Many years ago, I was attending a training session at the New York offices of an insurance company for which I worked for at the time. There were a handful of us from our Canadian division and several others in similar positions attending from other US offices. We were spending a week learning and engaging with the corporate culture. Several of us had enjoyed a lengthy post-class session in Manhattan the night before. As a result, the post-lunch lecture was a grind to get through. Leaning into learning after a night on the town was a big ask. Lunch had fed only a lull in energy.
We were doing our best simply to stay awake. Throbbing heads, full stomachs, and sleep-deprived, all most could do was stare blankly at the blank pages on our notebooks in front of us. For whatever, reason I was interested in the technical discussion about credit facilities and associated leverage ratios that was being offered. As the lecture lingered, I became self-conscious as it seemed that the speaker kept looking at me. Looking around at others in the room, it became apparent that the speaker was looking at me because I was pretty much the only one looking at him. Others had tuned out listening only to the signals of discomfort in their own bodies. The lecture had become a conversation between the speaker’s words and my body language where the attention of one earned the attention of the other.
I imagine teachers and coaches know this feeling all to well. They can’t help but offer guidance and instruction to those that are receptive to it. It’s no fun to talk to a wall. Those that show no interest in learning are left behind whereas those allocating some attention are rewarded with support and encouragement. Resources run to those that step forward. A distinction between teachers and coaches is that teachers typically find themselves in front of a room of those that are forced to be there whereas coaches are in front of those that have chosen to be there. Students show up in front of teachers with a wide range of motivations. Some may be ambitious aiming for the status win of good marks. Some may be curious and interested in the topic. Most are there because they are told to be there and are waiting to be told what book to open and which page to read. Coaches get to chat to those that are committed and have chosen to show up. They are there on their own time. They’re invested in learning. It is easier for coaches to connect with those wanting to connect with their content.
The interested are interesting. The committed are compelling. Passion is magnetic. We’re drawn into the orbit of those fueled by pure purpose. The Spanish writer Ortega y Gasset was a believer of meritocratic liberalism. He distilled his philosophy in a book written in 1930 called The Revolt of the Masses. Gasset crystallized the idea that ambition is attractive when he wrote, “As one advances in life one realizes more and more that the majority of men-and of women-are incapable of any other effort than that strictly imposed on them as a reaction to external compulsion. And for that reason, the few individuals we have come across who are capable of a spontaneous and joyous effort stand out isolated, monumentalized, so to speak, in our experience. These are select men, the nobles, the only ones who are active and not merely reactive, for whom life is a perpetual striving, an incessant course of training.” Most adopt a posture of passivity waiting to be told what to do. Then there’s the few that do, that lean into life and display interest and initiative. This is so rare that it stands out as noticeable and attractive. It draws similar minded people to supporting their ambitions.
After all the saying suggests that fortune favors the bold not those that sit around waiting to do what they’re told. A bias for action accelerates agency in the ambitious. They live by Goethe’s motivational sentences, “Are you in earnest? Seize this very minute, Whatever you can do, or dream you can-begin it; Boldness has genius, power, magic in it; Only engage,–and then the mind grows heated; Begin!-and then the work will be completed.” The focused find a way. The committed choose to face challenge, to clamor and climb their way up the mountain. The dedicated have deep drive that pushes them forward. The engaged exert effort creating excellence. Henry David Thoreau echoes Goethe writing in Walden, “If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.” Action is attractive. Action begets traction in your desired direction. People can see you’re serious and they gravitate towards you.
“Action is the foundational key to all success,” offered Pablo Picasso. It’s the reasoning behind the folk wisdom that “you can’t keep a good man down.” The author Arthur Conan Doyle put it similarly writing, “Mediocrity knows nothing higher than itself, but talent instantly recognizes genius.”
The ambitious are willing to lead with their actions. They intuit that when they move the whole world moves with them. They give to get. They aren’t passive, content to sit around waiting for the world to fall in their lap. They exhibit the posture of Ayn Rand’s protagonist from The Fountainhead saying, “The question isn’t who is going to let me, it’s who is going to stop me.” The cream rises to the top because the best get out of bed ahead of the rest. They rise to shine. They start by doing their part. Strivers sense that If you want to get PAID, become a Person with Ambition, Initiative, and Drive as these are attributes that are in demand. Their actions reflect their ambitions. Their actions reflect their commitment and dedication. Others see this and seek to support these efforts. The best start by doing their part with all their heart and in their journey others will seek to take part. A law of the Universe seems to be that resources flow to where prowess shows.
Coaches clamor to connect with the committed. Teachers want to reach those with a thirst for knowledge. There are plenty with resources and knowledge that want to help the hungry. Personal trainers know that they can’t lift the weights for their clients. Their clients must do their part. Teachers and coaches can’t beat brilliance into someone. They recognize that their insights will only be imbibed by the interested. High-calibre coaches seek to work only with those that are committed. However, they recognize as the French philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre did that “Commitment is an act, not a word.” They want their expertise to flow to those that will act on it. They aren’t in the business of trying to motivate the unmotivated. They want to work with the hungry. It’s the same with teachers. It’s the same with consultants. The best want to work with the best. The best want to work with those that demonstrate initiative. The best want to help those that want to help themselves. The best want to support those that are willing to do the work.
Coaches seeking to work with high-potential performers purposely make their services difficult to access. They place tests of commitment to potential charges prior to opening the well of their wisdom to them. These tests may take the form of pricey fees, interviews, contractual commitments, or acceptance only if referred from a certain place. Each of these increase the chances that the coach will be working with someone that is committed to doing their part. These tests sort to separate the wheat from the chaff. After all, like attracts like. The serious attract the serious. Both the ambitious and those seeking to support them are focused by the idea of let’s get real or let’s not play.
The cream rises to the top because of two sides of the same coin. The cream is willing to do their part and act. They will step forward first. Action is required to make progress. Additionally, supporters want to see you show your seriousness. Once they see your commitment on display, they are at the ready to help. Again, resources flow where prowess shows. Whether this is “right” or “fair” is irrelevant. It just seems to be a natural outcome. Recognize it isn’t constructive to conceal commitment. Better to demonstrate dedication. If you’re seeking to instill initiative, communicate your understanding of this natural law to others. Moreover, reward initiative and commitment when you see evidence of these attributes. Better yet, communicate what and why you’re rewarding them as you see them.
