by
THY-JONE

The best time, or sometimes just a good time to do things is not always what we may envision. I have always liked to sit down to write when my mind is in a good place and things seem to make sense. However, I am discovering that not only does that take away the full experience, but it also interferes with my learning of the lessons through the seasons. Being ambitious is amazing, and the most dangerous thing about being ambitious is the ambition. This is because the ambitions do not consult for facts nor do they for reasons, they are just bulls’ eyes waiting to be hit by the perfect dart. Ambition could also be the best thing in some cases.

People do not often come up with crazy ideas and/or challenges for themselves. However, it takes courage to be ambitious, this is because ambition tends to often correlate with delusion. I say this because most ambitious people set goals before plans. It is important to note that there are two sides to this approach. The humble way and the arrogant way; The humble way is when people recognize the magnitude of their goal and commit to taking the right approach to reaching the goal, by coming up with a plan divided into progressively attainable steps. On the other hand, the arrogant approach is one where people who set goals assume that the simple fact that they were able to set a goal equates to their ability to reach the goal without putting in much effort.

Setting a goal is just the beginning of the journey. Although one could argue that setting a goal alone is quite unfinished business, a goal needs to be concise and well-defined before any action is taken toward it. When someone establishes a goal, takes time to understand its magnitude, and eventually thinks about the required steps. They start by identifying their do and don’t have. This allows for the person to assess their current level, and plan on how to improve themselves into the version that would be able to execute the next step. This process can be lengthy, as each step may require a slightly different version (e.g., an upgraded version) that will require patience to learn and humility to be taught. This approach will essentially turn into a loop system: Assess current level – Identify needed new skill (s) – Find training/ teaching program – Learn a new skill (s) – Master new skill (s) – Execute step. Repeat upon reaching a new level. It is important to remember that humility is a key factor to this approach and almost, if not as equally important, courage is the ingredient that allows for someone to not only frankly face each step, but also to do what needs to be done, how it needs to be done, without being attached to a certain outcome.

The arrogant approach sounds negative just by its name and everyone is ready to stand and shout, “I do not use the arrogant approach”. However, we all do it sometimes, and call it confidence. Although confidence is a good thing it often blinds us from our actual abilities. True confidence comes from preparation. Misappropriating the level of a task can be met with great disappointment, not only will the task fail, but also, a major setback can result due to a major lack of preparation. As the saying goes “You can’t run before you can walk’, which essentially highlights the importance of doing things in order, and the necessity to respect the order to be able to maximize the returns. It is important to note that knowing one’s personal abilities is important, and even more important should be learning to not misassign abilities in one area to another. For example, being good at road biking doesn’t make one good at trail biking, and vice versa. It is also important to note that the arrogant approach is usually applied by capable people who have had multiple accomplishments in their lives and tend to overlook the preparation process because of their previous successes. Sometimes the lack of needed new skills in a long stretch of closely related accomplishments makes all the difference.

When thinking about the two approaches, it is important to note how closely related these approaches are and yet very different from each other. It is not always about taking the humble approach, because sometimes people default to the humble approach when facing a new situation instead of making a fair assessment of the situation and seeing whether they already possess the needed knowledge and abilities to complete the task or whether learning of new skills is required. Hence a confident person is usually seen as arrogant. However, the determining factor should be the result; If arrogant, the person will most likely fail to complete the task, and if confident, the person will most likely successfully complete the task if the situation was misdiagnosed. Thus, the humble approach is more of an option and not an obligation. Being an option does not remove its value, but rather emphasizes that learning may happen at various stages in one’s life and therefore might need extra training before completing a certain task.

At times it is a habit that we are trying to create or break. For this, there is a set of steps to follow to reach a desired goal. However, these steps alone are not always the only elements to help successfully build or destroy habits. The right steps need to be accompanied by the right environment and the right boundaries. For instance, when dieting, portions, meal times, food quality, and bedtime can constitute the boundaries, which will lead to needing specific environments to actively reach the goal, such as purchasing food beforehand, eating at specific times, and being home at reasonable hours to be asleep at the established time. As slightly depicted here, for the success of the set goal, all parties need to work hand in hand. In other words, it is important to consider every piece of the puzzle as equally important when trying to achieve a picture. Every step has a reason to be, and their completion is crucial to the process as a whole. Thus, the success of the goal is only as successful as that of each step leading to the said goal.

In sum, regardless of the seemingly chosen approach, a person needs to be more committed to the goal than to themselves, as this commitment will push them into becoming a version that is not only able to complete the task but is also different than the version they previously were. This will help them understand that the goal was never impossible to reach and that the limitation to reaching the goal was solely based on whether or not they would become the kind of people that successfully reach that specific goal.

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THY-JONE

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