AMBITION: A Gymnast's Dream

There is always someone better than me, but that doesn’t mean I’ll give up,

There is always something to bring me down, but nevertheless I get up.

Gymnastics is my dream and dance is my hope,

It is why I am, what I am and how I cope.

Sweat dries, blood clots, bones heal,

This is my motto.

Jump off the beam, flip off the bars,

Follow your dreams and reach for the stars.

But don’t tell me the sky's the limit,

When there are footsteps on the moon to prove it.

You can do anything as long as you believe.

I can’t always choose the music life plays for me,

But I can choose how I dance to it.

This is why the sky isn’t the limit.

AMBITION: My Problematic Fave

There is a phrase, often used on the social media website ‘tumblr’, when one refers to something as their ‘problematic fave’. This is when you like something a lot, but it has issues that distress you or you disagree with. This is what ambition is to me.

I’ve always been pretty ambitious in terms of what I would like to do or accomplish when I am older. Such ambitions include becoming an astronaut (every five year old child’s dream) and a postal worker (blame my childhood obsession with Postman Pat!). Ever since I really started to get into reading for pleasure though, all my ambition has been geared towards writing. Whether it’s through books, news articles, poetry, features, opinion pieces or reviews, I have spent the best part of the last nine years dreaming of sharing my thoughts and ideas with the rest of the world. My ambition to accomplish these things has made certain that I always have something that I am passionate about to work towards.

Unfortunately, nothing comes without caveats. The reason that ambition is problematic for me is that it requires effort. Many people will probably dismiss this issue as me being lazy, or the product of my generation – a group of young people that spends all their time hunched in front of a computer screen, in a darkened room, staring blankly at funny cat photos on the internet. This would be an incorrect assumption to make. Effort is, for most people, a very limited resource. One can only do so much before all they are physically capable of doing is hunching over a humorous cat photo filled screen. This a particular issue for my generation, as more is expected from young people, academically, than ever before. More and more children attend university than ever before (which is great – I love that there are more opportunities for people to learn about the things they are passionate about) which means that everything is more competitive. In order to enter into a field like journalism, one has to get a vast amount of experience in an industry where there is little room for the inexperienced to get any. This makes getting anywhere in the world of writing incredibly difficult due to the need to push one’s way into a system that is guarded by a force field built from multiple catch-22s.

The main reason why my ambition is to be a writer is because it is a broad enough field that I can incorporate most of the many things I have a passion for. The second major catch-22 that blocks me from achieving my goals is that in order to find time to improve my writing skills and gain experience, there is far less time available to spend on the things I actually want to write about: music, film and other forms of media that require one to sacrifice their time in order that they may be knowledgeable enough to give their opinion on.

At this point I have covered several things that contribute to my effort-o-metre. It has now reached a state where the effort levels are so high that the effort-o-metre has reached critical capacity. I have no energy left to write, listen to or play music, watch and analyse films or read enough to improve my writing, let alone work hard for my upcoming exams. This is where we come to the great the great thing about ‘problematic faves’, they’re important enough that when one’s effort-o-metre is full to bursting, there is still enough motivation left to put in that extra bit of effort even if you have none left.

AMBITION: From Evolution to Chocolate - Ambition’s Power

Life is full of ambition. If it weren’t for our intrepid ancestors who first ventured out from their hunter-gatherer ways and into an agricultural revolution, civilisation as we know it could never have been achieved. If it weren’t for the audacious scientists at NASA and the Soviet Space Programme, man would never have set foot on the moon; and, if it weren’t for the aspiring Mr John Cadbury, mankind would never have sampled the sweet, blissful taste of a Cadbury’s Dairy Milk chocolate bar. Ambition is what motivates people and makes them strive to make the world a better place, be it to feed humankind, or supply us with divine chocolate.

Ambition resonates with me. Ever since I first read a copy of The Times newspaper, I have yearned to follow in the footsteps of the great correspondents John Simpson, Sydney Schanberg and John Swain. In fact, this is why I am writing this very piece of writing now, because my ambition is to become a journalist of the highest order (Pulitzer Prize included). The American academic and former reporter Samantha Power once said, ‘I got into journalism as a means to try to change the world’; this is a mantra (I hope) all credible journalists hold dear to their great profession and one I hope to carry with me into the future as I strive to become a more talented writer.

Possessing an ambition is a gift. There are too many people in this world who seem to be content with living life for the sake of living. Humans possess an incredible ability to actually be aware of their own existence. With this consciousness, man has the capability of striving for greatness. This is why ambition should not be taken for granted and why it is infuriating to see people who don’t want to make a difference, who don’t see the need to improve the world, or who don’t even want to make something of themselves. There is always the argument that those with fewer opportunities just can’t afford to aspire to achieve great things for civilisation. But I say our modern, developed and globalised world brings such bright openings to one and all that each and every human in the established world, regardless of their background or status, can aspire to do astounding things. Ambition drives greatness and greatness makes our big, brilliant blue marble even better.

AMBITION: The pressures of academia

There was a period of time in the last academic year in which I focused on only one of my GCSE subjects. It was a subject that had eluded me since the days of primary school, when my classmates proceeded onto the “fun” challenges of extra work and I was left staring at a blank calculator screen. It was, up until year 11, universally acknowledged that I couldn’t do maths. I just couldn’t.

I hated the numbers. I hated how somehow the alphabet got involved with all the numbers. And as if that wasn’t complicated enough, somehow the Ancient Greek alphabet got involved with the numbers too and there were special signs to show different things and I couldn’t keep track of any of them because they all looked the same and it felt like I was drawing squiggles on past papers and getting marks for it anyway.

By Year 11, I was predicted a B. This letter always frustrated me whenever it was mentioned by tutors or teachers or parents, because I felt I could do better. And I could. I had spent so much time telling myself that I couldn’t do maths that I failed to realize how many people were worse at it than me. And so I worked, with the help of my selfless teacher who gave up some of her lunchtimes to help me, a friend in the year above who went over any questions I was stuck on and my sister, who threw revision books at me like I was the middle of a dartboard and she wanted the perfect score. I stayed up late every night during study leave going over what I didn’t understand. I started maths revision earlier than any other subject. I worked so hard that I started daydreaming about what my reaction would be if I opened my exam results envelope and saw an A in maths staring back at me.

I got an A. And I was so happy. I was ecstatic, crazily so for about three weeks until the excitement wore off and there was no one who hadn’t already heard my exact UMS mark in each of the specific modules I had taken.

GCSE’s are important. They require work, knowledge and dedication. Over the past academic year, I had managed to prove to myself that I was able to do maths and that I was able to get a good grade in it, but I stopped focusing on everything else. My fundamental problem with my GCSE grade was this: I had started to define myself by my own level of productivity. What happened if I hadn’t gotten an A? How would I have taken the news? Would a grade lower than I wanted mean that I wasn’t good enough?

The ruthless way society puts pressure on pupils is destructive. We focus so much on grades that they sometimes feel like they matter more than we do. Henry Thoreau is famously quoted to have said that, “ what you get by achieving your goals is not as important as what you become by achieving your goals”. I’m normally not a fan of aphorisms, but I believe Thoreau was right in this instance. My ambition, in this case, did not matter. It would not have mattered if I didn’t get the grade I wanted because I worked for it, and revised for it, and the end result proved more than my ability to satisfy criteria on a sheet. 

AMBITION: 'When I grow up...'

When I was 3, I wanted to be a cat (though I unfortunately suffered from being human).

When I was 5, I wanted to play for Arsenal (though I'm terrible at football).

When I was 8, I wanted to be a spy (though I based my future life entirely off James Bond).

When I was 10, I wanted to front a rock band (though I can't sing, dance, or play an instrument).

When I was 12, I wanted to be an author (though I get bored of anything I write beyond 2000 words).

When I was 14, I wanted to join the Peace Corps (though I realised the impact they make is minimal).

Now that I'm 17, I want to be a journalist (and yet I still feel conflicted about it).

Ambition has always seemed like a tricky issue – we have one life, and not everything we want can be achieved through it. Beyond that, much of what we want simply may be too difficult to achieve. Whether we like it or not, we have to do something that will earn us money. I'll be honest: I have, on many separate occasions, romanticised my future. The recurring vision of my future is me as an ex-pat, moving from city to city, living beyond constraints, but I know that that probably will not be the case.

The wide-eyed idealist wants to change the world, and more recently I have discovered that changing the world may be easier than it seems. One does not have to lead a revolution to do it, but simply know where to put their time and money. If I were to be a journalist, I may have a platform from which to advocate a specific cause. If I make money, I would be able to donate large sums to really effective charities. So my ambition has become to do my bit to make a mark on the world which to some extent heals it, as large as I can make it, even if it still is very small.

AMBITION: Its all in the Mind

This is an article about ambition and my ambition. It is my belief that anyone, of any intelligence, can strive to their ambition with the right mind-set. An example would be Albert Einstein; Einstein was not the smartest in his class at school and was known to not do well in examinations. Of course, we know that Einstein became a renowned theoretical physicist who is considered the father of quantum physics. Einstein famously said "Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow. The important thing is to not stop questioning.”. This quote gives us an important message: learn from your mistakes to better your future. Einstein is telling us that with this mind-set we can strive to great things.

My personal ambition is still ambiguous, but I know what I want to do will be to do with some kind of science--specifically astrophysics--and will have some kind of connection to space exploration. Since I was a young child, I have always been deeply intrigued by space and the universe in which we exist within. In fact, with new programmes emerging planning to colonise other planets like Mars, I often contemplate whether I would want to move there in the future. This may seem unlikely to some that we will live on other planets in the next fifty years or so, but with the recent boom of technological advancement it is highly likely that by 2030 there will be humans living on Mars.

Most people when looking at the night sky simply see a plethora of bright stars. I, however, feel a colossal sense of awe as I peer into the grandiose universe. I see the stars as opportunities - opportunities for life, science and advancement of mankind. I wonder whether advanced life, such as us, exists elsewhere in the universe, and if they exist whether we will find them in the next century.

As you can see thus far, my ambition is vastly strong for what I want to do when I am older. Nevertheless, throughout my life I hear pessimistic comments on how in order to become an astrophysicist, astronaut or engineer I need to be the 'best of the best' and need to do the difficultly deemed further maths which many fail at. I avoid computing these comments, however, as I have had the incredible realisation that with the right mind-set, and the right amount of work, anything is possible.

AMBITION: An Ode

Inspiration begins the trail, excited for what’s to come

Innocent curiosity and joy, create one

Seed in his heart for the old oak to rise,

Of Wisdom, boy your ambition, will win the Prize.

An unclear path,

The road less travelled - others take the highway, already found

Looking baffled.

But boy, oh boy, continue this journey; staying true deep inside

Crystalize, ambition, will win the Prize.

Study. Commence. Work.

Passion. Sweat. Dirt

Overgrowth crowds the forest,

 dark shadow  cast upon the way, rings beneath his eyes.

Bags from obsession and determination.

Commitment and Visualise, ambition will win the Prize.

Sacrifice.

On hands and knees. Plough through the Grit

“You’ll make it if you’re lucky, young Brit.”

One chance to write the book of life,

The Game no one can escape,

Until the ultimate escape-

…It was all just a game…

Highscore! You Won the prize..

AMBITION: A Boy and a Saxophone

When a child has a vision, an ambition and a will to start something new, and to set themselves a challenge they would not usually do- nothing can stop them.

I have been playing the Piano for quite a while now, and I wanted to start something else. I was never sure of what to play. I tried out a few instruments here and there, but none of them really clicked. I eventually gave up and returned to playing the piano. That was until a few months ago. 

It was a cold, miserable day, there was no one around.

The airport was silent and gloomy, with only a handful of people sitting by their gates with a cup of coffee which by then had lost all of its flavour and warmth. Phones were checked. Turned On. Unlocked. Then closed again. Yawns from men in suits, cries from mothers of whining children, and then there was me- in between them all.

To my left- a bookstore, to my right- a bookstore, behind me- a bookstore, but in front of me was a man. A man in a purple shirt, old sandals and worn out trousers. He looked dull, except for his face. He had a warm smile, and asked me how I was.

As I turned away and went into the bookshop, I heard a sound. It was muffled, blurred out, it sounded so heavenly but I was far too focused to get to the shop. I turned my head and it was the man. He had a saxophone. His smile kept showing, but he played the most beautiful songs I have ever heard. When he finished, the handful of people who happened to be there at the time began clapping. One even shed a tear.

I asked him what he played, and how amazing it was, and how amazing he was for brightening up what seemed to be a never-ending night of storms and delays.

He replied in a thick accent:

 “Dear child. I was very young and not as privileged as you. I came from a rough background. My grandfather gave me this saxophone when I was young, and I have played it when my country was at war and times were difficult, and that is how I got through it. I am now still in hard times, so I play to escape those fears. I have come to cheer you all up, for that is what I believe in. Remember- The Saxophone of your life is very close, but you still need to run, duck, hide and escape from the people who stop you from playing your saxophone, and letting you have freedom.”

It was only weeks later I bought my saxophone. And every time I play a little tune, a jazz mode, a song or improvise, I remember this man. This man in the purple shirt, who inspired me and pushed me to become the Saxophonist that I am now.

When a child has a vision, an ambition and a will to start something new, and to set themselves a challenge they would not usually do- nothing can stop them.

AMBITION: Be that Dynamo!

Ambition is the desire to become or achieve anything. ‘Intelligence without ambition is a bird without wings’ said Salvador Dali. I agree with this. Without ambition and a defined goal, a person may never achieve anything as they will have no direction. Hard work and talent are not enough to succeed. Ambition is a key driver.

One of my heroes is the famous magician Dynamo. He comes from a very poor background. He grew up on one of the most violent and run down estates in the North of England. He developed his skills, inspired by his grandfather, as a means to fend off the bullies who teased him about his disease, quickly gaining a reputation as a unique talent within his local community with his incredible sleight of hand. His father was in jail for the majority of his childhood and so he used magic to cheer himself up and to stick up to the bullies. One of his tricks is to make himself look as though he is impossible to lift from the ground. From that point, his ambition was to become a fantastic and famous magician. Against all odds, he achieved this goal, with sheer determination and ambition. He developed his plan about becoming a hip-hop magician whilst sick in hospital!

My ambition is my determination to be successful and live a joyful life. Without my ambition, I would just be running after nothingness. My main ambition at this moment in time is to be accepted onto the Lavi programme, to receive high grades at GCSE and ‘A’ Levels and attend a good university.

AMBITION: Embracing Ambition

“There is no passion to be found playing small - in settling for a life that is less than the one you are capable of living” Nelson Mandela.

A truer statement from the man who made ‘miracles’ happen and never stopped believing in the unbelievable or the impossible. Aim high and you never know just how far it will take you. Without ambition where would we be and what would we know? Without the endeavours of our predecessors, the world would be a far poorer place. Throughout the ages man has been driven, not only by a need to progress, to find food and make shelter, but by a burning ambition to get to a place where they did not even know the final destination.

Ambition is the key to success, but it can also be the route to failure. Many a brave soul was lost in pursuit of not only self-betterment but discovery. Without even realising it, ambitious people were made and history was re-written.

Ambition is the driving life force, the reason why and the answer to how. Questioning, investigating and evaluating are three key elements to success. Success that leads to discovery, discovery that leads to endless doors, doors that all eventually need to be opened.

Without ambition there is no progression. How would the world look today without Einstein’s ‘Theory of Relativity’. Einstein had the elements to make things happen; first and foremost he had ambition.  Ambition is about discipline, dedication and pursuit of your objectives. Einstein challenged centuries of scientific thought with his new controversial idea, eventually leading to concrete results.

“You are capable of more than you know. Choose a goal that seems right for you and strive to be the best, however hard the path may be. Aim high. Behave honourably. Prepare to be alone at times and to endure failure. Persist! The world needs all you can give.” E.O. Wilson. How true these words are, the greatest voyages have led to some of the most incredible discoveries.

No matter how insignificant it might seem at the time, the right to question everything and to ask every question must never be taken away, or the world will be a far poorer place. Ambition is empowering and liberating, a freedom that we know not everyone has, but for those that do, they must exploit it until their last breath. Ambition cannot be taken for granted and for those that embrace it, the results can be life changing.