I. THEY HAVE HIGH AMBITION AND PASSION
“A man’s worth is no greater than his ambitions” – Marcus Aurelius (Roman Emperor)
Ambition is a strong desire to do or achieve something that makes you feel fulfilled and worthy. Highly successful people are ambitious. Ambition is the path to their success. It's exclusive to a handful of people who did extraordinary things in their lives to get them to where they are today. And it wasn't because they were lucky or because it was just handed to them by God. Most successful people in this world started from the bottom and worked their way up in life. The only time luck plays a role is when you are in the right place at the right time, but it's up to you to get yourself there. Being successful is all about how badly you want it and how much you're willing to work for it – it's about the traits you possess to help get you there.
You need a strong sense of ambition to get yourself to the top and compete with other ambitious people.
Sam Walton founder of Wal-Mart says “I think I overcame every single one of my personal shortcomings by the sheer passion I brought to my work. I don’t know if you’re born with this kind of passion, or if you can learn it. But I do know you need it.”
Ambition and Passion go hand in hand. Without Ambition you will never reach heights and without Passion you will never be able to complete the journey.
Ambition and passion act like a push and pull system. Ambition pulls and passion pushes. Ambition pulls you towards something great and passion pushes you towards something great. They are not opposites; they drive you in the same direction. Highly successful people know this secret. Most people could not do great things just because they have one of these 2 things missing in their life.
For Example: You want to be a billionaire, you are highly ambitious. You have committed to yourself that no matter what happens I will become a billionaire. But when you start working to make this big goal come true, you feel de-motivated after sometime. You feel exhausted. You feel lazy. You do work because you want to make money out of it. You feel lack of energy and drive to work your ass off and reach that big ambition and you start to doubt yourself and your ambition and soon you end up doing nothing.
All this happened because you were missing “Love for your work” “The only way to do great work is to love what you do” said Steve Jobs.
And in the opposite case, you have intense love and passion for your work; It is so intense that when you are doing that world you forget the world, food and sleep. You are so concentrated and focused that the work is guaranteed to succeed and suddenly you fail! All your efforts were drained in that sink. And guess what you didn’t even retry because you didn’t have that ambition. You didn’t have a destination to reach at. You did not have a goal. And so you end up being nothing.
All this happened because you were missing “a direction and a destination to reach at.”
See it from a perspective of a car race.
Will you win the race if you did not have a finish point?
Will you win the race if you did not have boost, while all the other cars have that?
Will you ever lose if you have a finish line and a lot of extra boosters that set you on fire and give you maximum speed and fuel?
I think I have made my point clear with the above example. You need to have a sense of direction and dream (ambition) and intense drive and love (Passion) for work.
“Passion is the genesis of genius” – Galileo Galilee (Philosopher)
Passion is the most common trait in each and every highly successful person. They are on fire, they are radiating with passion and inspiration. They are hungry – extremely hungry to be and do something excellent. Hunger or passion is the fuel to your actions, without passion you won’t grind your ass. Passion generates intrinsic motivation which is 1000 times more effective in pushing a person to act and generate results. Passion is what drives highly successful people. The best feeling in the world is getting paid to do what you love. You do not exhaust, you do not procrastinate; you do not doubt, you do not hold back, you do not let other people’s opinions decide your fate when you are over flooding with passions. You do not settle for less when you are filled with your passion. There is a difference between every champion and a looser, a looser plays for a reason and a champion play for his passion. Light yourself on fire with passion and people will come from miles to watch you burn said John Wesley. Allow your passion to become your purpose and it will one day become your profession.
“There is no passion to be found playing small – in setting for a life that is less than the one you are capable of living” – Nelson Mandela
When I was researching about what made them extraordinary, I was amazed to find that how many people have become robots without a fire in them. They work for money and not because they love something about it and want to do something excellent in the field. They do not push their limits, they do not push their standards higher and so they stay mediocre. These people were no better than the walking deads – zombies. It makes me very sad when I see people living without a purpose or passion. A man without passion is nothing more than a walking piece of bones and meat. What separates us humans from other animals is the ability to think, dream and work accordingly so that one day we can make the invisible into visible. This is what makes us alive! People without passion are not alive. That is why it is so essential to identify your passion and work on your passion. If you don’t have passion for something, my friend, trash those dreams right away.
I want you to become highly successful person and create a amazing life for yourself. You need to have passion and love what you do. It is what will keep you going throughout your journey, even when the life knocks you down, your passion will keep you on track. This is how important it is.
Bishop T.D. Jakes says “If you can’t figure out your life’s purpose, figure out your passion. For your passion will lead you right into your purpose.”
“Passion makes