Diversity of Ambitions

From entrepreneurs to current students, ambition is a diverse and common theme among us all. - By Erika Shi -

“Without ambition, one starts

nothing. Without work, one finishes nothing. The prize will not be sent to you. You have to win it!” said Ralph Waldo Emerson signifying that ambition can become the key root of success and resultantly drives motivation. Ambition places itself as the starting point where every one of us develops a passionate drive to embark on our own journeys, opening up the AMAZING opportunity for SELF DISCOVERY within ourselves. of us carries forth dreams and hopes of the greatness we seek to achieve, which can be borne into ambitions if we put in the CONFIDENCE, DETERMINATION, and EFFORT to turn them into realities!

Ambition in its Many Forms

Not all ambitions are created equal, the bigger the ambition, the greater the sacrifice we have to make to achieve its goal. Ambitions are a very versatile trait that comes in many forms and sizes based on how we envision them to be.

As Martha Graham, Founder and Creator of Graham Dance Technique, once said, “Our arms start from the back because they were once wings” , each of us holds the powerful ability to fly our own visionary goals wherever and whenever at our own pace. Just like the following 3 remarkable interviewees who have spoken out on their own aspirations: Fairuz Binte Alam, UNSW Software Engineering Student, who wishes to work at one of the FAANG multinational technology companies. Garvi Poudyal, UNSW Computer Software Engineering Student, who aims to venture into the data and numbers-crunching career pathways, and Viola Llewellyn, Co-Founder of Ovamba Solutions TradeTech Company, who wants to continue soaring her business into great heights as one of the most successful innovators of alternative trade and financial solutions.

These ambitions are unique and special to their owners and regardless of whether they are individual or collective ambitions, seeing where these ambitions can take us or other individuals showcase the holistic range of dreams and goals that hold special places in our hearts as we carry forward into the future.

Big Small and Achieving Them All

When it comes to our

ambitions, there is no predefined categorization as to classifying them as “big” or “small” , “weak” or “strong” , and none of these really matter. Fairuz and Garvi believe that everyone has their own individual opinions and it is comforting to celebrate the diversity of these many ambitions and encourage all to cultivate their dreams too! Having ambitions can foster the inclusive power to bring everyone together, to share common goals and realisations, and to birth new ways of achieving ambitions!

For instance, Fairuz was inspired by her school peers’ academic and extracurricular activities during university which pushed her to achieve her own ambitions. To witness the power of enabling people to inspire one another and ignite their own ambitions which breaks the misconception that

‘ambitions can only be found from self-sourced alone’

Cleverly stated by Garvi,

“The comfort zone is a beautiful place, but nothing ever grows in it!” , highlighting that achieving our ambitions is definitely no walk in the park. Setting your own ambitious goals is one thing, but the plan to put them into action is another tenacious ball game. It takes intense grit, dedication, and hard work to consistently strive for excellence whilst meeting difficult obstacles along the way which potentially drain you out or make you feel like giving up. However, as long as you stay strong-willed, resilient, and aware of your goals, you will be able to see your efforts come to fruition by all the small steps that have contributed substantially to the large goal.

It is also worth noting that there may be times where you have to inevitably forgo some of your ambitions as they did not work out in your favor, but this does not mean that you are abandoning or giving up on them for good. According to Viola, steering your course in the right direction even after this dire situation by gathering your intuition and courage to keep on moving forward, extracting valuable learnings from your unsuccessful paths, and applying these into a new methodology to achieve your goals.

There is a fine line between sacrifices and ambitions. While it is great to dream big and make it big, we must always never forget our own roots and purpose even after accomplishing our ambitions. All of us can have healthy obsessions with the ambitions that we have crafted for ourselves. For many of us, having ambitions will allow us to challenge ourselves and potentially surpass our own limits, granting a huge sense of achievement and self-recognition.

However, we need to be careful of not staying too focused on the goal and be wary of what kind of sacrifices we have to put forth in order to achieve our dreams as well as whether they are worth the sacrifices for our own goals. I have personally encountered circumstances whereby people fell into an unhealthy ambition and became super absorbed in them to the point where they had lost themselves and entirely neglected their close ones, resulting in negative mental repercussions. Therefore, we must always keep our ambitions in check and do not lose sight of why we started on our journey to success in the first place. More importantly, I think it is extremely significant to learn how to appreciate the notion of small wins, as Garvi reminds us. Although there are wonderful people like Viola who prefer to go after BIG ambitions, she has also advised that deep down, starting small is still better than never starting at all.

How Ambitions Change

The future is unpredictable and there are many uncertainties ahead of us day by day. As humans, our choices, perspectives, and skillsets are ever-changing and that is the essence of growth. Dr. Carol S. Dweck, American Psychologist at Stanford University, said, “Becoming is better than being, and the fixed mindset simply does not allow people the luxury of becoming” , thus through constant learning and adaptability, our current ambitions also evolve as we accumulate more and more experiences and who knows, perhaps some of our current ambitions will be replaced by new ambitions that we have set for ourselves, or our ambitions may be a slow, constant working for many years (imagine how cool it would be to have the same ambitions as your 10 years old self!) Nonetheless, if the time comes for you to source for new ambitions, both Viola and Garvi have strongly recommended: always do what you love authentically and ask yourself or others plenty of questions that could guide you with meaningful tips and support to start on the right track. Building the passion for what you do is essential too as from what Fairuz had expressed “Coming back to the phrase is easier said than done, we need to recognize everyone is in relatable situations trying to live up to their ambitions” , our passion is what sustains the energy required to produce great strides in individual’s journey of ambitions.

Hence, STAY CURIOUS and OPEN-MINDED when you are working towards your goals. Every one of us has clear expectations on how we would like to fulfill our ambitions but in the end, what is most important is we are willing to embrace challenges in life and brace ourselves to accomplish great feats that may seem impossible at first.

Ambition without actions is fantasy.

Set a goal, write it down, and get started.

Don’t think, plan and dream forever.

Dreaming is not enough without doing.

I think we can all heed Bryant Mcgill’s, International Best Selling Author of Simple Reminders, tips above to start now or never.

So stop waiting and get out there to chase after what you want while you still can!

Interviewee Profiles

Garvi Poudya

I am a second-year student, doing Computer Software Engineering at UNSW. I’m as boomer as it gets with tech and jokes, I love anything matcha, I’m 6ft tall! (minus 10 inches )

Fairuz Binte Alam

I am an international student from Bangladesh, doing Software Engineering at UNSW. My passions include involving myself in various activities revolving around uni, meeting people, and learning their individual stories. I enjoy watching drama series, and catching up on my book readings.

Viola Llewellyn

Co-founder and President of Ovamba Solutions, Inc. (www.Ovamba.com). Ovamba is an award-winning African “TradeTech” company that creates culturally attuned technologies that Financial Institutions license to drive financial inclusion for informal emerging market businesses with short-term capital and alternative trade. In her past career, she has held positions with Unisys Corporation, IBM, Digital Equipment Corp., KPMG Consulting, BearingPoint, and Rothschild’s.