Now, I know what you are thinking.
Ambition. Isn’t that a bad thing? Isn’t that selfish and prideful?
Well, not necessarily.
As long as you are choosing the right ambition.
Ambition is one of those words that have gotten a bad reputation. Many have come to associate it with narcissistic people who trample on others to climb their way to some spot of fame or fortune or power. As a result, we assume anyone with big goals is self-seeking or prideful.
But the actual definition of ambition is “a strong desire to do or to achieve something, typically requiring determination and hard work.”
So if your goal is to teach your daughter to read this year, that is an ambition. And if your goal to run for political office, that is also an ambition. Neither is better than the other.
Ambition is really just a dream that you are actively pursuing.
If you say you have plans but you aren’t working towards them, they aren’t plans. They are just ideas.
If you are working all the time without direction or plan, then you have no ambition.
So first you have to have an idea or a dream. And second, you must actually do something about it. Once you have both, you are ambitious.
Ambition is a good thing.
It means that you are unwilling to stay in complacency.
It means you have a goal. And it means you are working toward it.
But you need to be pushing toward the RIGHT ambition.
If you follow this blog you know I just made a post saying that I don’t have goals. But the main point of that was to focus on character-based principles whether or not you have a career goal. And the main point of this entire blog is to call upon us all to stop the complacency and focus instead on growth in character and in the service of others.
The pursuit of personal character growth by way of idealistic principles is a lofty ambition, one I consider to be more important than any other goal. After all, service to others is a natural result of mature character.
And character growth is not at all an easy goal, which means it probably is one of the most important ones.
Easy, low-target ambitions are the path of mediocrity.
Most of us are mediocre because most of us don’t like things to be hard.
We like the easy path. We want to achieve great things in life, but we don’t want to put in the effort.
- I always wanted to be a skilled pianist, but I wasn’t interested in practicing enough to make it happen.
- My daughter wanted to learn to tap dance but didn’t want to work to catch up with the others in the class.
- You are thinking of something right now that you wanted to do, but that was too hard to make the effort worth it.
Usually, if it’s too hard, we just don’t want to bother.
Maybe that’s ok.
- It’s okay to prioritize and let go of dreams that aren’t the right use of our time or talents.
- It’s okay to release ambitions that are self-centered or get in the way of more important priorities like family or personal integrity.
But more often that’s not okay.
Because excellence cannot be achieved with the easy path.
One semester in college I took a class with a teacher who knew me and my work quite well. I had been coasting in one of his classes, turning in papers I had written overnight. Generally, that tactic earned me an A without me having to put in more effort.
But one day he called me into his office and said, “Chere’, I know your work quality. If I read this paper that’s due next week and it is obvious to me you wrote it the night before, I don’t care how good the paper is -you’re getting a B.”
I believed him, but I had no desire to put in the extra effort. My goal was not to write my best paper. My goal was to get the assignment done. So as usual, I checked out the books and wrote the paper about 12 hours before it was due.
I got a B.
You see, it was impossible for me to write an excellent paper because my goal was just to complete the assignment, not to improve my writing. I was just coasting.
And similarly, I will never be an excellent pianist because my goal is to be able to play some basic chord patterns.
If we coast along in life, choosing as goals only those things we are sure we can do well, we will never improve or grow. We will wake up in ten years from now realizing nothing has changed in us or our world.
But the right ambition will push us towards excellence.
A concert pianist has the ambition to take his skills and stretch them as far as they can go. He is not content to be just a “good pianist”.
An artisan baker has the ambition to make the perfect loaf, one that smells and tastes excellent and provides health to the body and beauty to the eyes. She is not happy with making another loaf in the bread machine.
An excellent teacher is one whose ambition is to produce the best possible lesson for the students, engaging them, teaching them and changing their lives for the better. He doesn’t want to just get through another day.
The right ambition is one which stretches us the limit but doesn’t break us. It takes more focus and drive than we thought we could produce, but as we work toward it, we grow more than we ever dreamed possible.
I just finished reading a lovely little book, The Pursuit of Excellence, by Ted Engstrom. After reading it, I feel like the entirety of my whole blog should be, “Go read this book!” It’s really just that good.
Engstrom’s exhortation in the first chapter sums up my point here beautifully:
The highest and best – this should be the goal of every man and woman of God.
Be the best person you know how to be, in your personal life and on the job.
If you’re not stretching yourself and your talents, ask yourself why not. And then do something about it.
Give up your small ambitions. Believe a big God; remember that “God is greater”!
Get angry with your own mediocrity, and then do something constructive to get yourself out of the same old rut.
Don’t wait for the seventh wave of success to carry you on to the comfort of the shore. That’s the thinking of the irresponsible and the lazy. With God as your strength, take responsibility for your own actions and begin living life with a fresh point of view.
An exciting life of excellence awaits you – and it can begin today.
In short, the right ambition matures our character and hones our skills. It changes us and the people around us.
I encourage you to be more ambitious. Choose excellence instead of mediocrity today.