Last month I found myself on a panel of professional women, preparing to speak to a group of high school girls.

The panel was varied, as would be the questions. The girls had free rein to ask anything about jobs, career paths and life. The panelists were in fashion, business, education, medicine, sports and technology.

Knowing that we needed to be prepared for any question, I tried to think back and put myself in their shoes. They were about to enter their last semester of high school. Some would be starting their careers, other would continue their education. At that that time in their life, suddenly the question,”What do you want to be when you grow up?” became more and more real.

I can clearly remember being in their shoes. Fiercely independent, determined to tackle the next step… and a little bit afraid to let on I didn’t know exactly what I was doing; I was just guessing. I remember thinking everyone else had it all figured out, especially the adults and kids already in college.

I would learn, of course, that no one ever has it all figured out. I would learn with experience to trust my gut, but balance that with research and reason. And, over the years, my gut would get more reliable with experience. But learning those things, that’s something that you can’t really be told. It doesn’t always make sense until it happens slowly, over time.

On my run that morning, I started to think about the best piece of advice I’d ever been given. If I could pass that same piece of advice along that day, maybe it could had the same impact for the girls who were listening.

I thought through conversations with mentors and conversations with friends. Conversations with family and conversations that came during some of the toughest moments that I’d been through over the years. Through all of that, I realized one of the best pieces of advice I could remember is one that I heard from my high school band teacher.

“If you see a piece of trash on the floor in the hallway, it’s your job to pick it up.”

At the time, I couldn’t understand that it was about a lot more than picking up the piece of paper. It was also about a lot more than making the walk down the hall for the janitor easier that day.

That simple piece of advice stuck with me because it represents that you are part of a community. It’s your job to make where you’re standing a better place than when you got there. It’s your job to contribute, to make your community a better place.

We all see “it’s not my job” syndrome happen in the world. Trash in parks and where it shouldn’t be, communal coffee pots where someone took the last cup and didn’t make a fresh one, even someone with their hands too full and struggling to carry all their bags. It may not be “your job” to pick up the trash, and there may even be someone whose job it is to clean that up or fix that, but if you’re there and able – make the place you’re standing better. Because that absolutely is your job.

That’s the best advice I think I’ve ever been given, and I passed that along to the girls that day last month. I don’t know if it will stay with any of them, but I know it has made a difference in my life and how I make decisions each day, wherever I’m standing.