You can't teach ambition
written by Allan on December 19, 2011
We all know that handful of talented people with no drive to do anything special with that talent. Or they want to do something with it, but either never do or squander it floundering on “wastes of time.”
For us, watching these people slog through life is painful. We want to help them. We try to convince them they can do it. We try to hand feed them ambition in tiny bite-sized bits. “Yumm! Ambition tastes good!” we tell them. “Try a bite!”
We beg them, laying out the steps they need to take to get started, but you can’t teach ambition.
Their ambition can be lit two different ways:
- This person can see your ambition and copy it. If they mimic ambition enough, change is possible.
- You can scare a person into being ambitious. Some coaches, teachers or parents may do this. However force-fed ambition is rarely sustained.
Ambition is an awakening. It’s taking note of your life’s current trajectory, and then, in a moment of clarity, seeing what your life’s path could be and running towards it as fast as you can.
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Allan loves his family more than breathing. He lives in Panama City, Florida & grew up washing cars at his family's car washes. Oh and Allan hasn't worn underwear since 2004.
9 Comments
Then there are those of us with more ambition than talent. The good news is that people with ambition can hire those with talent.
I’m very good at stepping into that trap. This is what I make myself watch whenever I feel I’m going off the track: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UvEiSa6_EPA
I’ve got a few friends like this. I no longer like to hear much about what’s going on in their lives because it makes my head want to explode.
I think ambition makes you become an entrepreneur. You also cannot force somebody to be an entrepreneur. I try to instill ideas or solutions when people come to me with a problem. Many times they just want somebody to say “Yeah it sucks”. But I just can’t help it and try to give them some ambition.
Your post popped up just as I was putting the finshing touches to my own on ambition. (Ambition challenge on englishforlearners.wordpress.com) I see I will have to go back an, with your permission, quote (and credit of course) your last paragraph – very clear.
I love this kind of stuff. Great read.
I tend to think that some people lack ambition because they have never united their passion with what they do for a living.
In our college oriented society, having a good job that pays well in the area that you majored in seems to be the ideal. Well, that or the art for art’s sake alternative. You don’t have to be a happy starving artist OR a rich unhappy career person. Find a way to do both.
My advice is to find something that you are passionate about that pays well eventually. This may require some experimentation, but when you find it, you’ll know.
I wonder if posts like you wrote and short videos like this:
http://bit.ly/taekSi
could help to awaken people. I’m thinking that part of the issue is that there are a ton of folks who just don’t yet know any better.
I am not ambitious. In fact, I have come to believe that ambition is a disease. Looking at my ambitious friends and family, I do not see happy people. I see people who are discontented. They have a lot but always want more. Happiness is not getting what you want, it is wanting what you have. Also, I have found that the easiest way to destroy my passion is to try to make a living from it.
I think another source of ambition is childhood insecurity. You don’t get the respect you want from your peers, so you work hard to prove you’re worthy by accomplishing impressive things. You get older and start feeling ok with yourself, but the ambition remains.