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Thursday, October 31, 2024
Ambition. Drive. Desire. Competitiveness. Passion.
Whatever synonym you choose to use, ambition plays a part in success. As with most things in life, ambition has both good and bad sides. Like Icarus of Greek mythology, who flew too close to the sun, unchecked ambition can cause you to lose more than you gain. However, how motivated would you be to get off your couch and contribute to society without it?
Below, we discuss what separates a healthy drive from a harmful desire. As with anything, it’s all about balance.
Ambition can come from internal or external sources. An innate feeling of superiority or inferiority drives you to prove things to others or yourself through achievements. Feelings of revenge, envy, or anger can also promote ambition. Fear of failure, insignificance, or rejection, your natural intelligence, competitiveness, and abilities all impact your desires.
Your ambition could develop over time as you interact with siblings and establish a role in your family according to your birth order. Your parents or role models might have modeled or dictated expectations for you.
Ambition–wanting to do your best, challenge yourself and get better, grow, and attain rewards from all your effort–is a good thing to have. It’s why you aim for higher education, promotions, and income. It drives you to build a more prestigious career. Hope, desire, and achievement can produce higher levels of satisfaction. It prevents complacency and empowers you to do better and be all you can be.
Every coin has two sides, and ambition is no exception. While you need it to propel you towards progress and accomplishment, too much of it can be a handicap.
For starters, ambition alone is not enough for true fulfillment in life. All the accomplishments, prestige, and money in the world won’t automatically make you happier. Setting and achieving goals only brings temporary satisfaction. The thrill of the hunt, of chasing goals, only lasts so long. To live a well-rounded, happier life, you must set your sights on non-tangible things and avoid zeroing in on accolades.
Achieve greater long-term happiness by aligning your core values with your behaviors. Learning to enjoy the journey and not only the destination helps, too.
Determine your core values so you can live and enjoy a more purpose-driven life. You’re more likely to avoid aimlessness and drifting once you understand your deepest values and live according to them. Ultimately, those foundational values form your own unique fabric–yours won’t look like anyone else’s and vice versa.
“Ambition” has become a cringe-worthy word used primarily to describe hyper-focused, uncompromising, or cut-throat types of people–the type intent on stepping on whoever they need to to get to the top. “Ambitious” has come to mean self-serving or egotistic.
However, those with ambition are hard workers. They put in the effort or find the necessary tools to help them reach their goals. They have a growth mindset, accepting mistakes as part of the path and not allowing setbacks to derail them. They keep their eyes wide open and their ears tuned for opportunities. They are inventors ready to shake up the status quo.
Set your ambition on a healthy path (and help put the term in a better light) with these guidelines:
Consider the impact your decisions will have on others. Your empathetic viewpoints can help you keep your ambitions in check.
Focus on achieving better results for yourself and your employer. These don’t have to be big achievements, either. What can you do 1% better or make 1% better? The small things add up, are more realistically attainable, and motivate you to achieve more as you accomplish them.
If you are self-employed, consider how you can help another business or person be more successful.
How will you recognize and celebrate your achievements? Are you hoping for fame, fortune, plaques, trophies? Take some time to consider what you’re striving for and if it will fulfill you.
Don’t stop with yourself. Determine the rewards your employees or team want, remembering that recognition for hard work is often much appreciated.
Acknowledge that you are imperfect and have areas for improvement. You’ll add humility to your ambition, keeping it at healthier levels. Read growth mindset resources to continuously recalibrate your brain, recognize your weak areas, and remain open to learning from others.
Use the Goldilocks Principle to help you find the right balance between over- and under-reaching. If you’re bored doing something, try aiming for something a bit harder. If you constantly avoid something, consider that it might be too hard.
Note: Be careful not to mistake boredom for the repetition or monotony often required to succeed at something. Olympic medalists became the world’s greatest by practicing their skills for years and years, for example.
Re-adjust as some things become easier for you. Experiment until you find something “just right.”
Ambitious people are typically hard workers who take the initiative to improve the things they can. They are self-starters who find contentment in pursuing goals.
If you want to become a leader in your field, organization, or personal life with just the right amount of ambition, read. Check out self-help literature, like books by Jim Rohn. They contain potent lessons about personal and professional development, determination, grit, and more.
Like most things in life, ambition ranges from good to bad. It is what you make of it. Keep these guidelines in mind to develop a healthy ambition.
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