A Kind Reminder For Ambitious Folk — Less is More.
In a world of endless choices, make sure you choose.
I love to win. In absolutely anything I do, the biggest challenge for me is to remind myself that it’s not the end of the world if I don’t come out on top, especially if it’s just a game of Monopoly with friends. Actually, bad example — all goodwill and friendships are understandably suspended during Monopoly. Regardless, I am so competitive that my family would grow tired of playing with me and I would happily spend hours playing board games in my room, against myself.
Ambition isn’t an issue when you’re 8 years old and passionately learning every game you can get your hands on. However, when you enter the real world and start studying and kicking off your career, it’s another story. Society worships the individual who works as hard as they can in the name of glorious ‘productivity’, but this drive can destroy those who see all the possible things they could do and proceed to do all of them.
Look how easy it is to learn a new language! Start a YouTube channel! Become an influencer! Earn £1000’s with these simple writing tips! Everything is a chaotic mess of promising success that if they could achieve, anyone could achieve— and this attracts ambitious people like a moth to a flame. And flames hurt.
School is a unique environment where there is a tremendous amount of work forced onto your plate. In my experience, those that set the bar high for themselves should prepare to be disappointed as they endure the gruelling hours of homework, rigid timetables, and unengaging classes — at least, this was my reality. There were so many priorities to focus on, that none of them became a priority. Between 12+ subjects (including 3 languages), many ‘extremely important’ exams, school clubs and a Sunday league football team at 14, I can readily say I was taking on more work than I’d ever taken on during my 3 years at university. But I wasn’t working hard. All I was doing was exhausting myself, and letting my mental health collapse under the weight of 2 dozen different ‘priorities’.
So this is a friendly reminder to take a step back, and pick your favourite idea. In university I excelled at philosophy, and I made a point to work on it exclusively. To go from worrying about more subjects than fingers, to a single point of focus, revealed just how well I could apply myself when I was given the opportunity. I rediscovered my passion for doing something I loved, entering ‘flow states’ in which I was completely absorbed in my efforts, just like when I was learning a game as a child. I regained my confidence that I am capable, and realised challenging myself with a barrage of projects (or school subjects) is the worst thing I could do for myself.
So be ambitious. Be productive. But above all, be focused. Tunnel-vision onto one thing and put the rest on a stern waiting list, only returning once you’ve given an idea everything you have.
James is a university student passionate about social issues, climate change, and philosophy. He aims to have enough optimism to dream of a better future, while providing practical advice to help achieve it.
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