Ambition and Success

Intelligence without ambition is a bird without wings. - Salvador Dali

Do you want to build success one ambition at a time?

Determine exactly what you want: Because people do not know what exactly they want, they move from one thing to the other. Every person at one point or the other in life will have to answer this question; what do you want to become? Yours might not come that way but it will come in some other form. The important thing is not how the question comes to you but what your answer is.

Work with your strengths: make sure your ambition(s) align perfectly with your inherent strengths. This will first require knowledge of your strengths. Working out your ambitions based on this knowledge will equip you with the necessary tools required for the achievement of your goal. It will also make your goal fun to accomplish.

Break it down into smaller bits: one reason why we fail in life is because we are so troubled with the pursuit and immediate accomplishment of great ambitions. Every meal is easier to finish when eaten one bite at a time. Many things are impossible to accomplish with one swoop. Your ambition is one of those things. There is no need to fret though. Simply break it down into smaller, simpler bits. Every big thing is made up of smaller things. Armies invade lands not individually but in battalions. They will be an easy crush individually. Picture your ambition as a battalion set for you to conquer but put in mind that every battalion is made up of individuals. You may not be able to handle the battalion but I am sure individual soldiers will be easier for you to handle. The smaller you break down your ambition, the easier it is to crush.

Do not make it all about you: Any ambition that will require the downfall of another who is already doing very well is not a worthy one. Selfish ambitions will lead to envy, greed and wickedness. The wrong ambition or the wrong path taken to achieve a right ambition has made emotionless monsters out of men in time past. Albert Einstein said, “Nothing truly valuable arises from ambition or from a mere sense of duty; it stems rather from love and devotion towards men and towards objective things.”