You cannot teach ambition. Ambition cannot be transferred from one person to another. Ambition is a self-driven initiative. It is hard to turn someone who has little or no ambition into an extremely ambitious person.
I always give an example of those athletes who had all the talent in the world but had no self-drive to propel their sporting careers to greater heights. Some of them had the best coaches and support, yet they never fulfilled their potential, at best they remained average.
From a South African perspective, soccer player Jabu Pule comes to mind. Similarly, in a corporate space, you do find people who are content with where they are, they have no desire to ascend to the next level. All they want is a job that will help them sustain a certain lifestyle.
On the flip side, I’ve witnessed a lot of awfully unskilled and less competent people flourish at astonishing levels. This is simply because of their ambition and their reluctance to accept anything less than what they think they deserve. They will not quit, rather they will always go an extra-mile.
As an amateur runner, I recommend that all ambitious people take up running. I have, over the past 10 years or so, participated in a number of long-distance road races.
Let me share some key lessons I have learned from running that not only fuelled my sense of ambition, but also shaped my corporate career:
- Know the route before the race
- It helps to train properly as I know exactly what to anticipate, nothing is a surprise on the day.
- You cannot run beyond your level of fitness
- A marathon, for instance, demands an intense level of fitness. There is nothing wrong in aspiring for a senior role or ascending the corporate ladder, but do consider your fitness
- Uphills are to be expected, they are part of the route
- There is hardly a flat surfaced race anymore, you have to expect uphills and downhills. Running an up-hill is the hardest, this is where boys are separated from the men and girls from women. It’s a moment to persevere and never give up
- Those who finish the race are always rewarded.
I have, over the years, accumulated a lot of medals. These are given at the end of the race after one has crossed the finish line. I don’t recall ever seeing medals given before or during the race, it’s always at the end of the race. All commendable things in life require determination and commitment.
Embrace the pain, run to win.
* This article has been edited
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Also read:
Don’t allow your emotions to get the better of you
Strive for a people-centred leadership style
