Welcome to week 4 of my D.R.E.A.M.S. series. These past few weeks are flying by quickly! We’ve spent the last three weeks discussing
determination, resourcefulness and energy and how they are essential to making
dreams come true. I hope that you’re
starting to see how tapping into these qualities can really change your life.
This week we’re talking about ambition. If someone asked
you to describe ambition, what would
you say? According to the powers that
be, it’s a strong desire or intention to achieve something. You can think of this something that you desire as your dreams.
We’ve already established that achieving dreams requires
determination and hard work. So let’s
see how having ambition also helps
you realize your dreams.
I remember the day when I told my parents that I was pregnant
and going to be a mom at 17. I can still
see the pain and disappointment in my father’s face as the tears slowly rolled
down his cheeks. He couldn’t believe
that I was pregnant and couldn’t imagine how I would finish high school.
I was sad that I disappointed my dad, but I wasn’t
worried about finishing high school. I
looked my dad directly in his eyes and confidently assured him that I would graduate
high school on time and still go to college.
He never argued with me; instead he excused himself from the table and
left me sitting there by myself.
While sitting alone at the table, I made a decision that
I would not give up on my dream just because I was having a child. I had always been an ambitious over-achiever,
but this time it was different. I had no
doubts whatsoever.
On
the Road to Follow My Dream
Let me be clear - the road I traveled was bumpy and
full of unexpected turns. I had to make plenty of sacrifices. When my friends were out partying and living
a carefree life, I was working, taking care of my son, and studying. Although the road was rough, my ambition kept me going.
My 7-month old son was in the audience with my parents
at my high school graduation. Even
though my grades slipped a little bit, I maintained my membership in the
National and Spanish Honor Societies and finished in the top 20th
percentile of my class.
I never lost sight of my dream of going to
college. Once I got married and had more
children, going to school was much harder.
But I still had the same strong desire that I had as a high school
student.
After fourteen years of taking classes, taking time off,
and taking more classes, I earned my Bachelors degree with a 4.0 GPA. I took a short break from school so I could
spend more time with my family. My high ambition
led me to graduate school about 1-1/2 years later. I finished my Masters degree in exactly 18
month with a 3.9 GPA.
My purpose in sharing my accomplishments is not to
brag, but to demonstrate how powerful ambition
is in helping you overcome challenging situations to reach your end goal. I could have used many reasons to give up on
my education, but my ambition and
determination kept me in the race.
Take a moment to reflect on your life. When has your ambition kept you going when
others, in your situation, would have quit?
What dreams do you have now, and how badly do you want them? What are
you willing to do in order to make your dreams come true?
Once you know what you want, create a system that makes
it easier for you to achieve it. Not
sure of how to do this? You can start by surrounding yourself with like-minded
people who support your dreams and hold you accountable for doing what you say
you’re going to do. This is a future
topic that we’ll explore in greater detail very soon.
For now, I want you to know that you deserve to live
the life of your dreams. AND you already have everything you need to make your
dreams come true.
Thank you for taking time to read my thoughts. I look forward to “seeing” you here next week. Our topic will be motivation.
See you then!
Erica
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