A Poverty of Ambition

“Focusing your life solely on making a buck shows a certain poverty of ambition. It asks too little of yourself.”

–Barack Obama, Knox College Commencement Address 2005

Even after hearing the phrase “dream big” 3,297,391 times (or more) over the course of their life, most people still don’t get it.

“Don’t rock the boat.”

“Better safe than sorry.”

“A bird in the hand beats two in the bush.”

These timeless maxims are sage advice. When taken to the extreme, however, they create a certain poverty of ambition.

Of course, something tangible that is actually working or in your “hand”, is better than a wish or pipe dream. But here’s the real question: Are those birds in the bush actually attainable?

If you had a rock-solid plan and the wherewithal to execute it, is it possible for you to get those two birds? Is it probable?

“I’m going to get a degree in engineering or accounting.” If you love either of those two great professions then by all means…go for it. But choosing a profession because it’s the proverbial bird in the hand is the epitome of a poverty of ambition.

A choice like that is why too many people wake up sick to their stomachs about going to work. They wake up with a bad case of would’ve-could’ve-should’ve syndrome.

I would’ve been a great writer…

I could’ve started my own company or non-profit organization…

I should’ve never married this guy. He’s not a bird in the hand; he’s a bird brain in the hand!

Could you have the business, the family, and the philanthropy? Yes. People do it all the time, but not enough people.

According to the 2007 Just Start™ survey conducted by Intuit, Inc. (NASDAQ: INTU) 72% of Americans aspire to start their own business. That’s almost three out of four people, but how many actually do it?

There are over 300 million people living in the U.S. An estimated 23 million of them are entrepreneurs. That’s around 7%. So, less than one in ten people actually have enough ambition to make it happen. And that’s after years of record breaking entrepreneurial growth.

Whether it’s starting a business (for profit or non-profit), looking for a promotion, or making a living doing something that you REALLY love to do, there seems to be a paucity of calculated risk-takers.

So, what’s fueling this poverty of ambition? This lack of go-getters boils down to complacency and fear of the unknown.

“Aim for the moon. If you miss, you may hit a star.”

–W. Clement Stone

COMPLACENCY

Complacency is the ugly side of success. It’s a momentum killer and a dream slayer.

“Why can’t you just be satisfied with what you already have?”

“That’s good enough.”

Garbage.

I’ve got two words for you to live by:

Get better.

Everyday you want to work on getting better—better health, better relationships, better finances, better marketing, being a better servant to a worthwhile cause, and the list goes on.

(I guess the 1.6 billion dollars people spend on cosmetic surgery per year is proof that there’s no poverty of ambition when it comes to being better looking!)

Greatness and complacency cannot exist in the same mind.

Think about that. What if Mother Teresa or Gandhi had a poverty of ambition?

What if Cesar Estrada Chavez, Dolores Huerta, Harriet Tubman, or Frederick Douglass had a poverty of ambition?

Scary thought, isn’t it. A poverty of ambition can change the world in ways I don’t even want to imagine. To be complacent is to stop striving and to stop striving is to waste to your most precious gift—life.

“I have learned over the years that once one’s mind is made up, this diminishes fear; knowing what must be done does away with fear.”

–Rosa Parks

FEAR OF THE UNKNOWN

I was stunned.

I looked at the students in disbelief and thought to myself, “They must not know what a CEO is.”

“How many of you all know what the CEO of a company does?”

A lot of them raised their hands and someone yelled, “A CEO is the boss.”

“They are the leaders”, another student added.

My next question was: “Do you all know that sometimes the CEO is also the person who owns—maybe even started—the company?”

There was a wave of nodding heads as a chorus of yeses filled the air.

“Do you all understand that the CEO makes the most money?”

More head nodding and more yeses.

By then I was flabbergasted. These were some of the best students I know—students of the historic Butler Street YMCA’s Multicultural Achievers Program of which I’m am the Steering Committee Chair and the Life Skills Coach.

The students were in the middle of a project that involved creating a company. As a part of the project, they were applying and interviewing for positions in the company. Out of a few dozen high school students not one of them had applied to be the CEO.

When I started to investigate why no one wanted to be CEO I got all kinds of answers.

They didn’t know what to expect. (Fear of the unknown.) They didn’t know if it would be too much work for them to handle or if it would be too much responsibility. (Fear of success.)

If anything went wrong they would be the first ones blamed and the first ones fired. (Fear of failure.) They were worried about what might happen. (Fear of success or failure: the unknown.)

They were afraid of the unknown and it was killing their ambition.

Why?

For many people fear of the unknown is a debilitating phenomenon that fuels a poverty of ambition. Here are five questions, however, to help you deal with fear of the unknown:

1. What could happen as a result of doing (whatever the action or decision maybe)?
2. What probably won’t happen as a result of doing ______?
3. What could happen as a result of not doing _______?
4. What probably won’t happen as a result of not doing _______?
5. How will I deal with each of the four answers from those questions?

If you don’t know the answers to those questions then do some more research, get some more guidance or advice, and make the best educated answer you can.

(The students couldn’t answer those questions at first, so the Program Director and I asked the CEO of the Butler Street YMCA to come in and talk to them.)

It’s that simple and, at times, that hard. But the unknown and your fear will be minimized—not necessarily gone, but minimized by answering these questions.

Let’s get back to those birds in the bush…

Here’s the interesting thing. None of this means that you have to necessarily let go of the bird in your hand.

While you are looking at the two birds in the bush and squeezing that bird in your hand to death, here’s a something to ask yourself.

The Million Dollar Question: Who ever said you couldn’t have all three?

And no…that’s not being greedy. That’s called abundance.

Stop asking too little of yourself.

Lose the poverty of ambition.

Get the know-how, a good plan, and put them to use because you deserve a life of abundance, don’t you? A life overflowing with achievement and fulfillment is waiting for you if you will simply…

Get better.

Al "The Inspiration" Duncan is America's Leading Youth Empowerment Advocate, a world-class professional speaker, college speaker, and youth speaker. Visit him at www.alduncan.net

Related Articles:

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Self-Exploration: Taking Stock of Who You Are to Make Better ...

How To Make Yourself More Marketable

Top Ten Quotes: Maya Angelou

(In honor of Women’s History Month)

A legendary poet, one of the great voices of contemporary literature, civil rights activist, author of twelve best-selling books including I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, actress, playwright, producer, director, historian, educator, outstanding orator, and Grammy Award winner, Dr. Maya Angelou is the quintessential Renaissance woman.

The recipient of more than 60 honorary doctorate degrees, Dr. Angelou has captivated and inspired millions of people across the globe. There is no doubt that world could never get enough of Dr. Maya Angelou.

Here are my favorite quotes by this extraordinary woman.

10. A bird doesn't sing because it has an answer, it sings because it has a song.

9. I can be changed by what happens to me, but I refuse to be reduced by it.

8. I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.

7. You can only become truly accomplished at something you love. Don't make money your goal. Instead, pursue the things you love doing, and then do them so well that people can't take their eyes off you.

6. If you have only one smile in you, give it to the people you love. Don't be surly at home, then go out in the street and start grinning 'Good morning' at total strangers.

5. There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside of you.

4. Prejudice is a burden that confuses the past, threatens the future and renders the present inaccessible.

3. Nothing will work unless you do.

2. If you don't like something, change it. If you can't change it, change your attitude.

1. You may write me down in history

With your bitter, twisted lies,

You may trod me in the very dirt

But still, like dust, I'll rise.

Honorable mention:

History, despite its wrenching pain, cannot be unlived, but if faced with courage, need not be lived again.

We may encounter many defeats but we must not be defeated.

One isn't necessarily born with courage, but one is born with potential. Without courage, we cannot practice any other virtue with consistency. We can't be kind, true, merciful, generous, or honest.

Achievement brings its own anticlimax.

Children's talent to endure stems from their ignorance of alternatives.

Courage is the most important of all the virtues, because without courage you can't practice any other virtue consistently.

I believe the most important single thing, beyond discipline and creativity, is daring to dare.

Love recognizes no barriers. It jumps hurdles, leaps fences, penetrates walls to arrive at it destination full of hope.

Al "The Inspiration" Duncan is America's Leading Youth Empowerment Advocate, a world-class professional speaker, college speaker, and youth speaker. Visit him at www.alduncan.net

Related Articles:

Top Ten Quotes: Mother Teresa

Commentary: 'I Am Woman, Hear Me Roar'

Women's History Month Profile 2008

Women's History Month: March 2007

Urban Bush Women and Compagnie Jant-Bi Dance!

Urban Bush Women and Compagnie Jant-Bi (Jawole Willa Jo Zollar, artistic director of Urban Bush Women; Germaine Acogny, artistic director of Compagnie Jant-Bi) will be performing at Power Center, Ann Arbor, Michigan, March 28 and 29, 2008, sponsored by University Musical Society.

This unique project is setting the performance world abuzz for bringing together two African and African-American dance companies — one all-male and one all-female — and two powerhouse female choreographers. Germaine Acogny, hailed as the "mother of contemporary African dance," explores the role of identity within a community in this transcontinental collaboration with Brooklyn-based choreographer and Urban Bush Women founder Jawole Willa Jo Zollar. Urban Bush Women weaves the cultural and spiritual traditions of African Americans and the African Diaspora into life-affirming works that explore the transformation of struggle and suffering. This new work, which receives its premiere in January, 2008, is rich with West African movements, rhythms, and styles.

"The Urban Bush Women are unabashedly unapologetic about what they are: fierce, feminine, militant, agressive, sassy, funny and proud."
(The Herald Sun, Durham)

"Compagnie Jant-Bi dances with a mind-blowing intensity."
(The New York Times)

For more information and tickets, check out University Musical Society.

THE BLACK COLLEGIAN’s African-American History Contest 2008

From our sister-site, THE BLACK COLLEGIAN Magazine:

THE BLACK COLLEGIAN’s African-American History Contest 2008

In this year's Black History Month challenge for college students, take our African-American History 101 Pop Quiz, and you could win $50.00 cash, and be named THE BLACK COLLEGIAN’s African-American History Scholar on your campus. Your photo will be posted on THE BLACK COLLEGIAN Online at http://www.black-collegian.com/!

Entering is easy – simply email the correct answers to the questions posted on the Quiz Page, along with your name, address, phone number and the name of your university. Be the first one from your school to score 100 percent on the quiz, and you win!

Last date to submit answers is March 31, 2008. One entry per person. Entrants must be currently enrolled in a four-year university. Winners will be notified by email.

Think you know your stuff? Give it a try today.

Frederick Douglass International Underground Railroad Conference and Freedom Festival

35 National Experts to Convene Sept 28-30 at Conference at the Rochester Riverside Convention Center

Juan Williams, Bernice Johnson Reagon and Darryl Van Leer are Keynote Speakers

Sent in by BLACK PR WIRE:

Rochester, NY-September 5, 2007-Register now to hear more than 35 of the nation's leading authorities on the Underground Railroad will convene in Rochester, NY Sept 28-30 for the Frederick Douglass International Underground Railroad Conference and Freedom Festival. They will bring to life one of America's most remarkable stories and illuminate compelling accounts of courageous people and historic places.

Keynotes Juan Williams, Bernice Johnson Reagon and Darryl Van Leer will be joined by 30 experts including Tony Burroughs, Anthony Cohen and leading educators, historians, museums directors, and artists. They will present the latest research, genealogical connections, regional and international collaborations, parallels to slavery and civil rights, and how to use this information in the classroom.

See more info.

Essence Editor: On 8/29, Demand a Plan to Restore the Gulf

Release by Susan L. Taylor challenges country to demand a "Marshall Plan" to restore New Orleans and the Gulf Coast. On 8/29 the tens of thousands who can travel to New Orleans will gather for the massive demonstration being planned there. Calls for national support, campaign to contact government officials issued.

Reported by Vincent Sylvain's The New Orleans Agenda: Other activities planned to commemorate the anniversaries of Katrina and Rita range from scholarly panels to participatory mega-events like Hands Around the Dome.

See more at African-American Village.

NPR : CBS Radio Fires Don Imus in Fallout over Remarks

NPR : CBS Radio Fires Don Imus in Fallout over Remarks:

Also, background readings from the AP in a supplement, Rutgers v. Imus, this weekend at IMDiversity.com, plus commentaries by Earl Ofari Hutchinson, Kam Williams, more at new Media, New Media and Communications Jobs & Readings section

ASNE Report Finds Percentage of Minorities in Newsrooms Declining

This week on the IMDiversity.com Career Center Home Page:

According to the American Newspaper Editors Association 2007 survey on the representation of minorities in U.S. news media, the percentages of minority and women journalists working in America’s newsrooms both declined in the past year. According to ASNE, it is only the second time since the survey started in 1978 that the percentage of minorities has declined.

In a year marked by news organization layoffs that were headlines in themselves, ASNE’s annual “census” found that the percentage of minorities fell to 13.62 percent, down from 13.87 last year. The percentage of women also dropped from 37.70 to 37.56 percent.

The percentage of minorities in supervisory roles at daily newspapers dropped to 10.9 percent, equal to the percentage from two years ago. The downward trend holds true for student and entry-level employment as well. According to ASNE’s release, the percentage of minority interns stands at nearly 27 percent, “a number that has continued to fall as newspapers cut back” on internships.

The one silver lining in the report seemed to come from online media. ASNE’s census of daily newspapers for the first time counted full-time staffers who work entirely at online publishing activities by their companies. Among online media staffs, the percentage of minorities on staff was an estimated 16 percent, which helped make the drop in overall employment numbers seem less severe than they might have been.

See a fuller report at IMDiversity, ASNE Report Finds Percentage of Minorities in Newsrooms Declining, or view detailed data tables from the census at the ASNE website.

Weekend Maintenance on IMDiversity

http://asianamericanvillage.blogspot.com/2007/03/weekend-maintenance-on-imdiversity.html:
Our site servers will be undergoing maintenance this weekend, starting midnight Friday. During this period there may brief outages on our sites at IMDiversity.com and the Multicultural Villages, the IMDiversity Career Center and Job Bank, and THE BLACK COLLEGIAN Online Job Bank. We apologize for any inconvenience to our visitors and thank you for your patience."

Professional Women's Village @ Blogspot: Women's History Month 2007

http://womensvillage.blogspot.com/2007/03/womens-history-month.html

PWC Diversity Leadership Scholarship, Internship, Conference Deadline Dec. 31

Financial services giant PriceWaterhouseCoopers has announced a December 31, 2006 deadline for applications to its annual PWC eXceed scholarships, a comprehensive program offering opportunities for Native American, African American, and Hispanic American college students to explore careers at PWC through internships and participation in an annual Diversity Business Leadership Conference, along with a $3,000 support stipend. Applications are accepted from Freshmen or Sophomores with a 3.2 or higher GPA, and an interest in Accounting, Management Information Systems, and/or Computer Science.

Also of Interest: It's that season for students to apply for next year's internships. Most deadlines are coming up by early December. Visit IMDiversity's seasonal Internships & Co-ops special page with categorized internships listings.

THE BLACK COLLEGIAN: 2006-2007 Career and Networking Events

Added at our sister site, THE BLACK COLLEGIAN Online:

THE BLACK COLLEGIAN's 2006-2007 Career and Networking Events Listing for African American Students

A historic election for ethnic, women voter engagement nationwide

Nov. 8 - In a historic midterm election night, high turnout among American voters has significantly changed the balance of power in Washington DC, with the Democratic Party retaking the majority of seats in the U.S. House of Representatives. Anti-incumbent sentiment and dissatisfaction with the war in Iraq led to sweep in which Democrats wrested control of at least 28 seats, with 14 still undecided.

With two key Senate races, in VA and MT too close to call as of this writing, and likely headed to recount challenges, Democrats also stand chance to take back majority control of the Senate.The election saw historic landmarks set in a number of aspects. These include: Positioning Nancy Pelosi to become the first woman Speaker of the House; electing Deval Patrick as the first African American governor in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts; and sending Democrat Keith Ellison, an African American, to represent Minnesota’s 5th as the first Muslim in the House of Representatives.

Preliminary exit polling indicates that unusually high turnout was reported nationwide, affected by a number of controversial ballot initiatives as well as support for specific candidates. Minority voters, swing voters and non-traditional coalition-building also played an important role in the shift. In the most recent exit poll figures by CNN, non-white voters veered strongly to the left, with 76% of non-white men and 78% of non-white women going Democrat.

The same data indicate that while white voters overall leaned Republican, it was by a smaller margin (51% GOP to 47%) than expected, due largely to a 49/49 split among white women voters. African American voters leaned even more heavily Democrat than expected, at 89%, despite the GOP’s fielding a number of prominent Black candidates in high-level races in states such as Ohio and Pennsylvania. Latino and Asian voters, who have traditionally been more inclined to lean Republican, emerged as clear and growing swing voters, breaking to the Democrats at 69% and 62% respectively. Other non-white voters including Native Americans tracked in CNN’s polling split 56% Democrat to 41% Republican.

Ellison to be First Muslim Congessman after MN Victory

Democrat Keith Ellison has won a seat in the House of Representatives, and will represent the Minnesota 5th.

His opposition to the war in Iraq hand emphasis on deomstic concerns such as universal healthcare helped Ellison, who is Black and a convert to Islam, overcome criticism of past associations with Louis Farrakhan.

In his victory, Ellison defeated three candidates: Republican Alan Fine, Independence Party candidate Tammy Lee, and Green Party candidate Jay Pond.

CNN Projects Win for Deval Patrick for MA Governor

Shortly before 9 PM Eastern, CNN projected that Deval Patrick had defeated Republican Lt. Gov. Kerry Healey in the race to replace Gov. Mitt Romney.

If the results are verified, it will make Mr. Patrick Massachusett's first African American governor.

CNN shortly thereafter has projected that Rep. Ted Strickland has defeated African-American Ohio Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell.

Good News, Great News, a Caution on Election Day for Black Youth Voters

In the 2006 Civic and Political Health of the Nation Survey by CIRCLE (The Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement) at www.civicyouth.org, a comprehensive study of diverse American youth voters found that young African Americans are the most politically engaged among racial/ethnic group. Compared to other groups, African Americans are the most likely to vote regularly, belong to groups involved with politics, donate money to candidates and parties, display buttons or signs, canvass, and contact the media.

In a related analysis of voting patterns up through the 2004 elections, CIRCLE also showed that African American youth voters were the only group to have bucked the trend of declining turnout during midterm election years. Indicators for this year suggest that young Black voters' will continue to improve in 2006.A separate study, by Young Voter Strategies, an organization affiliated with George Washington University, found that in the 2006 midterm season, young Black voters were the "most ready for change," according to a report by Black College Wire news service. In the study, 35 percent of Black voters ages 18 to 30 said that employment, the economy, and education and its costs weighed heavily for them.

However, the picture isn't entirely rosy. Both studies also found that many young African Americans have faced obstacles in exercising their right to vote, and many have little confidence that they can personally, meaningfully affect the problems facing their communtiies and families.

These conflicting issues -- increased political interest among young African Americans and a decreasing sense of their individual ability to affect change -- have made voter protection on polling day a high priority in the election season. Although the U.S. Justice Department announced that it would dispatch an unprecedented number of poll monitors across the country, other interested groups nationwide are mounting their own efforts. The NAACP Legal Defense Fund is sending monitors to protect voters at areas surrounding HBCU schools, and placing an emphasis on protecting voters in the Gulf Region still recovering from the effects of Hurricane Katrina.

For more stats and a link tothe full PDF report by CIRCLE, see the sidebars to interview with Senator Barack Obama in the first semester 2006 super issue of THE BLACK COLLEGIAN.

THE BLACK COLLEGIAN @ Blogspot: Steal this Article! Barack Obama on Black Student Political Power

Article here - freely reprintable, illustrated.

African American Village @ Blogspot - Under Construction

Coming soon - the editorial companion blog to the African American Village @ IMDiversity.com.

Meanwhile, we'd welcome you at some of our other hotspots:

• African American Village HOME


• African American
  & IMDiversity Daily News


• MY JOB TOOLS @
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• THE BLACK COLLEGIAN @
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