5 Phrases An Ambitious Person Will Never Say

We all have dreams and aspirations, and many of us will follow through on those dreams and achieve exactly what we desire. However, the path to achieving those dreams isn't always straight and narrow. It takes a lot of work to get to where you want to go, so if you want to be a successful person, you need to surround yourself with positivity. That's why we have compiled a list of five phrases that ambitious people just don't abide.

"I'll do it tomorrow."

Your capacity for work in the present is limited, sure, but many people give themselves short shrift by waiting to complete something until later. Olin Miller said, "If you want to make an easy job seem hard seem mighty hard, just put off doing it." He was right. Successful people never delay until later, until tomorrow. They enjoy challenges, sometimes they even go out of their way to create hurdles to overcome. Don't procrastinate. It only hinders you.

"That's not my job."

When you work someplace, you are thoroughly invested in their mission. Regardless of your level on the totem pole, you are should try not to shirk your responsibilities. Even Abraham Lincoln had a little bit of this in him when he said, "My father taught me to work. He didn't teach me to like it."  If the most well-liked president in U.S. history got to where he is by putting his nose to the grindstone and just working hard, then you can get to where you want to be by going the extra mile. When you are an ambitious person, everything is your job.

"Whose fault was it?"

This one is very important. In business settings, or any formal settings for that matter, blame and laying of fault should be entirely abandoned. The idea of blaming someone for some error is wrong on some many fronts; it causes you to assign a negative value to some sort of outcome, when it very well can be labeled as a success. It then causes you to take time out to single someone out and diminish their value, often in front of others. Lack of success among groups is often the result of a lack of communication. As Arnold Glasow said, "A good leader takes a little more than his share of the blame and a little less than his share of the credit."

"No."

This is a broad one, but it digs deep at a central tendency of ambitious people: they tend to think anything is possible, regardless of how far-fetched, difficult, or absurd that thing may be. Thomas Edison's thoughts best encapsulate this one: "I have not failed. I've just found ten thousand ways that don't work." He didn't give up, nor did he decide at any point that the creation of a light bulb must be impossible. He continued over and over and over, thinking of creative solutions to solve a problem other people weren't even aware of at the time. And he succeeded, all because he didn't say, "No."

"That doesn't interest me."

Salvador Dali put it best when he said, "Intelligence without ambition is a bird without wings." An ambitious person tends to be interested in everything. They make it a hobby to learn new facts and acquire new skills, thereby creating new ways by which to succeed. Whether it is the marketing manager who applies the analytic side of calculus to his work, or the scientist who paints in her free time, ambitious people are constantly expanding their horizons by trying new things and applying them centrally to what they care about most.
Featured photo credit: Black-and-white portrait of an ambitious business guy wearing sunglasses via shutterstock.com
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