Kristen Ogden said something today that got me thinking about ambitions. Ambitions are things we aspire to do. They motivate us to action and help us focus our energies toward productive activities.

I have tons of ambitions.

• Run my own business
• Help other people through that business
• Purchase a home
• Be a good father
• Many others that are more like “goals” (write a screenplay, write a song, etc)

I think ambitions (and things a person is doing to achieve these ambitions) make a person interesting. You find out what interests that person — what they think about, and what they crave. You find out so much about a person.

How do you find these things out though? Are these ambitions supposed to come up in casual conversation? Should I be introducing myself by saying, “Hello. I’m David. I’m from the Palm Springs/Palm Desert area and one day I hope to run a business that will help its customers and employees improve their lives in meaningful ways.”

That just sounds wrong. That kind of stuff should come up naturally with time, right?

Maybe I’m looking at this “ambition” thing the wrong way. Maybe it’s not an ambition until you’re committed to it, and if you’re committed to something, it’s going to be a much bigger part of your life than someone someone has to wait weeks or months to find out. It should be apparent within days of knowing you.

Well that’s my problem. There are so many things I want to do that I have trouble committing to just one. It’s not that I don’t know what to do with my life. I don’t know what not to do with my life — so much so that I may actually end up doing nothing. Maybe without commitment, I have no ambition.

Filed under: General