What does it mean to have ambition?

If you look it up in the dictionary, ambition means "to have a strong desire to do something. Particularly requiring hard work."

Yet, it's so easy to fall into a slump of either self-satisfaction or feeling weary.

I'm now in the fifth week of recovering from pancreatitis after being hospitalized for ten days. It was a major life interruption not only changing my daily routine, plus, for the first time in my life feeling concern about my future well-being.

Pancreatitis is a nasty affliction. I've never felt so much pain in such a short period of time. They figured that a couple of drugs that I was taking caused the pancreatitis.

Pancreatitis has no magic drug. Antibiotics don't help because it's an inflammatory disease. So the only treatment is rest. I've probably spent the last six weeks sleeping more than I've been awake. But every day my health is improving and my energy is increasing.

Inspiration from an unlikely source

The new Prime Minister of Canada, Mark Carney acceptance speech was especially inspiring where he talked about his values of humility and ambition.

“…three values that I want to highlight this evening: humility — it’s Canada after all — ambition — it’s Canada after all — and unity: It’s Canada.” - Mark Carney, Prime Minister of Canada.

Do you know what you want?

In a conversation with a student recently, I said to them, "You can get anything you want in life, but first, you need to know what you want." And therein lies the challenge and the puzzle in a world full of opportunity and variety: How do we choose what is in our best interest, what will make a true difference in the quality of our life for ourselves and our family?

That's the challenge, and it comes down to values.

What are your values?

It comes down to knowing what it is that you value - what it is you desire to have in terms of an outcome. This means taking the time to reflect on your core beliefs, identifying what drives your decisions, and understanding how your values align with your goals.

Even after all these years, I find this question challenging.

I've helped many students and clients get clarity about their values so they could make better and more informed decisions about the direction of their life and their business, and it's still a challenge to choose. To choose to make something a priority. There is a sweet spot. Choose your priorities wisely. By prioritizing what truly matters to you (value), you can create a sense of direction and purpose, leading to a more fulfilling personal and professional experiences.

In a world full of choices, how do we choose?

We live in a period of history where we have seemingly limitless opportunities and choices. Yet, how do you choose? That's the paradox of living in this age of abundance and prosperity. And how do we make a choice in a wise and "net positive" way?

What do I mean by "net positive"? I mean that at the end of the day, no matter what is required of you, where you put your attention and energy produces a net positive benefit.

No matter how you look at it, we have to choose a direction every single moment of every day throughout our entire lives. We choose the direction of our attention. Where are we going to place our attention? What are we going to place our attention upon? When are we going to place our attention upon that?

Get clear about the outcome you are hoping to experience.

In order to make that decision, we also have to be clear about the outcome that we are looking to experience. An outcome is different than a goal because an outcome is the consequence of making a conscious choice, whereas a goal is the desired result we aim to achieve.

To further illustrate this distinction, consider that a goal might be to start a new business, but the outcome of pursuing that goal could be either success and financial stability or failure and debt, depending on the choices made along the way. By understanding the potential outcomes of our decisions, we can make more informed choices that align with our desired goals, ultimately leading to a more intentional and fulfilling life.

Now comes the hard part: consistently focusing your attention on the outcome in a world full of choices and distractions.

Do you know your “point of power”?

Your point of power is the present moment.

The present moment is the only moment within which we can focus our attention, creativity, and choose to pursue something based on the clarity of our intention(s).

It was many years before I realized that the only point of power is the current moment, the present moment. It's where creativity unfolds new ideas. It's the moment within which we make a conscious choice to choose to pursue something or to have something or to become something.

So much of our life can be spent and really wasted worrying about the future.

In fact, you could argue that our quality of life is directly related to our ability to choose in the present moment. To choose that which we find most interesting—something we're curious about, places we want to go, people we want to meet, and the food we want to eat. All of these so-called choices give us the opportunity to shape the direction, the pace, and the outcome(s) of our life.

Powerful choices

We totally underestimate just how powerful it is to make a choice. We get to choose to create something new to be creative, we choose to worry about the past or the future, but worrying about the past or the future does not equate to creating and choosing. Our true power as sentient beings is our ability, in any given moment, to make a choice.

In fact, you could argue that choosing not to choose in the present moment is a powerful choice that does nothing except to maintain the status quo. It does not create forward movement. It does not create clarity. Instead, choosing not to choose simply keeps us trapped, so to speak, in our current situation.

If we want change, we need to choose to change. We need to choose growth. Sometimes we need to choose to learn.

Change, learn or stay the same, it's your choice

Basically, I believe life comes down to three choices: not make a choice, or to choose to learn, or to choose to change.

Choosing to change is where I believe the courageous souls who create things, who create their life, they live at the intersection of being willing to learn and willing to change.

In my book, “16 Radical Practices To Accelerate Through Any Business Learning Curve, How To Break Out of Your Comfort Zone, Where Business Dreams Go To Sleep” (release date August 15, 2025) I talk about the entrepreneur's dilemma and why Learning Curves matter, followed up with a discussion about the messy middle which is the gap between where you are right now and where you want to be in the future.

I wonder if we've been shaped by society to seek satisfaction. Self-satisfaction and contentment can feel like the Holy Grail of life. But the truth is, without a sense of contentment, what's the purpose of it all?

Perhaps it's because contentment brings a sense of fulfillment and happiness that allows us to appreciate the beauty and simplicity of life.

It's the feeling of being at peace with oneself and the world, where one can let go of worries and doubts, and simply be present in the moment. By embracing contentment, we can find meaning and purpose in our lives, and cultivate a deeper sense of gratitude and appreciation for the world around us.