I’m not ambitious. I guess that does not make me popular but the fact is I’m not ambitious. I’m not at all guilty about this and I’m perfectly happy with the way I am. When I say I don’t have any ambitions, there is a chance of me being misunderstood as being wayward and listless. I can be very clear and organised. Being clear and organised is about the present whereas ambition is about the future. Lack of ambition is related to lack of desire to improve/grow. It is seen as a sign of incapability or being unadventurous. That’s unfortunately the popular belief.

I know it’s cool to say I’m ambitious. It’s inspiring to say ’20 years back I had a dream and here I’m today’ or ‘my relentless efforts driven by my ambition made me achieve this’. I don’t know people who claim to be ambitious are really ambitious or just claim so because that’s a nice thing to say in our society. As far as I’m concerned, I have no ambition. I don’t know what and where I want to be after 10 years. While I don’t dream about the end result, I certainly enjoy the process. I don’t need the carrot of ambition.

Every want or desire is not the ambition. It is the ultimate state, the superior motive. The ambition is an uncertainty. What is certain is the process that we are on now which might lead to the destination, whether desired by you or not. I simply don’t understand the concept of having an ambition and working towards that. I see that’s a reverse appraoch. What’s natural is to do best with what you have and you’ll get what you deserve. I know I won’t come across as the most optimistic guy with this kind of thoughts.

Ambition is like religion. Some people badly need religion. Some people are very comfortable without it. Some people do need ambition to drive them. Some people don’t. You don’t have to do wonders only because you have an ambition to push you. Need not be. One can do well because he is dedicated, committed, truthful and honest, because that’s the right way, the only way. It’s very easy to live here and now. Living in the past or for the future is unnatural but common. I’m not a sanyasi. Living in a material world, I can’t live ‘here and now’ like the zen masters. But I try as much as I can. It makes me feel light and free. If you live ‘here and now’, you might even laugh at the term ‘ambition’. My idea is simple: live here and now, live happily.

I’ll leave you with this Zen story:

One day, while walking through the wilderness, a man encountered a vicious tiger. He ran for his life, and the tiger gave chase. The man came to the edge of a cliff, and the tiger was almost upon him. Having no choice, he held on to a vine with both hands and climbed down. Halfway down the cliff, the man looked up and saw the tiger at the top, baring its fangs. He looked down and saw another tiger at the bottom, waiting for his arrival and roaring at him. He was caught between the two. Two rats, one white and one black, showed up on the vine above him. As if he didn’t have enough to worry about, they started gnawing on the vine. He knew that as the rats kept gnawing, they would reach a point when the vine would no longer be able to support his weight. It would break and he would fall. He tried to shoo the rats away, but they kept coming back. At that moment, he noticed a strawberry growing on the face of the cliff, not far away from him. It looked plump and ripe. Holding onto the vine with one hand and reaching out with the other, he plucked it. With a tiger above, another below, and two rats continuing to gnaw on his vine, the man tasted the strawberry and found it absolutely delicious.

You can never have the past or the future; one is irretrievably gone and the other is yet to come. The present is here and now, and it is yours completely and unconditionally. No one can take it away from you, and you alone have the power to decide how to use it. Cheers!