“Why am I letting myself be beholden to the gatekeeper?”

Franz Kafka has a short story called "Before the Law." 

A man seeks access to the law, but when he arrives at the gates of the law, a gatekeeper refuses him entry.  

The man spends his entire life asking permission from the gatekeeper, but he does not oblige. When the man is facing death he asks the gatekeeper, "Why in all these years am I the only person to seek answers from the law."

The gatekeeper says, "Here no one else can gain entry, since this entrance was assigned only to you. I'm going now to close it."

Sometimes it's better to act than to ask permission.