An Ambitious Balance

Pulkit Agrawal was an Indicorps 08-09 fellow, based at GDL in Bagar, where he spent time trying to reduce unemployment by encouraging entrepreneurship through business teaching, awareness generation and bespoke consulting. Now back at home in London he reflects on some of the differences in life between then and now. He blogs at www.pulkitindindia.blogspot.com.

It’s been a while since I left GDL but another ex-volunteer who I spoke to over the weekend inspired this post (both the act and the content)…. as we were contemplating the differences between life at GDL and now in London / Toronto we almost decided that simplicity made for happier living; aside from the obvious rhetoric- having a tight group of friends, with few organised social activities, in a small place kept us stimulated and entertained for a year! As much as I believe I have a strong preference for city living, I came to the realization that rural life may actually be more fulfilling… and its to do with ambition; a double-edged sword if ever there was one!

Whilst trying to encourage entrepreneurship as part of my Indicorps project I was regularly anguished at the lack of desire from the people to better themselves. Why did no-one see the opportunities that existed and why did no-one want to put the effort in to change their lifestyle, situation and mindset?! Maybe it was laziness but more fundamental than that was a deep contentment with life that seemed to exist. As long as things didn’t get worse, people were not too bothered about them getting better (although of course people complained, as they seem to do everywhere!). And on some level I was quite impressed at this attitude and sometimes wondered whether trying to encourage growth and ‘development’ was actually leading people on a wild-goose chase! At the time I made peace by deciding that the ambition to pursue something is important as often it can transcend materialism and lead people to pursue peace, understanding and openness..

Yet now when I consider my ambition and that of those I left behind I wonder whether my ambition is actually constructive and positive… Does having too many options lead us to confusion, dissatisfaction and unhappiness? Or do we need a basic level of discontentment to provide us motivation to continue living in pursuit of happiness? Is it worth striving for this ambition when the clear danger of over-ambition is around us to see – whether in the workplace or even in our social lives? How do we balance useful, constructive ambition with dangerous, negative ambition???