does your ambition exceed your potential?

[omgmakemesmarter]

<p>or does your potential exceed your ambition? (or would you say they’re evenly matched?)</p>

<p>discuss.</p>

<p>i got the brilliant idea for this from here</p>

<p>

@galoisien

While the rich kids scramble for things to inflate their resume, it does not occur to most of my poorer immigrant classmates (or their guidance counselors) that their struggles are something worthy of mentioning on their applications. Of course, no one tells them to aim past community college either – or even college at all. Some of them are immensely intelligent, and the only difference is that they are not aware that their potential exceeds their ambition, and it pains me to see the prejudice their counselors foist upon them. I only escaped this prejudice because I asserted my ambition (which is not always a good character trait), whereas the more modest individuals are effectively screwed.

.
credit goes to him.</p>

[PetraElise]

<p>Interesting topic. I won’t answer for my girls though, because I feel out of place making that interpretation for them. And, I think they are basically on the right track, so no extremes one way or the other</p>

[halcyonheather]

<p>My potential exceeds my ambition. Not that I have much potential either, but I spend most of my time procrastinating. I mean, I don’t plan to become unsuccessful or anything, but in practice that’s what I work toward.</p>

[omgmakemesmarter]

<p>for me its really hard to tell. it seems to flip a lot. but if i have to pick it’s my ambition that exceeds my potential. i know that because whenever i get ambitious i come upon enormous impossible tasks that i can’t do. not that no one could do, i know what it would take to do them and i know kids who could, but tasks that are beyond my capacities. and then repeated experience of this has smoldered away my determination to follow my ambitions,so now its only rarely that i pursue any ambition at all (although i still do get to feeling ambitious fairly often, but if i wait awhile it will pass).</p>

[omgmakemesmarter]

<p>just yesterday i was dreaming about being a successful but unexceptional sociologist who studied autogynephiles (i wasn’t dreaming about being a girl myself but rather about being a sociologist who studies those that do) but after i researched it for fifteen minutes and wrote a forum post about it then the ambition (or maybe it’s more appropriate to call that an impulse because it was so transient) faded.</p>

[CalDud]

<p>I’m pretty sure I have more ambition than potential. That being said, I still think I have a lot of potential. Usually when I put my mind to something it’s within reach. It’s just how hard I’m willing to work for it. It’s often the case that I don’t want to work hard for anything, but I am trying to get a job so…I’m working hard to get one of those since I’m on student loans. </p>

<p>I’m pretty sure at minimum I will get a PhD at some point in my life. In what? Don’t exactly know, I’ll be getting my master’s in Mechanical Engineering. As in terms of research output or doing some crazy things, I’ll cross that road when I get there. Right now I’m just trying to finish my last batch of classes. </p>

[Halogen]

<p>I have this personality trait where no matter what I do, I hate myself because there is always something more impressive that I could be doing.</p>

[omgmakemesmarter]

<p>caldud! why are you reviving my thread!</p>

<p>oh and hi halogen. you’re that kid with the debate coach mom i think who likes to have an awful lot of wikipedia tabs open at once. or really just delve into things too much for your own good that you may not be ready for. you’re one of those kids that does things besides what he’s supposed to do because he has curiosity. unless you don’t anymore but i bet you do. that really could distract you from your ambitions so watch out for that, it distracted me from my ambitions, or really it stopped me from forming them. but i didn’t have much potential anyway so it wasn’t a big loss.</p>

[lisa500]

<p>I would have to say that my ambition tends to exceed my potential, at least a lot of times.
However, I do have some potential… I generally just have to work harder than average to achieve things.</p>

<p>I’ve met quite a few people for whom the opposite appeared to be the case, people whose potential exceeded their ambition. It seems that’s very common.</p>

[musicallylatin]

<p>My ambition definately exceeds my potential. I mean seriously I go to a ■■■■■■ little state college, and I’m d etermined to get into the top ranked grad school for my dream field. Most days I think it’s possible,but really I will graduate with a 3.7 at best. My GREs better be ■■■■■■■ good. </p>

[Wiscongene]

<p>My ambition is a freight train pulled by a tank that runs over anyone who says I don’t have enough potential to get to where I want to be.</p>

[opori2]

<p>I think my potential exceeds my ambition. I mean I work hard and do well, but a part of me always thinks “what if” and I always daydream about the things that I COULD be. Now if I only started doing instead of thinking, I think I’d accomplish some great things!!!</p>

[tangentline]

<p>My potential exceeds my ambition… But as of now, I will be keeping calm and not going alpha male.
No need to run over or step on anybody to get where I want to be.
I will do all that is in power/willpower to:

1. graduate engineering in 3 years while getting work experience to secure the job, because APs make it feasible
2. do my best at serving fellow club mates that beat me to the position for multiple reasons… Now I don’t want to make it a goal to get elected/appointed for reasons (I get to keep serving others as of now), but I will be led to a decision in the future.</p>