Introduction to Managing Your Ambition.

Many strains in relationships and many career pitfalls later, I decided that they should start a class in college/high school: Manage Your Ambition. So many coffee conversations in college and thoughts about some maniacal aspirations come to mind. I remember my friends and family members mentioning how they want to start travel companies, desert bars, join the IMF, work in Japanese Stock markets, learn Chinese in college, learn Chinese from Self-study books, take courses in renaissance art, study in Italy, work in a marketing company in France, start gift shops, open up restaurants in Dubai, start medical mini-vans shops, set-up coffee vending machines on city streets, teach in under-developed schools in India, buy property in Switzerland and what–not.

Most of these are ‘goose-bumpers’ and sometimes serve as curtain-raisers. The main performance turns out to be all together else. The problem is simple: Life has infinite possibilities. More than a mantra to feel the influx of positives in our lives, this problem seems to get us through a million other problems. Take, for example, relationships. Once we have reached some level in our goal towards ambition, we quickly move to sort out all our million relationships. Before we know it, time is out. We are back to working towards repairing some parts of our ambition. Bottom line, ambition, to me, is simply similar to a machine. Quick fix there, quick oiling there and we are back at managing our personal life.

Sometimes we give up the most important things in life for this illusion of ambition. Other times, we strike the right chords and all is in place. I just think it will be super if there is some guidance at a younger age.

I don’t know what they can teach in this class. A weekly lecture on Writing Your Dreams or then How To Fulfill Your Uncle's or Grandfather’s Last Wishes, Encourage Others and How to Alter their Ambitions To Make them Feel like Yours, How to Calm Down when an Exciting Thought comes so as to Avoid Stepping on Dog-poop, How To Tone Down Your Own Far-Fetched Aspirations, or then - How to Make an Idea so Grandiose that People Want to Invest in Just the Thought and so much more.

They can write steps for you like (in a decision tree format):

1. Write down your ambition (in 10 words or less and limit to 5 Goals)
   
2. Put the date range to each (5 years 10 years)
3. Write over-arching plan to help you reach the goals
4. Write simple tasks that you need to follow – more like course of action
   
5. Jot down Restrainers – things that might impede your ride
6. Jot down things that will help you fight the restrainers
7. Write down simple weekly duties (working towards your over-arching plans and goals) fulfilling which you feel the blood rush

Ha !– I am no pro, but I just wish there was one out there (to hell with psychiatrists!) to help you manage our ambitions, however far-fetched they may be.