What Drives Ambition?

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Have you ever wondered what drives a person’s ambition? First off, there is a difference between working hard and being ambitious. When someone works hard, they go the extra mile to do the best they can with what they have. Someone who is ambitious always wants more whereas a hard worker may be content with what they have. Very few people are truly ambitious in the worldly sense, beyond simple hard work that is. This article will examine what really drives human ambition as well as look at how a commitment to personal growth can serve to enhance our natural ambitions.

Is it faith of fear (of “lack”)?

We have always been told that if we want to succeed, then we have to believe in ourselves. So do those that truly succeed in following their dreams and achieving everything they want out of life truly have faith in their enterprise? Or is it something else. Maybe it is a fear of “lack”, which always drives them to want to acquire more. Consequently the more you acquire, the more you find yourself lacking. The very thing you lack may be leisure time spent not working or some intimate relationship that was forsaken due to ambition.

If you are driven by a fear of lack or the belief that resources are scarce, then you will always feel empty. You will also always seem to find the energy to keep pushing. This is often masked by a supposed “work ethic”, almost to the point of deceiving ourselves. The Bible and even eastern religions teach that we are quite adept at living in illusion. The ironic part is that we always have the power to awaken ourselves to consciousness and make time for personal growth.

In this fast-paced culture we live in, it is hard to make time for personal growth and self-development. This is especially true if you are always afraid there will never be enough. This also explains why so many people, especially in the United States, choose to take medications as opposed to take charge of their destinies and empowering themselves through personal growth. Maybe this is the basis for the Zombie Apocalypse; when a bunch of people awaken to consciousness all at once and realize what has happened to them.

Overcoming the fear of “lack” and living in abundance

As you develop personally, you realize you do not really need all that much to live on. This is the basis for minimalism (and there are plenty of minimalist blogs out there today).  When you learn how to manage your money, your money ceases to manage you. It really is the root of all evil if we let it control us through the fear of lack.

The principle of living in abundance does not mean being rich. It means being content with what we have. We may still have our ambition but we will be more content with what we have until we get what we want. A sign of personal growth is that we never give up on our goals; although we realize that life is a journey and not the destination we may have been led to believe all of our lives.

Another theory of living in abundance is that we realize work will always be there, and we will better conserve our energy by living mindfully and taking care of whatever business needs to be done today and let tomorrow take care of itself. Ironically, all of our goals manifest slowly over time.

Also time goes by much slower when we live in the present and do not push ourselves so hard to acquire something solely out of a fear of lack.  Living mindfully also equates to living in the moment. We develop a prosperity mindset in which the future and the present are one. We literally see our goals manifest even though we have not experienced them yet. This frees us up to enjoy life the way it was meant to be enjoyed. Our work does not have to be the “curse upon man” that some religions teach, even if we do work long hours. As the saying goes, “it is what we make of it”.

Even more ironic, when we do not push ourselves so hard in the present moment, we somehow get more done because we work at a more relaxed and consistent pace. Others may see us as lazy because we are not as driven as them but there is a fine line between lazy and smart. As you persevere in personal growth, you do not become lazier; you just learn to work smarter and focus on prioritizing what you really want out of life.

E Bishop Wooten

The Liberal Conservative Blog
http://ebishopwooten.com