people and Ambitions ???

[disciple99]

hey guys lately a question is popping In my mind why some people are more ambitious than others and some are not and how can one person lose his ambitious nature.
please can you shade some light on this topic I think I know about 2 pieces of this puzzle please correct me if I am going south
one is purpose and another is future time orientation (thanks chase) but is it only two thing or there are more to it

 

[Richard]

Well, firstly I'll say you need to differentiate ambition and persistence.

Ambition comes from the core of who you are, and is heavily charged with emotion. It can be mitigated, but cannot be lost or destroyed completely.

Persistence lacks emotions and isn't as powerful and generally your willpower fades over time.

Let's put it another way; a painter is ambitious in creating his masterpiece, but wouldn't have that same ambition if he had a desk job. If the goals aren't in-tune with your core nature then you won't produce much fire to get you going (read ambition), and instead you'll have to force yourself to reach them with willpower which is a burst energy in that it's powerful but drains quickly.

Make sense?

One other thing is that peoples values change over time and that affects your ambitions as well. That's called structural tension.

 

[disciple99]

hey buddy thanks for using painter analogy I also draw and paint so now difference is crystal clear. oh I was going south.
can you elaborate one point

Ambition comes from the core of who you are, and is heavily charged with emotion. It can be mitigated, but cannot be lost or destroyed completely.

if the ambition is never destroyed , how to not let that natural ambition be mitigated.

 

[Drck]

Interesting topic. There are different intensities in ambition, but what or where is the source of ambition? It is usually in some form of emotional dissatisfaction; the person is simply unhappy or unsatisfied with something in his life.

A guy who felt like his intelligence is not appreciated enough and was frustrated by school system, eventually become a great student and achieved high education. His ambition was to become highly educated.

A guy who grew up on the street, in poverty and lots of fighting, eventually became boxing champion. He mastered his frustration, his ambition was to become a great fighter. Tyson or Holyfield are amazing stories, you may even note the differences in more emotional fighting (Tyson) vs more technical approach (Holyfield).

Persistence doesn't require that much ambition. You can be quite happy and emotionally satisfied (with girls, in school), but by being persistent you can achieve great results. You don't need that much ambitions to be persistent, persistence is just a habit...

I've noticed though that what makes true champions is is the "true hunger", the true emotional dissatisfaction that propels one's ambitions forward. If Tyson, for example, didn't grow up in that environment, if he grew up in middle class family and different (happier) environment, he would hardly become a champion that we know today. He would still be a great boxer, but there wouldn't be the underlying emotional charge that made him true and distinct champion.

Ambition itself has simply lots of underlying emotional energy that moves the person forward to achieve great things. Persistence also moves you forward to achieve things, without much of the underlying emotions - you are simply persistent till you become great at something, you are working on something until you become good at it.

- If you work on seduction two hours a day for five years, you will become pretty good
- If you work on education two hours a day for five years, you will become pretty good
- If you work on martial arts two hours a day for five years, you will become pretty good
.... That's persistence, you keep moving forward no matter what...

Ambitious people are also able to figure lots of things on their own because they have the underlying emotional energy that moves them forward. For example, ambitious person will most likely become a great business (assuming that he is persistent enough), without even going to college and studying business. Persistent person may go to college, gain a great understanding of business by studying, yet still not be able to open a great business because he might be missing the self-initiation.

Ambitious person is usually walking his own way, he doesn't learn much from others, perhaps just the important things that help to achieve his goals. Persistent person is rather a follower, he studies how others do it and then he applies the knowledge for his benefit.

So being ambitious is great, but that's not to diminish in any way the importance of being persistent. Being persistent will allow you to accomplish many great things. Perhaps the best way is to combine both -ambitions and persistence, hand in hand....

 

[Richard]

hey buddy thanks for using painter analogy I also draw and paint so now difference is crystal clear. oh I was going south.
can you elaborate one point

Ambition comes from the core of who you are, and is heavily charged with emotion. It can be mitigated, but cannot be lost or destroyed completely.

if the ambition is never destroyed , how to not let that natural ambition be mitigated.

The short answer is, well, you can't.

Mitigated only means reduced, but not destroyed.

Let's go back to the painter working on his masterpiece - the very fact that he's working on it gives him great pleasure but as time goes on he'll inevitably find himself no longer spending 8 hours a day on it. He'll go through periods of time where he won't touch it, or he'll do 3-4 hours here and there. His ambition hasn't died, it's just been reduced.

Perhaps the best way to explain it is to cite Lao Tzu, where he says:

The five colors blind the eye.
The five tones deafen the ear.
The five flavors dull the mouth.

What he means by this is that there is nothing so exciting and exhilarating that we can constantly do it and not get bored. This is why you cannot remain naturally ambitious because quite frankly you will end up getting bored with whatever your goal is. At that point you need to distance yourself from it so that when you get back to it you will feel that pleasure again.

Does that make sense?

-Richard

 

[disciple99]

i perfectly understand thanks Richard and drck