Ambition is “a strong desire to do something” or is “a strong desire to achieve something”. What is the right age to have an ambition? As a child, all of us have had our likes and fancies. When we see a pilot well dressed with a tie and a cap, we want to fly aircrafts when we grow up. When we see a doctor in his attire with a stethoscope round his neck, we get the desire to become a doctor. So ambition is definitely not something which is framed in our mind as and when we see attractive people around us. When we were young, we have had many desires which keeps changing. Such desires are not our ambition. When we grow up a little more and know how the world functions, when we get an idea about the pros and cons of different jobs and then when we choose a profession as what we would do when we grow up, that is our ambition. We cannot fix a particular age as the right age to create an ambition. But once we create an ambition, we must stick on to it and fight hard to achieve it.
- How should your ambition be?
It must energize you – Every time you think about your ambition, you should feel motivated
It should be achievable – some students fix unachievable ambitions – for example, at the same time, to become a doctor as well as an engineer
You should be able to visualize your ambition – 15 years down the line or 10 years down the line, you should have achieved your ambition, so you must visualize that you are already a doctor or an engineer, etc.
It should be constant – You should not keep on changing your ambition – Stop being whimsical and have a firm mind
It need not be unique – You could share your ambition with others – There is nothing wrong in 2 or more students sharing a common ambition – This would only help them to do group study and fulfill their ambitions.
- Why should you have an ambition?
For good performance in your academics – You will be driven to do well with your subjects at school
For consistent good results – When you have an ambition, you will do well throughout and improve your past scores/ performances
For making study interesting – You will make the subjects interesting for you and perform well
For making your teachers and parents proud – In your success lies the happiness and pride of your teachers, parents and friends and you will be successful if you are ambitious
What you must do to achieve your ambition
- Hard work
There is no substitute for hard work. When the ambition is set, your next plan should be to work hard and seek the guidance of teachers and other mentors and plan your study. Develop a good network of people who will be with you throughout your journey of life. You can always rely on this network of family and friends for any support/ guidance that you need.
- Perseverance
Failures are pillars for success. Every time you fail, there is a lesson that you learn. And with every lesson that you learn, the more experienced you become. In future, when faced with similar situations, you will be more matured to handle them and come out successful eventually.
- Be consistent
Systematic and regular study is important. The more you are regular, the more thorough you become with the concepts that you study. The more strong with the concepts of study, the easy it is to face exams, do well and realize your ambition.
- Be a good initiator
Start being proactive and do things that will bear fruits. There is nothing wrong in experimenting because all the great inventors of this world have been great experimentalists.
- Develop the necessary skills
To a great extent, the skills that you possess help you achieve your ambition quickly. If you should become a doctor, you must be strong in Biology and Chemistry, if you should become an engineer, you must be strong in Math’s and Physics. Develop skills in the subjects and become expert in your area. Great professionals are respected for their skill, knowledge and behavior.
- Ambition must match basic skills
Suppose your basic skills is Math’s and not Biology – then you must aim to become an engineer. So ambition must match basic skills.
- Define your ambition well
To achieve great things, you must first be able to define what you want to achieve. An ideal ambition of a class 11 commerce group student would be “When I grow up, I would do an MBA in Finance and eventually become the Chief Financial Officer of an organization like Infosys”. Here we observe that the course that the student wants to study, the designation that the student aspires to be after a few years and the organization that the student desires to join are all well-defined!
- Do not exaggerate
Almost everybody has an ambition. Very few strive hard to realize their ambition. The rest just while away their time and study in the last minute to get an average score and be contented with that score. There are others who exaggerate their ambition and do too many things to realize it. This has to be avoided. Give the correct amount of importance to your ambition and the preparations.
- Avoid being irrelevant
While defining your ambition, it is very essential that you be relevant. An irrelevant way of defining your ambition is “I want to become a chef when I grow up and I would not do a catering course”. How can you become a chef without doing a catering course? A more appropriate way of defining the above ambition is “I want to become a chef when I grow up and I would do a catering course. Also I will take training for improving my soft skills”. A good chef needs good soft skills to clear interviews and get selected in multi star hotels to do his job.
- If you can’t be number one, see to it that you are not the last
To be number one is desired, but if you cannot be number one, make sure you are the average of your class. Don’t hate academics to an extent that you are the last in your class/ batch.
GURUJEE faculty, Lakshmi ma’am says
Be ambitious for yourself
Yourself means, for your own self respect, self confidence and satisfaction of your mind
Be ambitious, NOT, for your parents nor for the negative people, nor for the negative comments you have heard about yourself
But be ambitious for what you want to be.
For what do you think you can become
For what you think can make yourself perfect
When you achieve the goal you had targeted, you should feel proud of yourself and make others think you are the perfect person for this job
While you are trying to achieve your goal, or you have achieved it, make sure you are still unique in that field. Follow your instincts.
Don’t follow other’s instinct
Debating with yourselves often can make you a polished jewel
Your crude skills are uncut diamonds but when they are perfectly shaped, it becomes the most lustrous Belgium cut diamonds.
The great leader Cesar Chavez says, “We cannot seek achievement for ourselves and forget about progress and prosperity for our community. Our ambitions must be broad enough to include the aspirations and needs of others, for their sakes and for our own.”
One day when your ambition is realized, it should be for the good of not only you, but also the society. May all the students’ ambitions be realized and may all the students materialize their dreams.
Good Luck and God bless!
C K Chandrasekar, TEAM GURUJEE
This blog is just great… It really helps to build up a positive inspiration from within ourselves…. Thank you GURUJEE