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Hayden Dungan

Mrs. Cox

English 9 Honors

21 March 2017

A Happy Medium

Ambition; it is the small fire in your stomach that helps you get out of bed in the morning

and get through the day. I know that some people, including myself, like to deny that theyre

ambitious. Unfortunately, no matter how much we deny it, there is always a little voice in your

head motivating you towards a goal. Ambition can reveal a persons passion and resilience when

trying to reach a goal. However, when ambition takes over as the primary trait, it can corrupt

ones actions and turn them against society. When ambition gets out of hand, it can be difficult to

control. But, there are ways to contain this trait and get it back to a reasonable goal. As high

school students, we all know the desire to want to be the best, have the highest ranking, and to be

a good student. This is ambition. The inclination to be the greatest in school can help many to

achieve their goals.

So does ambition relate to success? Think about your goals, and what you have to do to

achieve them. One of my personal goals is to finish high school with an advanced-honors

diploma. In order to acquire this honorable achievement, I must get good grades and take a

plethora of classes. Along with all the written requirements, the most important of the unnamed

tasks is to be ambitious. Its funny to think about how I could give up at any moment and just

cruise my way through high school, but this little voice in the back of my mind persuades me to

keep going. To keep pushing through the countless hours of homework, the numerous

assignments, and the difficult tasks so I can be able to do the things I want to do when I am older.
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From the article, Why Ambition Is More Important Than Talent it states An ambitious attitude

can lead anyone to triumph and satisfaction, regardless of what is put in front of them. To have

the will, the dream and the courage to be on top of the world will get you a lot farther in life than

any skill you can possess. I like to deny that I am ambitious, but in reality, everything I do on a

day to day basis is driven by ambition. I am ambitious to be successful at school, at home, and in

life.

As with anything, ambition can get out of hand. The small flame leading you towards

your goals can explode into a raging wildfire of greed and selfishness. But how can this even

happen? Ambition can become uncontrollable, infect a persons good intentions, and control their

every decision. In the article The Downside of Ambition by Robert Samuelson, it mentions

that There is a point at which ambition and the determination to succeed, which generally serve

us well, turn destructive, corrupting and dishonest. Success becomes its own god. Winning is

what matters; the methods or consequences count little or not at all. Many people think the

simple desire of success cant get out of control, but alas, the seemingly basic trait of ambition

can spiral out of one's own jurisdiction. This is applicable to the play Macbeth, one that is

notoriously known for its main theme, ambition. I have no spur to prick the sides of my intent,

but only vaulting ambition, which oerleaps itself and falls on th other--. In this scene, Macbeth

explains how the only thing driving him to kill the King is ambition. Later in the play, Macbeth

starts to lose control of his ambition, and since there was nothing stopping him, he eventually

began killing the innocent, ignoring the consequences. So, ambition can get crazy. So crazy in

fact that it can lead someone to ignore what is important and lose sight of their main goals.

Ambition, in a sense, could be compared to a painting. Try to imagine painting something youre

very passionate about. You want to put everything you have into it. It needs to be perfect, precise,
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and elegant. But once you start to put too much effort into it, your masterpiece will become

overworked and forced. Instead, the painting symbolizes your goal and your paintbrush is your

ambition. Your effort to succeed can destroy your final outcome. Each stroke of your brush is

important, dont dwell on the miniscule details and expect a perfect bigger picture.

How do you control ambition? You need to be able to balance goals and success with

ambition. You need to be willing to fail in order to know how to succeed. Ambition can control

you. It is difficult to harness intentions to succeed, but necessary to accept your strengths and

weaknesses. Ambition is helpful in small doses, it can give you that little push to strive to

conquer your next goal. Ambition is important, but balance is key.

To capture the essence of ambition, one must consider the positives and negatives of the

trait in order to be successful. Willingness to accept failure is vital in your journey through life.

So, my challenge for you is to find that happy medium between your goals, and your ambition.

Works Cited

Samuelson, Robert. The Downside of Ambition. The Washington Post Writers Group. 2007.
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Shakespeare, William. Macbeth. Edited by Barbara A. Mowat and Paul Werstine. Simon &

Schuster Paperbacks, 1992.

"Why Ambition Is More Important Than Talent." Elite Daily. N.p., 23 July 2015. Web. 21 Mar.

2017.