Are There Valid Ambitions Unrelated To Power And Money?
Ambition is most often thought of in terms of money and power. Yet, the word itself can accurately be used to refer to all kinds of human goals.
Suppose, for example, that you wanted to pursue a calling of being of service to impoverished people. You are passionate about helping and making a difference. You want to help a lot of people, and you desire to have your work produce meaningful positive change in their lives.
Would you consider that mindset ambitious? Does it fit to think of oneself as ambitious in serving others, or in protecting the environment, or in making the world a better place?
What are your ambitions that are unrelated to power and money? Are you an ambitious spouse, life partner, parent, family member, volunteer or friend?
What kind of thought do you give to the level of ambition you bring to being a friend, partner, etc.? Would you like to be more ambitious in these areas? Would you like to be less ambitious for money and power? Does ambition serve you or mis-serve you?
For 25 years I have been stewarding a key strategy to Remineralize the Earth with finely ground rock dust to regenerate soils and forests and stabilize the climate through an organization that I founded called Remineralize the Earth. I’m passionately facilitating a worldwide movement based on this premise and its tremendous potential, the premise of John Hamaker in the book The Survival of Civilization that was taken very seriously and advocated by Buckminster Fuller.
The time is now to bring this organization to the next level so that it has a fully funded staff and funds to initiate projects all over the world in partnership with NGOs, government agencies and companies. I am a passionate advocate and visionary and a good facilitator for the movement, but this does not make me a tremendous fundraiser. We can only be so many things and I have to be honest that I need a tremendous amount of coaching around raising money and focusing on that. It’s a tremendous responsibility to steward such a great idea and I need to rally all the skills from others to make this happen.
I don’t think of ambition so much as what brings me great joy. For me it’s a great joy to support the highest vision of everyone near and dear or that I simply come into contact with.
My own shyness about asking for funding is getting In the way of the mission being fulfilled. Since I am still volunteering I wonder if there is a volunteer out there to coach me in this area or someone/many who love to raise money and would love to be a part of this vision.
Some questions to consider:
What is the extent of your planning for the funding?
How much and in what stages?
Are there milestones associated with each part of the raise?
Who are likely funders – individual, institutional, non-profit, NGO, governments, etc.?
Thank you for sharing your situation / ambition / joy with us!! Best of luck, and let me see the answers to the questions to determine how I might be able to help.
Are there others out there who would be interested in hearing more about this initiative?