What's The Rush?
Why our ambitions often fail to materialise.

In a world where we are told “anything is possible you just have to want it enough” there comes a void between reality and expectation.

Ambition over ability
Are you being realistic?

How often do you hear “I want to be rich; I want to be famous; I want to be the best” but seldom do we hear “I want to work hard”.
In a world where Social Media is full of “Reality Celebrities” who in reality contribute very little to society other than creating false images and expectations, a fantasy lifestyle and hollow images of happiness, how do you find a path that can help you reach your ambitions and ultimately be happy?
Firstly, recognise that these “Reality Celebrities” were created by marketing companies to sell you things, and things rarely buy us long term happiness.
Secondly you need to understand that your ambitions can only be achieved when you accept that you determine your future, in other words you only get out what you put in.
Knowing that the world does not owe you a living, nothing in this world comes for free and accepting that life isn’t perfect will enable you to become resilient when times get tough.

Knowing your STRENGTHS

How well do you think you really know yourself? We all have an image of ourselves and rarely do we really know what we are good or bad at. Have you ever asked someone for their honest opinion of yourself or overheard someone talking about you? This is usually a very uncomfortable experience as we seldom recognise the person they are describing, but instead of being offended we should take time to pick this apart. Ask yourself is there any truth in what they said, this of course is hard to do. Breaking down their thoughts and seeing what is behind the words can bring about a new self awareness. Self-awareness is the ability to take an honest look at your life without any attachment to it being right or wrong, good or bad
Using analysis tools are really helpful, SWOT analysis is usually applied to businesses, but this is as useful when applied personally.
The SWOT matrix can help you focus on what your strengths and weaknesses are, but also what opportunities and threats are presenting themselves to you at any time.
The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator looks at your personality type and can be very useful when you need to consider how you “tick”.
Belbin team roles examined and the need for teams to be balanced in order to be effective. Belbin stipulated nine team roles and knowing where you fit into a team will also increase your power to influence the team and the results of that team.
“Self-awareness gives you the capacity to learn from your mistakes as well as your successes. It enables you to keep growing.” – Lawrence Bossidy
Having self-awareness should always be viewed as a positive, otherwise how else would you know where you need to improve. Equally this can be applied to a business situation in evaluating the image your business currently portrays as opposed to the one you would like it to portray.

Developing your abilities to reach your ambition

No one was born with super-powers, instant knowledge or skills. Everything we know has to be learnt and this usually takes time. Remember knowledge is power and knowing how to do anything requires us to want to learn how to do it in the first place.
Never see asking how or why as a weakness, when we are children, we ask hundreds of questions a day, an hour even in some cases, so why do we stop asking when we become adults? Fear of being thought stupid, feeling we should be the “authority”?
Seeking out training and education increases our power, reading every day around your business acquiring knowledge, opinions and viewpoints, seeing both the macro and micro influences over your chosen industry will gain you insights to help your make informed strategic decisions that you will be able to build on to ultimately reach your ambition.