Finding Ambition

It’s funny how I hear business owners and parents wishing their employees and/or children had more ambition. It’s a different story when I ask these same people that are complaining what their ambition is. They want more drive from others but are missing it in their own lives as well. Ambition is a wonderful word and an amazing attribute to have.

First, let’s get clear on what ambition means. According to dictionary.com, ambition means to seek after earnestly; aspire to. In other words, ambition is the focused act of achieving something of importance. Ambition can’t stand on its own though because it’s made up of three elements.

1. Destination. Before you can achieve anything, you’ve got to know what you want to achieve. Without a destination, you’ll find yourself drifting through life on the current of circumstance. It’s like being on a ship without a rudder; you’ll go through some bad and some good, ending up somewhere you wish you hadn’t. Don’t make this a complicated project. Pick one area of your life and decide where you want to be. When you’re deciding on your destination, don’t let current circumstances or fear dictate how far you can go. It’s a given that you’re going to need new skills and education to get there because if what you’re doing now was going to get you there, it already would have. What am I saying? THINK BIG! It really is that easy.
2. Motivation. Motivation is simply the reason why you want to reach the destination you’ve picked. Your why is going to fuel your journey through the obstacles, challenges, and monotony you’re going to encounter that are there to test just how badly you want something. As Thomas Jefferson once said, “Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal; nothing on earth can help the man with the wrong mental attitude.” Simply put, motivation is determination.
3. Action. Once you understand where you’re going and why you’re going there, you need to take action. Not just any action but planned, focused, intense action. Of the three elements, this is the one that trips most up. You figure out the previous steps but then wait to take action until everything is just right. Here’s a secret: nothing is ever going to be just right! DO IT ANYWAY!  Perfectionism is nothing more than procrastination in a pretty black dress. Bottomline is you’re allowing fear and doubt to hold you back from achieving what you truly want in this area of your life. Don’t let that happen. Every day you’re going to experience resistance in many different forms meant to hold you back. Don’t wait until it’s gone; push through it because everything you want is on the other side of it. The feeling you’ll when you push through the resistance is incredible.

When you find yourself drifting, it’s because you’ve lost focus on where you’re going and why. Over time, it’s easy for life’s trials and tribulations to take your focus off of what you want and onto what you’re dealing with right now. If you find yourself in this place, don’t get upset or feel like a failure, just stop for a moment and take a deep breath. Remember your where, your why, your plan, and then take action right then. There’s nothing in the world like a determined mind focused on becoming a better version of itself in some area of life and this is how you’ll show the world just how AMAZING you are!