Cyprinus rubrofuscus. More commonly known as Koi Fish, are one of the few fish out of the many thousands that swim upstream to spawn. Along the way they come face to face with the difficulties of the natural world. Strong currents, waterfalls and maybe even a bear or two. As you could imagine the koi's migration upstream in rivers through waterfalls is not an easy one, they swim with such ferocity and strength that in Japanese culture they are compared to samurais. They are a peak representation of courage, power, patience, perseverance and more importantly ambition.
In today's world they say that your mindset is everything and well it is, your cup is either half full or half empty. So, what is your mindset then? Your mindset is a set of beliefs that shape how you make sense of the world and yourself. It influences how you think, feel, and behave in any given situation. It means that what you believe about yourself impacts your success or failure. A quote from Captain Jack Sparrow smartly states "The problem is not the problem. The problem is your attitude to the problem." To me this quote makes me think about bringing a shift in mindset to overcome a problem, it makes me think and regret not taking so many different opportunities because of my mindset. Now you think, how many times have you regretted not taking the chance, not being able to change your mindset. I can say I definitely have. So, what would happen if the Koi fish stopped being ambitious, courageous and let their mindset get in the way. To the facts they would die out and in conclusion not the best outcome.
How does this relate to our world then? Well just imagine if people stopped challenging themselves, stopped being ambitious. If we didn’t have Thomas Eddison, James Dyson and Karl Benz to thank we'd be using candles instead of lightbulbs, brooms instead of a Dyson, and we would be walking instead of driving. The list goes on. But have you ever stopped to wondered how these people became so successful or achieved something that seemed impossible at the time. They all come down to a few factors, two of which are ambition and a positive mindset.
A positive mindset helps you focus on what you want to achieve, alongside this there are many other surprising benefits of positive thinking. Research states having a positive mindset allows for better stress management, stronger leadership skills and could you imagine it allows you to be more resistant to the common cold and decreases blood pressure. It has been shown to be the catalyst of a happier, healthier lifestyle.
For ambition and mindset statistics of number are not of much use. However, we can examine those who take the stage in today's world. Emma Watson a passionate humanitarian started with the question of why my right are not equal to those of men. Stephan King, an American author despite receiving 60 letters of rejection continued writing becoming a renowned writer going on to publish more than 65 novellas. Oprah Winfrey, despite criticism about her weight, racism, intrusive questions about her sexuality continued to strive forward becoming the first black woman to own her own production company and nominated twice for an Oscar.
I guess it was luck that shaped their path? Or was it? No. It was ambition. The ambition of working hard. The ambition of commitment, being true to their word. And their mindset brimmed to the top with passions, goals and determination. A strong desire to achieve something, ambition, the ambition to keep going.
It's also understanding that the success doesn't come overnight, but through days, weeks even years of constant ambition and positive thinking. Allowing your mindset to change one step at a time, even if it means cleaning your room or reading a book. The little things.
In the past for me consistency was a problem. I'd rush into something, then after a few days I would drop everything as quickly as it came. For example, I tried to practice a sport more often, read more often, practice playing an instrument, and these were just a few things. They obviously crashed within a week. I tried everything to solve it, habit tracking, to do list, you name it I probably did it. I felt awful. I didn’t know what I was doing wrong until I realized, I had little to no ambition and a negative mindset in almost everything I did. So, with this in mind I changed my mindset, I changed my attitude. I saw what I was doing wrong and changed. This time knowing what I did wrong and learning from myself. It wasn’t instantaneous. It took patience, courage and perseverance like the Koi fish, a positive mindset and ambition like Emma Watson, Stephan King, Oprah Winfrey. It took the ambition to change to change, and I did it for me, myself and I. Though the playing instrument bit is still in a working progress.
A moving quote from Dr. Edith Edger states. "I can be hopeful – I can be depressed – or I can be happy. We always, always have the choice, the opportunity for control."
Now I ask you, do you want to waste your precious time to let it slip by as it a haze. Or do you want to have ambition, striving for your dreams, do you want to change your mindset look at the cup half full. I mean if you want to aim at nothing, you'll hit it.
I pass it over to you.
What are you going to do?
This was a speech I made in year 9 for a speech competition. We had to first perform them in class and then 3 people were voted from each of the 6 classes to go through to the final and I am proud to say I got third place overall. Performing my speech in front of around 200 people was very intimidating and I was extremely nervous at first, but after a little I managed to adjust and managed to find comfort in the uncomfortable. I am very grateful for having that experience as it definitely improved my confidence in general and my confidence in giving a speech also.
