Reaching The Goal Of Ambition

Waipa Post, Volume 45, Issue 3251, 5 November 1932, Page 1 (Supplement)

Reaching The Goal Of Ambition

The principal factor in fixing a man's niche in life is the man himself. Environment, opportunity, natural equipment, and many other elements have a contributory influence, but none of them is as important as the individual will. It is said that mass production, mass education, collective bargaining, and all the regimentation of a highly-organised machine age have had a levelling effect, subduing the individual to the general order and condemning him to a routine lite. Is that really an explanation or an excuse for mediocrity ? Is it not nearer the truth" to say that the reason why many never get beyond '"second best" 1 is that there is a readier surrender to difficulties than need be ? Nothing has yet been ordained or invented that keeps a good man down. The only place that is not overcro-wded is the top. Not all in their spheres can reach it, but all are at perfect liberty to try. It is the failure to try that often is mistaken for the inability to succeed. All over the world, in every branch of human activity, there is an abundant supply of useful, conscientious men who do their job well enough but who live and die in the ruck. Appreciative attributes have been paid to the trusty "plodder," and it is realised that a great deal of civilisation's essential service is performed by the "man of ruts." In them, however, there is something lacking which is necessary to the completely successful career and the full use of their talents for their own and others' good. The actual difference in knowledge, experience, and ability between the " second best" and those who emerge as leaders may be very small; often it is intangible. "What is it that prevents the man . who apparently has all the attributes essential to success from making contact ? Why does he go a certain distance and then settle down in commonplace security, watching others advance to higher achievement- ? . .

Firstly, and chiefly, it is fear. There may be ability, ambition, industry, and even opportunity, but •without courage no man, be he artisan or salesman, lawyer or surgeon, engineer or politician, can reach the summit of his own working world. The grit to strive must be accompanied by the pluck to dare. ,In life the man who reaches and remains at the level of second best really plays for a draw. It is safe; it has no ignominy; but it lacks the tanging relish of conquest. The natural leader scorns a draw; it is too insipid. Capablanca, former world's champion chess player, rejected such a conclusion as totally unworthy of a master, and held firmly that no one ever reached supremacy except by playing always for a win. "It is attempting to turn a draw into a win," he said, " that the supremely good player occasionally suffers defeat from the player who is only very good." Exactly so in the sterner game in which we all participate, though some know little of the aim and nothing of its zest. Lacking the courage to make a bold stroke, to press on with redoubled purpose when the obstacles appear to be insuperable the decisive step from the edge of the rut to the crown of the road will never be taken.

The hampering fear that holds men back, impairing their efficiency and choking their ambition, arises from *many causes. It is not all nervelessness or moral cowardice. In his " Individualism, Old and New," Professor Dewey shows some of the devastating effects of fears which all can understand, and from which few are completely free. Fear of loss of work, on dread of the oncoming of old age, create anxiety and eat into self-re-spect in a way that impairs personal dignity. "Where fears abound, courageous and robust individuality is undermined. Such considerations cannot be ignored, but they need not be permitted to overshadow all else and put individual courage to flight. Those who wish to forge ahead must have enough confidence and sufficient courage to take risks. As Dr Jacks insists ir one of his stimulating discourses, " safety " and "progress" are He applies the dictum to in emphasising the dangerousness of the enterprise in which all citizens are engaged together; with equal force it can be applied to individuals. In his wider sweep he touches the present theme by showing that the law of evolution which carries the best to higher levels operates in like manner on the second best; and the second best is always the most active opponent of the best, the opposition of the "worst" being trifling by comparison. At present we are concerned mainly with the reasons why men who should be at the top, for whom there is room and need as leaders in 1 almost every walk in life, stop abruptly when merely near the top. If demoralising, corrosive fear could be conquered and what is sometimes mistaken for modesty were replaced by a wholesome self-confid-

WHY ARE SO MANY CONTENT TO BE " SECOND BEST " ? GRIT AND DETERMINATION ARE THE FOUNDATIONS OF SUCCESS. MANY WHO SHOULD REACH THE TOP ARE CONTENT TO BE SECOND BEST.

ence, many men would complete the journey to their summit in a stride. Valour alone, of course, is not sufficient equipment; it is urged as a necessary ingredient. Whatever other qualities are possessed, fear of failure always will prevent men from being anything more than second best. It is more important to follow Benjamin Franklin's guidance—"perform without fail what you resolve "—than to begin with what are called advantages or handicaps. The impression that success is the pre-ordained fate of the "brilliant" man and non-success the doom of the "plodder" may be entirely wrong. Few so-called brilliant men ever attained leadership without work equally hard as that performed by the plodder. A stroke of genius is more often the cumulative result of long and assiduous labour than a free gift from the inspirational gods. There are, of course, very wide differences in mentality and temperament —differences that preclude the possibility of human uniformity. Some men work deliberately; others by impulse. Results are more important than methods, and there is nothing to confirm the impression that the steady and dogged worker has any less hope of excelling in his sphere than the man who is classified as brilliant but who may not have his powers under efficient control. Both types, and all grades between the types, discipline themselves. The plodder has to cultivate mental and physical alertness, and the impulsive person finds that perseverance and poise must be added to his equipment by self-education. Though some men reach the summit of their ambitions swiftly and with apparent ease, it is only in the rarest instances that true success comes by external causes. The royal road looks easy, in most cases, only to those who do not travel it. Almost invariably there are obstacles to surmount, and it is the " second best" who quail, preferring comfort and security to the higher prize. "If there were no difficulties," said Cecil Rhodes, "what would be the use of you and me ? " He spoke as a man who, having scaled the heights, knew why others who ought to have reached the top had stumbled half way and stopped there.