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Sharing Our Ambition

20 February 2017

‘Fame! I want to live forever! I want to learn how to fly! (High!).’ So sang the kids from the game changing TV series, which those of us of a certain age will remember with fondness, and a with a measure of youthful guilt at the trend for wearing leg warmers and for bursting into spontaneous song in the school canteen. The New York High School for the Performing Arts crashed onto the tired TV screens of our 80’s viewing schedule and suddenly it was good to be ambitious and to be enthused that ‘fame costs, and right now is where you start paying…’

And apologies for leaving you with an ear worm, as we remember the antics of Bruno and Coco and Doris and the comic, whose name nobody ever remembered (Danny, by the way).

Schools all invite their pupils to be ambitious and to go for their dreams and yet once we become adults, the idea of ambition can become passé and sound self serving. How many parents forget their own ambitions in the drive to raise their children to be ambitious? This seems a paradox. Being ambitious ourselves is a great lesson for our children to learn and if they see us striving to reach new goals they will learn that it’s okay to be ambitious too. Children are like tiny sponges and they see and hear everything, so what we do and how we do it helps to give them confidence and permission to have a fulfilling life.

It’s the same when we start a business. We have an ambition to be an [insert job title] and yet can lose our way once the humdrum nature of work starts to bite, and we have to juggle paperwork with clients and the stress of managing cash flow and keeping the lights on.

However, we can all keep sight of our ambitions for our business and ensure they remain alive and relevant to us. We can tell our kids and our colleagues what we are aiming for and in doing so our ambition remains real to us. When I was writing my first book I felt silly in wanting to be a writer, until one day when a colleague shared my plan with a mutual friend, who was already successfully published. To my surprise he didn’t laugh at me and instead offered to help me out. His helpful comments boosted my confidence and I realised that the world is full of ambitious people who want to help us on our way, and that my feelings of being thought ‘silly’ were just a fantasy.

Reality is often quite different to the fantasies that we run in our heads, in order to keep ourselves safe from potential ridicule or criticism. Reality can be a world full of love and support and is often a well-spring of energy and good wishes, helping us achieve our goals.

In the spirit of sharing, my own ambition this year is to launch my own podcast radio show. I love being a radio host and am good at it, so now is the time to take it to a more global level and see where it takes me. I’m currently researching podcasts and assembling a workable format, to allow me to be me on air in a new and exciting way. There, I’ve said it! My ambition is out there in the world now…wonder if anyone wants to book on as a guest?

If you would like to share your ambition for this year please email me, or say hi on Twitter at @RichardMaun and put your words and thoughts into the world! Ambition loves company!

Go for it!

Next week: The VAT Surprise