KNOWLEDGE, PASSION, LOVE, AMBITION
Ryan Rowe
Sunday, November 7th, 2004, 3:14am
Toronto, Ontario , Canada

A friend of mine asked me recently how important ambition is to me.  She asked me this question because she took note of the quasi core values / mantra I've posted on my website:

travel. see the world. knowledge is power. dare to be different.
the world is your adventure. explore the possibilities. challenge yourself.
whatever doesn't kill you ... only makes you stronger.
push your limits. sleep when you're dead.
endless passion and ambition. seize the day.

It took me a minute or two before I replied that there are lots of different things important to me and I'd have to identify them before I could rank ambition among them.

So... I considered some of the things that really inspire me, that I enjoy doing, and that make life interesting to me.  Traveling, learning new things, spending time with friends and family, really wanting something and getting it, being right (yeah, you read correctly), becoming a better person, etc.  Some words that came out of this self-analysis were curiosity, knowledge, spontaneity, passion, experiences, love, integrity, trust, and ambition, to name a few.  I tried to break them down into a few small core groups that would encompass the things that really matter to me and I ultimately decided on Knowledge, Passion, Love, and Ambition.

What struck me from my conversation with this girl, who I am discovering is wise beyond her years, and potentially someone I could learn a great deal from, is that she chose words that were starkly different from my choices.  For example: truth, integrity, honesty, dignity, trust.  What does this imply about me?  I'll wrestle with that question a little while longer and leave you to form your own conclusions about what type of person I am!!

I don't think I can rank my four choices though.  I'd say they are all interrelated ingredients for a fulfilling life.  So below I'm going to try and explain my vision of each of these for those of you who care about listening to my ramblings... I'll talk a little about why it's important to me and how it may have affected me positively or negatively.  Pls excuse my somewhat disjointed prose... If I say something that doesn't make any sense, write me a message in the forum!

Knowledge
I love learning about new things.  I'm always asking new questions, and I love it when I find answers.  This website has seen a lot of that as I've used it to post (sometimes) controversial comments as a way of recording my thinking on various issues, and then I refer back to them later.  It allows me to see the progress in my learning.  It's a lifetime process, I think.  You can never have perfect knowledge, but you can definitely broaden your scope of it.  That's what I'm trying to do.  I know I've always wanted to be somewhat of a Renaissance Man, which is usually defined as a person who is successful in many different types of things.  Leonardo Da Vinci is often the most cited example.  But really, is it within my reach?  I'm not an artist, I haven't written any best-selling novels,  I'm not a champion boxer, I'm not a star soccer player, and so on.  So I've had to tweak the definition of a Renaissance Man a bit to suit me.  I'd say it can also mean someone who aspires to do many things and who possesses a vast knowledge of many different subjects.  A person like this could have a conversation with just about anyone about almost any subject.  How cool is that?

So I think knowledge is the key to the world.  The more you know, the more doors you open, and the farther you can go.  I'll admit that sometimes my thirst for knowledge has hurt me in the past, since I often get side-tracked and lose sight of original goals.  This has happened to me in projects, papers, and work assignments, unfortunately.  I'm also left feeling confused and overwhelmed because I try to make sense of all the information.  I suppose that's where the phrase information overload comes from.

Anyhow, this iMBA program has proven to be an intense exercise in time management and prioritization.  I find myself struggling to get the most out of the classes while meeting deadlines.  It's really frustrating, but I know these are critical skills in the business world.

Passion
I think of myself as a driven and intense individual, but I guess that's something I should leave to other people to decide.  If I'm passionate, my motivation should be strong enough to show through in what I do, right?  I think that passionate people bring a fire to everything they do. For instance, some people are passionate lovers, others are passionate about their job, and still others have passion for sports and other activities.  Personally, I'm passionate about traveling, languages, seizing the day, music, love, and life in general.  A lot of what you'll find on this website showcases my passions...

I believe that no matter how much passion you have, you cannot go very far without the right knowledge.  Passion needs to be directed, and knowledge as I described it above is one way of doing that.  I'm a very emotional person and I get very worked up about those things dearest to me.  When I set my sights on something, I put the maximum intensity into achieving it.  What I need to worry about is burning myself out and maintaining a high level of emotional awareness.  This iMBA program has also proven useful in that regard, as it is designed to test my limits, and push me to the brink of insanity.  The key, I think, is to stay focused, and keep a balanced lifestyle, which I am trying to do...

Love
Love ... what a crazy thing.  I've been in love once in my life, and it felt so good to me.  Such an incredible feeling... but a broken heart is ten times as worse.  Still, I live by the philosophy of "loving like you've never been hurt".  This means to me that I try to go into relationships without hiding my feelings or putting up barriers.  I say what I feel and I often act out my impulses.

The reason I picked love is because of my high level of passion and romantic imagination.  Love is the perfect outlet for this energy.  But I'm also scared I'll never find love again.  I dream about finding a woman who I can relate to on an intellectual, emotional, and physical level.  I'm pretty inexperienced at long-term relationships... All my relationships have been short and intense... Maybe I'm adding too much fuel to the fire in the beginning.  In any case, I don't let it worry me, because the worst thing you can do is TRY to find love, because once you do that, you'll drive everyone away from you...

Ambition
Ambition is the final piece of the puzzle.  It's where a person sets their target as what they want to achieve.  Having goals is so important to really enjoying life, I think.  Otherwise what are you living for?  I always try to challenge myself to be as far removed as possible from the analogy of being a "bump on a log".  I try to take a proactive approach to nearly everything do.  Sometimes it's really tiring though... I often would like to just take a step back and relax.  Hang out and watch a movie, read a good book, or drink a beer and shoot the shit with friends.

I think that over the last year or so I have missed the point that one of my ambitions should be a balanced lifestyle.  I've been so focused on getting good grades, a fantastic job, or learning Spanish/Portuguese that I've lost sight of the fact that my whole mantra on life is to seize the day, right?  To live for the moment, right?  I've been questioning myself lately, and wondering if I've really been doing that.  All of the different things I've gotten involved in have left me almost no time for a personal life whatsoever.  I became so heavily oriented towards ACHIEVING that I actually began to develop a disdain for activities that weren't in line with what I needed to get done.  I realise that this was a big mistake and that it has affected relationships with friend and family on a deep level over the last while.  This has left me wanting to get these back and I am trying to figure out how... The intensity of this new iMBA program is testing my drive to do this. A real learning experience for sure.

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