How to fulfil your ambition even if you think you are not talented?

 

Author: Mayur Bardolia

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You don’t have to be extra-ordinarily talented to fulfil your ambition.

Ambition beats talent. Being ambitious is necessary but it also makes you stressed and unhappy. You should be ambitious to level up your life and business but not at the cost of happiness.

How can we be ambitious without being overambitious and unhappy?

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Do you think some people are just naturally talented and we are not?
Well, two economists called Stacy Dale and Alan Kreuger at Princeton University did a research on people who studied in some of the best colleges in the world such as Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Stanford, Columbia etc. They found that people who studied from such ivy league colleges are earning more than who did not go to high profile colleges. Now, that’s something that we probably already know. 

But they found something interesting.
They also included people who applied to these ivy league colleges but did not attend. They got admission but did not bother to continue the study. Now, these people performed equally good as those who applied and studied at Harvard, Stanford, Princeton university etc. It means that people’s income was not based on which college they have been to but it was based on which college they applied to.

The success depends on how they think and believe they are capable of doing.
Having a strong ambition and desire are far more powerful and stronger than having talent. If a person believes to achieve something worthwhile, they will develop the ability and competency to achieve it no matter what sooner or later. 

Now, the question is, How can we channelise our ambition to get what we want.
We are going to find out in this podcast episode. We are going to discuss 3 things.

1. How dissatisfaction helps in being ambitious?
2. How to know if We are over-ambitious?
3. How to set our ambition without losing happiness?

 

If you look at immigrants in the USA, they make faster progress compared to natives. 
The research was done in 1886 to identify the performance of Jewish people against westerners in various fields. Now, this was done when there was not a remarkable population of Jewish people. At that time, it was found that Jewish people did not hold a high IQ level. They were not extraordinarily talented. 

But afterwards, thousands of jews people moved to the USA.
Then their mindset got changed. They were at the bottom level in American society. They had to do a lot of hardships. And they wanted to be at the top in almost all sectors, whether it’s engineering, banking, education or pharmaceutical.

They were not satisfied with staying at the bottom level.
Their inner-self was creating a conflict and developed a strong desire to do whatever it takes to reach to the top. They were not comfortable with their level. They felt insecure and they wanted to grow. And they grew and they grew in a proportion of the belief they had in themselves to grow. They saw themselves as good as or better than the people who were at the top. They grew in almost all sectors in the USA as a result of their intense belief and ambition. 

You can be ambitious not only by comparing people around you but can also learn from history.
People have set the benchmarks in history. There are hundreds of people in history who invented great things and did something that seems impossible at that time. You can pick up some of the greatest emperors, sportspersons, scientists or spiritual leaders and create a strong desire to be like them.

The story from history can be fiction too.
For example, Henry Tudor became the last King of England to win the crown on the battlefield. When he became the King, England was a very poor country. It was facing civil war and it was in the middle of a recession. But by the end of Tudor’s life, England was on its way to begin conquering the whole world!

How Henry Tudor turned around England?
He came across a book ‘The story of King Arthur and his knights’. He got inspired by King Arthur. Henry Tudor implemented policies that brought tremendous economic development. Henry Tudor saw himself against King Arthur and intended to be like him. Sounds great.

But do you know that there was no one called King Arthur in reality?
Henry Tudor didn’t know that and yet King Arthur made him ambitious and he brought a revolution. Find something or someone that makes you ambitious. As we discussed earlier, If a person believes to achieve something worthwhile, they will develop the ability and competency to achieve it no matter what sooner or later. But how much ambition is too little or too much? There is a thin line between being ambitious and being over-ambitious. How to know if we are over-ambitious?

I love food and I love cooking, and I try to make almost everything we eat at home.
Mayonnaise was one of the things that I still bought, but last weekend I decided to make that, too. And it turns out that it’s a tricky process! For example, after beating the egg yolks, you have to add the oil very slowly. If you add it too fast, the mixture will split. Once split, it won’t emulsify and thicken, and therefore can’t become mayonnaise. The only remedy is to start again. 

What if your career is like trying to make mayonnaise, and your ambition is represented by the oil in the recipe?
If you have too little ambition (you don’t add oil), your career will quickly stagnate. The secret is balance: not too little, and not too much; not too fast and not too slow – it has to be just right. What’s just right for you might not be the same as what’s just right for me.

However, here are some factors to take into consideration:
If you have too Little Ambition, you’ll likely put too little effort into your career growth and personal development.  As a result, your accomplishments won’t equal your potential, and you’ll likely not be successful. It could even cause you to criticize yourself, and those who enjoy success. Remember, the less you like yourself, the more you criticize others.

Being too ambitious can lead to egotistical behaviour and a false belief that you deserve opportunities, and should be seen.
Overambitious people often get attracted to people they perceive as powerful, and who are able to help them along in their careers. Please note, by “overambitious” I don’t mean a healthy dose of ambition and high goals. Overambitiousness is a problem when a person engages in negative behaviour to reach their goals, and it becomes normal to them.

Aristotle was the first philosopher to caution against the same when it comes to ambition.
Your ambition should not stem from vicious excess. Nor should you face a lack of ambition – the vicious deficiency. You need to find healthy ambition – the virtuous mean!

Over ambition leads to corruption. It’s socially destructive.
Under ambition is a disservice to yourself. Healthy ambition rewards the individual as well as helps society! But do you think that having ambition makes you unstable and unhappy? How are you going to stay happy and don’t get stressed while pursuing your ambition?

Elon Musk has said that we should be putting in double the amount of time and that we should work as hard as possible.
When our peers are resting and sleeping, we should be studying and learning. Bill Gates also has said something similar where he “never took a day off” during his 20’s and when his friends were out playing and partying, he would be learning how to program and how to build software.

But if all we really want to do is be happy, why then should we strive for greatness at all?
We’re taught by motivational speakers that we should constantly strive to change the world, be the best version of ourselves, bring value to people, and create the goal, after goal, after goal. And if we reach one dream, then we go find a new dream. But on the other side of the coin, many spiritual gurus taught that we should be happy, accept who we are, and be happy with what we have. That peace is found within and all we have to do is free ourselves of all desire, wants, and needs.

Are they two different ways to live life or are they one and the same?
And which one are we supposed to accept when all we want is happiness? We’re taught to go to school, get the best grades possible, get a good job, buy a house, get a car, strive for excellence at all times.

But do we ever get a rest or is it always trying to keep up with others?
Then we suddenly develop chronic health problems and then end up wishing we had stopped to enjoy life a little more. If it’s going to be a never-ending cycle of non-stop busyness and activity? Or is happiness the Answer? The answer is, “Do what really matters!” 

When we started this podcast channel ‘Love Your Busines’, we had the same purpose.
We don’t believe in talking about some magical tactics of running a business that makes us bored and tired. But we talk about how to really enjoy running the business and enjoy more time for yourself too. You don’t need to be lethargic, just sit there and do nothing and be satisfied with your success. You do what You do because it helps people.

You can be ambitious and do it for other reasons.
Find out what makes you happy. As Oprah has said: “There comes a point where you move beyond success to significance.” So you start to ask yourself, what kind of value will I bring to the world?

Maybe the answer really lies in helping other people.
The answer lies within, but also outside yourself. Being satisfied in life can make you happy. But it’s a mistake to believe that being satisfied means you have to lack ambition. Wanting to achieve great things, but being happy and satisfied with the results are not exclusive things. Both can coexist.

So, What’s the one thing that you can learn and implement from this podcast?
Find out what’s your ambition? Who do you compare yourself with that fuels to your ambition?  This is what child psychiatrists recommend you do to inspire ambition in your child’s minds: Tell them how their forefathers overcame their struggles and achieved great things. Tell them the stories of great heroes that they can connect to. Let them feel a little bit insecure with their underperformance compared to others!

Learn to love and enjoy the work that you do and be significant at what you do. So, enjoy what you do and do significantly better.

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What if we can do more things without getting tired? We see things to do on our list but we wish we can do all those. But we rarely do all of them.

Find out, How can we get motivated even if we are tired and feel like we can’t do more things?