Ambition is an eager desire to succeed. Unfortunately, this formula doesn’t always work in reverse. Desire does not always translate into ambition. Desire is what you want for yourself: a bigger house, a better car, a fatter bank account, a better life. Ambition is how you get them.
Desire is sometimes healthy and sometimes unhealthy. Desire might lead you to want the tallest building in town. The destructive side of desire might urge you to tear down all of the other buildings. I (Jim Rohn) guess that’s one way to do it. You might get away with tearing down the first one, and maybe the second. But in your desire to tear them all down, sooner or later you’ll run into some guy standing in front of his building saying, “I’m on to you… get out of here.” And pretty soon, you’re no longer known as a builder. You’re known as a destroyer.
To a lot of people, ambition is kind of a mystery. The dictionary says it is “an eager desire for distinction, power or fame.” But what does that really mean? Let’s start with the word eager. All by itself, eager is kind of exciting. Kids are eager for their birthday parties. They expect to be the center of attention, to get lots of presents, to eat too much. For that matter, I (Jim Rohn) guess grown-ups are eager for birthdays, too… unless, of course, they’re embarrassed that the candles on the cake outnumber their achievements! We can be eager to see a ball game, eager to see our kids in a dance recital, eager to see an old friend, eager to shop for a new car. Eager sounds like a lot of fun!
But do you ever hear people say they are “eager to live a better life,” “eager to have a better family,” “eager to make a lot of money?” Probably not. And that’s a problem, because as I see it, living a better life, having a better family, and making a lot of money takes an eager desire.
Don’t wish for a better wind. The key is to wish for the wisdom to set a better sail. Utilize whatever wind that blows to take you where you want to go. That is the philosophy of success I (Jim Rohn) picked up at the age of twenty-five, and it revolutionized my whole life. Here’s what I found: I found it was easy. I was a millionaire at the age of thirty-one, and I found it wasn’t difficult at all.
Now, here’s my definition of easy: something I could do. I figure, if it’s something you can do, it’s easy. But here’s a little qualification: I worked hard at it. I made sure my disciplines were in line. I made sure my habits were good. I made sure I did all that I could. I found something that I could do, but I worked hard at it. I got up early and stayed up late and worked hard from age twenty-five to thirty-one. But what I did was easy, meaning it was something I could do.
What is the measure of success? How do you know if you’re successful… really successful? What if your success is vastly different from someone else’s success?
Here’s your measure: results. You need to be making measurable progress in reasonable time. All life asks is that we make measurable progress in reasonable time. As parents, managers, and coworkers, we’ve got to be reasonable with time.
You can’t ask somebody every five minutes, “How are you doing now?” He will say, “I haven’t left the building yet. Give me a break.” Five minutes is too soon to ask. Five years is too late to ask. So what is a reasonable time to ask for results? Here’s the first time: at the end of the day. You can’t let more than a day go by without getting some things done, writing some letters, having a conversation with your son or daughter. You can’t postpone the important things more than a day.
Success is a very personal thing. For some people it means money; for others, love; and still others, happiness. That’s why you need to define success for yourself. Otherwise, how will you know whether or not you’ve achieved it?
Forming your own definition of success takes a combination of philosophies and ideologies. You need the mental food and exercises that others provide. You need to open your mind to different alternatives. You need to learn to appreciate the other side of the debate so you can strengthen and defend your own views.
You’ve got to listen to a variety of speakers and read a variety of books. No one speaker or one book has all the answers for you. You need a variety of influences. You need a variety of books in your library. You need a variety of voices.
William James, one of the most notable philosophers and psychologists in our history, is the founder of a philosophy called pragmatism. To be pragmatic is to be practical… to test the validity of a concept by its practical results, to actually question something and rate its usefulness by what it can do for you, to think a method of doing something and figure out if it’s even worth your while.
One of the issues Mr. James dealt with in his lifetime was, “What does it mean to be a success, a significant person?” After years of pondering this question, he described success as a combination of two things. First, success is an inner ideal that is courageously and persistently followed. And second, success is outer achievement related to that ideal.
When it comes to meeting and conquering the negativity in your life, here is a key question: what can you do, starting today, that will make a difference? That’s a good question. What can yo do during economic chaos? What can yo do when everything has gone wrong? What can you do when you’ve run out of money, when you don’t feel well and it’s all gone sour? What can you do?
Let me (Jim Rohn) give you the broad answer first. You can do the most remarkable things, no matter what happens. People can do incredible things, unbelievable things, despite the most impossible or disastrous circumstances.
Even kids can do remarkable things–that is, if they have remarkable things to do. I have also found that if they don’t have remarkable things to do, there’s no telling what they’ll do.
Perseverance is about as important to achievement as gasoline is to driving a car. Sure, there will be times when you feel like you’re spinning your wheels, but you’ll always get out of the rut with genuine perseverance. Without it, you won’t even be able to start your engine.
The opposite of perseverance is procrastination. Perseverance means you never quit. Procrastination usually means you never get started, although the inability to finish something is also a form of procrastination.
Ask people why they procrastinate and you’ll often hear something like this: “I’m a perfectionist. Everything has to be just right before I can get down to work. No distractions, not too much noise, no telephone calls interrupting me, and of course I have to be feeling well physically, too. I can’t work when I have a headache.”
