When ambition exceeds ability what happens?

There are two ways to look at when ambition exceeds ability. Ambition is the wonderful part of accomplishing anything and it gives a person the vision and dream that they need in front of them to keep ongoing. It’s typically the vision that catapults really hard work towards any goal. The other part of accomplishing that goal is called ability which is the actual measurement of talent or skill that is required to achieve a specific goal. Sometimes all of the ambition in the world will not lead to achieving a goal partially or all because of ability. It helps to have the ambition to closely match some of a person’s ability. A perfect example would be sports. Even though many people dream of making it to a professional level of sports only a few of those people have the skill and ability to make it. And even fewer have the ambition and focus to carry through that level of goal. Leading up to professional sports there are all kinds of levels of accomplishment, however. And most people learn through their parents and coaches that making it to a varsity team in high school, then to a team in college, and possibly semi-pro or intramural is still an accomplishment in itself and can pave the way for developing the sense of self in a myriad of ways. These people tend to have the ability to change and adjust their dreams and goals accordingly to their level of ability thereby still creating a sense of accomplishment and happiness even if the highest goal was not met.

The flip-side

So, what happens when a person cannot handle meeting their goal or a dream because their ability does not match their ambition? Sometimes people become so rigid and obsessive that they will do anything even to the point of breaking moral and ethical codes to meet a certain goal. By helping people manage realistic disappointment, loss, and being able to re-shape their goals to fit their ability they can still meet a lot of their personal ambition. Having a balance of realistic dream-making is something that can be worked on in counseling because the pros and cons can be discussed and the ability can be examined to match whether or not certain dreams can become realized. There’s no way to completely change one’s ability but there are definitely ways to increase skill level and become better at any number of areas with enough focus, goal setting, and hard work. Personal best can be a consistent reflection of ambition to succeed.