You've got ambitions. You have a future in mind. You have plans. You have dreams.
Are you communicating them? Are you communicating them properly?
That may seem an odd question, but ask yourself for moment if you are. Are your friends clear on your ambitions so they can help you? Are your co-workers aware of your dreams – or are you expressing them in confusing ways? Do your teachers know what you're reaching for? Do the right people know of your ambitions and understand them?
What's your answer? My guess is that in many cases, "not exactly."
It's important for us to communicate our ambitions to people:
- They can assist us and can help us out, but only if they know what we're reaching for.
- They can act as sounding boards, but only if we truly communicate with them.
- They can provide emotional support, but only if we reach out.
The right people need to know our dreams and hopes and plans, otherwise they're alone in our heads, and we're alone as well. When we communicate our ambitions, we can find support and role models and insights from others. We just have to let the right people know.
It is not enough to communicate our ambitions, however, we must also communicate them properly:
- We have to put them in language people understand.
- We have to communicate properly about things that may seem odd, controversial, or otherwise disruptive.
- We have to know when it is appropriate to share our ambitions and when not to – there is a time and place for everything, after all.
Not enough support from people? Feeling alone in your goals? Learn to communicate your ambitions with others, and you may find many resources and allies you didn't know you had.
For that matter, learn to listen to other people's ambitions – after all, you probably are or have been in similar situations yourself . . .