Channeling Your Ambition with The Help of Others
Ambitious people typically achieve what they set out to do.
With this in mind, pause to examine, stress and challenge what you set your sights on. Sometimes the best way to do this is with help from others – so cultivate a stable of resources/advisors: advice givers, opinion sharers, sounding boards, dream champions, critics, rest stoppers, and anyone else you count on and trust to tell you what you are missing.
By bringing these voices into the conversation, you will develop the skill of channeling your ambition and become more self-aware in the process. It’s important to make sure you are clear on what role you want others to play. These simple guidelines might help:
Advice givers often tell you what to do
Opinion sharers tend to provide perspective/insight
Sounding boards help you hear your own or inner voice
Dream champions often encourage you to take risks, see your untapped potential and open the gate so you can leave the land of familiar
Critics help you see risks and blind spots that might need to be taken into consideration
Rest stoppers help you recognize fatigue, encourage breaks and help you set limits
A stable of resources will help to shape your ambition in a way that can lead to greater fulfilment and satisfaction beyond merely achieving results and meeting objectives.
Additionally, consider a variety of constituencies when developing your resource pool – career voices, personal voices, professional voices, spiritual voices, etc.
Career voices might include colleagues, bosses, mentors, former bosses, coaches, etc.
Personal voices could be spouses/partners, kids, friends, trainers, etc.
Professional voices often involve 3rd parties such as accountants, lawyers, estate & financial planners, etc.
Spiritual voices are especially personal to you.
If frustration results when obtaining the input of others, take a moment to consider the possibility that the roles are mismatched. For example, you wanted a sounding board but got an advice giver or vice versa. A role mismatch can go unnoticed and result in a decision to cut out others and forge ahead alone or unchecked – usually with unintended risks and outcomes or missed opportunities. Be clear on the role you want others to play and clarify in the process of securing input, if necessary.
Having a stable of resources or advisors does not compromise leadership, independent thinking or decisiveness or slow down the process – in fact, it strengthens all four areas, models responsible behavior, helps channel ambition and represents intelligent, front-end investment for long term gain. Cultivate these relationships and see what happens.
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