[am-bish-uh n]
–noun
An earnest desire for some type of achievement or distinction, as power, honor, fame, or wealth, and the willingness to strive for its attainment.
Ambition is at the heart of all true success stories. That’s because success is based on one thing: achievement. Sure there are plenty of people with fame and money who have never had to work for it—but rarely are they considered a “success.” Rather, it’s the people who have had to make sacrifices; who have worked tirelessly and been resourceful who we look to as our icons of success. And the thing that drives those people is ambition.
The question I have for you today is: how ambitious are you? The answer will determine the level of success you will attain in your business venture, because it will define exactly what you’re willing to do to make it succeed. Obviously, unchecked ambition can be dangerous because it ignores everything else but the sought-after “prize” of money, fame, or whatever you’re after. But a strong, healthy sense of ambition is absolutely necessary if you’re going to overcome the obstacles that stand between you and your goal.
There are millions of people who start up a business each year; yet only a small percentage of them actually establish themselves and continue to grow after the first few years. Even less become more than just a steady source of income for the owner. Of course, there are some cases where disaster strikes and a business fails because of things outside of the owner’s control, and every once in a while there’s a business idea so ridiculous it is simply not sustainable. But for the most part, the failure of a business is about not having the chutzpah to keep it going no matter what comes up.
Entrepreneurship is not for the faint of heart. The blood, sweat and tears that goes in to starting up a business are done so not for money, but for creative achievement that every entrepreneur has as part of their personality. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: not everyone can be an entrepreneur. It takes a very special person with not only talent, knowledge and ability but a powerful ambition to see their work take root and flourish.
Ambition requires that you have enough faith in yourself that you won’t back down in the face of criticism or discouragement. It means that you are resourceful enough to come up with solutions when all hope seems lost. It means you’re not above rolling up your sleeves and working all night, or asking for help when you really need it. Ambition means that you believe in your company enough that you are ready to talk about it any time you have an opportunity.
Throughout history there have been a small percentage of people—men and women—who have risen to the top, regardless of where they’ve started out in life; people who have taken the flash of inspiration and carried it through to a concrete reality; individuals with the ability to create their own vision so clearly that they manifest it in everything that they do. They are the ambitious. Are you?