Life is interesting. And what make it even more interesting are the choices we had to make on daily basis. These choices gradually lead us to the path of discovering our vision in life. Spontaneously, we start having this urge to do something, to be something or to be someone and it’s always a feeling one could hardly explain. There are factors that directly affect our day to day activities. Three are: Purpose, Ambition and Vision. These three factors (purpose, vision and ambition) are interrelated as one depends on the other.
I could remember years ago in my secondary school days and in my final year to be précised. The principle amidst his speech on the assembly ground, asked us a very intimidating question. He said: “where do you see yourselves ten years from now?” immediately after hearing this, in my standing position thoughts begin to rush into my brain. The question captivated my thought. Ten years from now? I asked myself over and over again. I heard some of my classmate murmuring behind and in front of me; ‘I must have been a medical doctor by then’ some said ‘ten years far o.’ now this brings us to vision. Remember I mentioned earlier on that, ambition and vision are interrelated. What my principal was trying to do back then was to give us a vision. He wants us to see something far ahead, even if it’s beyond our reach at that point in time. But visions that comes this way, are most at times blurry, i.e. not always clear enough (we will get to this shortly).
Getting Familiar with These Three Factors
Purpose is synonymous to determination, which is the ability to plan something and successfully work to achieve it. To attain your place of excellence in life, the first step is for you to discover your purpose. A purposeless life is a risky life. Once you’ve discover your purpose, you can then move to the next phase which is having an ambition. Ambition starts with a dream or a disturbing passion to achieve something out of nothing. Been ambitious is having this strong urge to do something. This can be in terms of career, finances, power, and even fame. Before we go further, let’s get something straight: desire is arguably different from ambition. You can have a desire to do something but that doesn’t make you ambitious.Vision on the other hand, is the ability to think about or plan the future with great imagination and intelligence. A visionary is someone with a clear image of what is to come, a visionary is never caught unaware (they always foresees even before things happen) and a visionary is always motivated by challenges and obstacles around him because he is sure of where his heading without any contradiction. I stand to be corrected that without purpose ambition is useless and without ambition, visions are blurry. Purpose is the car, vision is the steering wheel and ambition is the fuel. Once you lack one of these three factors, life becomes complex. Someone who is driven by purpose always stands out amid the regulars.
Men driven by purpose, filled with ambition and guided by vision are always men that attain the height of excellence. Purpose gives you a good approach in life as it sets you on the right path. Take a car for instance (which represents purpose), no matter how captivating a car looks it’s useless without fuel (ambition) to run on and also, even with the purest fuel inside its tank the car can never make a move without the steering wheel (vision). If the car dares move, it’s heading for destruction. For you to live a fulfill life you must discover your true purpose in life.
Mark Zuckerberg dropped out of Harvard University when he discovered his true purpose. Now to some people Harvard is great deal (I could remember a Nigerian actress celebrating her admission into Harvard after she has been rejected five good times). Mark wouldn’t have worth $63.7 Billion today at the age of 33 if he valued his paper certificate so much and allowed it to mingle with his true purpose. When purpose is discovered desire gives way and ambition sets in. the moment you start aligning you day to day activities with your purpose you begin to have a clearer picture of where you are going (which is vision). Vision plays a vital road in self-realization. Now let’s break it down in short form. A vision can either be good, perfect, blurred, poor, or normal. Have ever ask yourself if truly you are working in line with your purpose?
If your vision is blur (i.e. you can’t seems to visualize clearly or think your way through) please be persistent and make sure you get a clearer vision as you proceed. A lot of people are full of ambition but they don’t just know how it’s all going to end. They don’t know what to expect because they can’t think their way through. Albert Einstein said: “imagination is far better than knowledge” this is because imagination has the power to take you to places you are not even qualified to be. It will all be happening right there in your mind without you moving an inch. If you are driven by purpose, full of ambition and guided with a perfect vision, nothing can intimidate you because you are sure of where you are heading to. Something is ahead and you are gradually working towards achieving it.
The moment you discover your true purpose, you become restless. Ideas start pumping in and your vision will become clearer. Let’s do a quick mind exercise; get a pen and a piece of paper and answer the questions below: but first you need to be totally honest with yourself and be ready to provide the accurate answers (simply answer Yes or No)
Question1: are you happy with your current situation?
Question2: do you have any regret career-wise about things you could have done in the past and you didn’t do?
Question3: if given another chance. Would you have engaged yourself in something different?
Question4: do you feel comfortable been around your friends who are far ahead of you?
For the purpose of this article, I will stop at these four questions. Am sure you’ve answered the questions. These questions are to help you ponder on what is and what isn’t.Now let’s conclude this;
A lady from Delta State contacted me some months ago; we spoke for several minutes on the phone. She was telling me about her passion for what I do. She wants to be a writer and probably a speaker as well, but she didn’t know what or how to even go about her vision. I was patient with her and I gave her all the elementary advice I could afford. She asked me a personal question. She said: “how did you get here”. My response was simple. I said: “I had the vision a long time ago, but ambition kept me going.” I sent two eBooks to her via her email address to help her discover her true purpose. But after sending the books I haven’t heard from her ever since. That was when I realize that she only has the vision but she wasn’t ambition driven. For you to achieve what you’ve envisioned, your ambition needs to be as hot as a burning fire. If your vision is clear enough you don’t need anybody to compel or to motivate you not to give up.
Discovering your purpose is the starting point. While ambition is your drive to get to what you have envisioned. A lot of people are living a happy life but they far from their true purpose. You can be happy and you can have all that you need, but deep down inside you always feel as if something is missing every now and then. This is because you are not in line with your true purpose. You just need to find it.
– Kelvin Oluseyi Eleta is a career consultant, aspiring speaker, event host, and co-founder of HopeDose Consultancy.
Reach him on 07060543620 for bookings and consultations.
For more information about HopeDose Consultancy, visit the official blog at http://hopedosezone.blogspot.com
