How do you inspire ambition in a teenage boy?

[Puffykins]

Is it normal for a 14/ 15 year old boy to have zero ambition? I grew up with only sisters, and went to an all-girls school, so my experience is limited - and I honestly sometimes despair with DS. He's at a really good school, in the higher sets but happily achieving around average, puts the absolute minimum into his homework. For various reasons he couldn't do GCSE music at school, which he apparently wants to do for A Levels so I've sorted out tutoring for him to do it as an extra privately - but he's putting the absolute minimum into that, too - which is, in fact, zero.

He loves music, in that he spends all his time strumming happily on his guitar (he's doing it right now) and has a natural talent for music - he also plays the clarinet and the piano and is in the school orchestra etc. - but has no desire to improve, he never practices, etc., and is currently, in fact, taking a break from piano lessons (he doesn't have guitar lessons, i'm not over burdening him. He's also doing dual science and no foreign language for GCSE, so it's not as if adding music - which he wanted to do - is giving him too many.)

I find it harder to understand, I think, because I have perfectionist tendencies, so always put in extra effort, and worked super hard to get a career that I love in a competitive industry. He, however, thinks that a career in the music industry sounds like it might be hard work to get into, and reckons that being a postman sounds like a nice job. Obviously there's nothing wrong with being a postman, but I pointed out that it might not pay for regular skiing trips (he's only been once - but loves it - and really wants to go again.) Oh - he also does virtually no exercise. He has ADHD and autism (diagnosed) and is on ADHD medication. He also had cancer as a child - and I also feel that he's so lucky to get this second chance at life that I want him to grab it. But again that's me projecting onto him. (And I have not said this to him.)

He's a lovely, lovely boy (aside from the fact that his bedroom is a tip and he never puts his clothes in the wash) and I love him so much and I want him to have a lovely life doing something he loves but I want him to want it for himself and I feel like I'm somehow failing him because he seems so uninspired to do anything apart from strum away on his guitar. How do I inspire him to want more? Or is this normal?

I think a lot of kids just find the straitjacket of school and mark schemes utterly uninspiring, lose confidence in the power of formal education to get them where they might want to be, but find their feet when they have more autonomy. He may need a stint in a boring yet tiring job to make him realise he needs more. But if he's raised in a generative, provoking atmosphere with books and written material lying around, casual prompts to show he's expected to have interesting political opinions ('so what do you think of what Trump said today'), music playing, photography and art to look at, then that will lodge in him and he will have that consciousness of the world beyond to build on when he wants to.

But you might sit down with him with some figures written down and say, look, this is the kind of freedom and fulfilment you could have later in life, this is how much money you need coming in each month to have a life you can look forward to, this is the kind of job you need to get there, this is the competition for that job, this is the game you need to play to be among the most impressive and this is when you need to start playing that game (i.e. GCSE year - even if he resents it). Meet him on his level, paint an irresistible picture for him. Introduce him to the revelation that all the swots at school are not necessarily doing it because they love it and don't have the imagination to reject the establishment - most of them have cottoned on to the fact that they need to play this game to get somewhere later.
This is such a ramble but I wish someone had explained this to me when I was a sulky teen who refused to engage!

Draw a pair of tits on it?
😆

Seriously though he sounds busy, leave him alone, he's fine.

My parents were constantly pushing me into crap and I rebelled against it. Probably partly as a result of that I had zero interest in hobbies until my 30s. Not that that harmed me tbf.

Let people be who they are.

He's a normal teenager. It's fine. Just because you're a driven perfectionist doesn't mean he also has to be.

Thank you @valadon68 that's a really good idea. No one did it with me either and I wish they had. And there are definitely a lot of books lying around - and he does read- and both DH and I work in the arts so we take him to exhibitions and the theatre and the opera (which he loves - and he'll be enthusiastic about anything which I so love) and we do discuss politics a bit (though this is definitely an area where we could do better.) (DD, in contrast, mostly doesn't want to go to the theatre or exhibitions, but is academically high achieving and works really hard.)

@Sodthesystem I'm not pushing him into hobbies - those are entirely self-driven - I want him to want some GCSEs.... but thank you.