all … It’s up to you now to make those choices matter and not by making the right ones but by exercising the courage and commitment to make those decisions with vigor and autonomy.”
She continued: “Choose firmly, choose willfully, and choose confidently because what they don’t tell you is there are two right choices: one is the direct route to the right answer and one is a process of elimination that leads you there down a different path. If I had made the right choices I would have a very different life than the one I have now. So instead, I made the wrong ones or perhaps the ones that seemed wrong at the time but took me to the right ones through a journey and self-actualization.”
And her parting words: “You are the generation of choice and these options seek to confuse and distract you but you must choose. Failure is inevitable. But possibilities are endless. The only real failure is inaction so take what you’ve learned because you’ve earned it and show the world that you can pioneer through a terrain of possibilities laid before you unafraid and uninhibited. I can’t wait to see where your choices take you.”
Congratulations to the Class of 2020!
