The second secret to success is to be ambitious. In order to do this, you need to
develop a vision.
What are your goals?
What are your visions for the future?. When you allow yourself to dream, who are you? Do you
want to be the person who becomes known for always being reliable and fair to those around you? Or as an individual who makes
a special contribution to their field? Whatever your career goal, it's hard to achieve it if you get caught up in the daily
grind. You may even allow yourself to become so busy that you forget what you're working for. Deadlines and stacks of paperwork
sometimes take on such a sense of urgency that they can usurp your higher aspirations.
While all work has some integrity and can improve your life, some tasks are more valuable than
others are when it comes to achieving your dreams.
Highly ambitious people envision a long-term goal that guides their
daily work. They see a connection between what they're doing right
now and where they want to be in the future. Think
about your
workdays. Are you consciously focused on moving your dreams ahead? If not, you should be. While you're thinking
about ways to better direct your efforts, here are some other ways to enhance your ambition. If you don't have anything you're
working towards, you'll have a hard time succeeding beyond where you currently are.
Avoid workplace politics
It's
hard to keep your ambitions alive in a negative work
environment. Remember, you scored a 6 out of 10 on our measure of
ambition. Unfortunately, most workplaces have their share of office politics. No matter how petty these internal disputes
become, it can be easy to get caught up in the issues of the day especially since office politics typically revolve around
personality or power struggles. It may seem that some co-workers spend the majority of
their workdays recounting disagreements
and spouting their
discontent. Meanwhile they've wasted time they could have been
spending to advance their own projects
and careers.
Think about the last time a political situation at work got the best of you. How much time did
you spend ruminating about it? Chances are that the issue you're remembering proved less important than you first thought.
In fact, you may barely remember what the big blowup was about.
Often times, these small battles are nothing but a distraction from your achieving your higher
goals.
How do you know which battles to choose and which to walk away from?
The next time office politics or some other kind issue flares up, ask yourself: Will engaging
in a discussion of this issue get me any closer to realizing my aspirations? If the answer is no, yourbest bet is to
walk away and focus your efforts elsewhere.
Map your Dream
To become ambitious, first you
need goals you wish to achieve. These aspirations shouldn't be vague desires like making a lot of money or acquiring material
possessions. After all, who doesn't want those things? The problem with that kind of focus is that the goal "making loads
of money" tells you nothing about how to get there. Although some highly successful people have lots of money, this outcome
was usually not the sole motivation to pursue their careers.
More often than not, researchers have found that successful people became that way by doing
something they loved and being the best at it.
Money wasn't their primary motivation. It was simply the result of their vision and hard work.
Take some time out and allow yourself to dream a little.
If you could do anything in the world, what would you love to do? Write down your dream and
then write as many steps as you can think of toward attaining it. Remember avoid using self-defeating language Now re-word
this dream into something you can do. Know
that there will probably be holes in the path you'll construct. After all,
if you know exactly how to reach your dream, you'd likely be busy attaining it. But don't let the gaps in your knowledge hold
you back. Every question has an answer. You just have to get out there and start asking them. This process can be the first
step to truly following your dreams.
