Ambition for Success Essays

Ambition for Success Essays Ambition for Success Essay Ambition for Success Essay We all wanted to be successful in whatever we do, whether it is in education, in working, or in our everyday living. But what is it that drives every man to succeed or to pursue success? I believe that ambition plays a very important role in pursuing and achieving success. It is an admirable quality for a person to possess. An anonymous person once said that a heightened sense of ambition gives a person the strength to tear down the obstacles and keep on towards the goal. Even the author Peter Verinder admits that ambition is part of the human condition. More often, ambition lets us choose between our priorities to achieve our dreams. Because of ambition, people love their work and their actions reflect that. Examples of the people who succeeded because of ambition were Jack Welch, Cyrus McCormick, James J. Hill and John D. Rockefeller. Jack Welch, who works for GE, had a â€Å"million-dollar† ambition during high school and he exceeded it. Cyrus McCormick, on the other hand, ambitioned to be a millionaire. He became one when he was 57. Jack Hill was the builder of the Great Northern Railroad, and he set his financial goal during his 20s. John Rockefeller wanted to be worth $100,000 someday. When he grew up, he was worth 10,000 times that much. See what ambition can do to a person? Ambition comes from desiring to do great and to explore other things that we can do. As Brim says, â€Å"†¦we want action and growth†¦we want to be challenged. We want to shape, form, and build our own lives.† We continue to live everyday and face the many challenges that come with our endeavors. People need more of these challenges to be able to â€Å"test their powers† and therefore see more into their hidden skills and capabilities. However, ambition alone will not work. It needs action. Jack Hill wouldn’t have become a millionaire if he just sat in his corner all day. He wouldn’t be known for the Great Northern Railroad if he didn’t put in work. Corrigan (1999) says that ambition leads to action. In the corporate world, a person may exert effort to achieve personal recognition, power, or bigger salary. Or he may want to be ambitious to make the company more progressive. Corrigan also adds that ambition drives a person to change and develop within an organization. The employees in the lower level also want to improve their position, that’s why they put the values of the organization to their heart. As a whole, the organization relies upon individual ambition to achieve success. When we aspire for something, we also think of the better ways how we can achieve them. We consider the people around us, the circumstances, ourselves. This never happens when it comes to luck. More often than not, luck does not happen to all successful or unsuccessful people at all times, just like in Helzberg`s situation. We do not anticipate luck because we cannot tell when it befalls us, therefore we do not work harder just to be worthy of that. On the other hand, the case of envy is different. Mild envy could result to something more serious because a person is not content with what he has and still wanted something that other people have or own. I think that envious people do not have a healthy outlook in life.   Envy makes you resent that person who has the top position, the money, the great house, and the many opportunities. You become more frustrated with your job and your accomplishments because you compare them with others’. A person pursuing success needs to focus on what can be improved. And as Warren Harding says, â€Å"Ambition is a commendable attribute, without which no man succeeds. Only inconsiderate ambition imperils.† REFERENCES Corrigan, Paul. Shakespeare on Management: Leadership Lessons for Today’s Managers. London: Dover, N.H. Kogan Page, 1999. Krieger, Richard Alan. Civilization’s Quotations: Life’s Ideal. New York: Algora Publishing, 2002. Locke, Edwin A. The Prime Movers: Traits of the Great Wealth Creators. New York, AMACOM Books, 2000.