Ambition

This example has been chosen almost at random, from out of watching the Olympics a lot, but it could be another sport, say figure skating, or all sorts of different things, like playing the guitar, or acting, or painting, or writing...

You

You go to the Mountains and see people gracefully and beautifully snowboarding. Your heart sings, and you think wouldn't it be the most amazing thing ever in the whole world if you could learn to be an excellent snowboarder? So you move to the mountains and get a job and ski every chance you get, all winter long.

You become an excellent snowboarder. You see people leaping off of huge jumps that seem terrifying, but intriguing. You think "If only I could do that!" So you start small. You fall on little jumps. Then you don't. You work your way up until you dare to go off a big jump and... you land on your feet!

You get pretty good at the jumps. But a lot of the other people running the jumps can do flips and twists! This is amazing. You wish you could do it. So you do some turns in the air. You get instruction. You work hard at it. You fail. You get up. You do a twist. Then you do a flip, in the air, off of a big jump. Heaven!

You can do rough flips and twists. But you see people stringing jumps together. You see a Slopestyle competition, and you long to be good enough just to compete in an amateur competition coming up in your area. You train and train. Your life is happily consumed by this. You train in the summer without snow. You train in the winter barely scraping by. But the competition comes and you do great.

You run the competitions and it's thrilling. But you know there is a whole professional circuit of skiers, all better than you. You dream of just being among them. You compete in small amateur events, traveling, living poor, but you win, a lot, and qualify for the pro circuit.

You are now a professional snowboarder, among an elite of the 50 or 60 best snowboarders in the country, people you've been admiring and gawking at for a couple years! You wonder what it would be like to be among the best of them, and you ski with your whole mind and heart and soul. You actually win a Pro competition!

You are the twelfth ranked snowboarder in your country. From out of nowhere you realize the Olympics are just two years away. You dare to imagine having the combination of luck and skill to go to the Olympic games! Unaware that it was even possible, you devote yourself even more to your snowboarding. You lose, you lose, and then you win and win professional competitions. In the Olympic qualifiers you get a place on the team!

You are going to the Olympics. Sure you've dreamed of winning an Olympic Gold Medal, but now it seems actually possible if you ski your best. You want a Gold medal with a powerful yearning. You ski your heart out. Your jumps are clean and beautiful. But, alas, four people's jumps are just a little better than yours. You finish in fifth.

You thought it would be the most amazing thing ever in the whole world if you could learn to be an excellent snowboarder.

And you became one.