Is it a good or bad thing to be ambitious?
Summary: As a child, the author, Zig Ziglar, often heard his mother at her grocery store job comment, "He is really a very ambitious young man," or "She really has a lot of ambition." His thoughts were generally that ambition was a good thing. This type of ambition was derived of setting goals, and striving for achievement. The other side of ambition, however is fueled by laziness, and weakness. This type consists of cheating to get to the top, and not really earning the goals you "achieve." Ambition does not make the person, the person makes the ambition. You can make the ambition positive or negative. The choice is how you attack the goals you set for yourself. If you settle for cheating to get to the top, it's the wrong type of ambition. There are those who have ambition, but just settle for easily attainable goal. The do this only because it would be more convenient for them to put just enough effort to get by.
Opinion: I fully agree with this view. There are 3 types of people in this world: fighters- the ones with positive ambition, floaters- those that are content to settle for second best because it comes easy, and those too afraid to even try. Those with positive ambition, the fighters, seek adversity head on and accept challenges. It is only by facing adversity that we can reach our full potential. There are however, plenty of successful floaters. They hide behind excuses and others' work to receive credit. They are first to accept credit, and first to pass on criticism. Those type of people have negative ambition, because they do not fully strive to attain their full potential. I personally find myself working hard to be a fighter. It is those types of people that can change the world. I do not see myself bettering others by settling for less than my absolute best. If we all can put in the work, and strive for greatness, we can achieve things we can only dream of. These people truly have ambition.
Nice post, Chase. I especially like your model of the three types of people. You did a really good job of showing how they approach life.
ReplyDeleteNice post chase! I think that it's cool to look at the different types like this, it's interesting. I can definitely think of people that match to each of these types. Well said!
ReplyDeleteI think an upper-case "c" is needed in proper nouns John. But other than that I thought that the article was a good read and, Chase, your opinion on the matter is well stated.
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