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What is ambition?

Ambition is a strong and unquenchable desire to achieve success and gain power at any cost, as well as a constant desire to act. A person who declares his own ambitions always strives for success and wants to achieve a certain goal. By the way, for successful advancement in business, this is one of the most valuable qualities.

In addition, ambition is a powerful motivation, driven by a strong need for recognition and success. It is they who encourage people to explore unexplored horizons, constantly move forward and an unstoppable desire to quickly achieve their goals. True, in order for ambition to truly become a virtue, it must be supported and justified by something.

Ambition – good or bad?

It is impossible to say with one hundred percent certainty that ambition is good or bad. In order to find the answer to this question, it is necessary to assess how much their presence influences the development of personality.

If you look for the positive aspects of ambition, it is worth noting that the presence of aspirations stimulates a person to achieve them. If a person has a clear goal and he clearly sees the entire path that has to be taken to realize it, then he gradually learns not to be distracted by external stimuli and organize himself. When faced with problems, a person tries to overcome them and find another way to solve them. In general, he is ready to actively act in order to achieve what he wants and will never give up or give up his plans.

However, sometimes ambitions can have a negative impact on personal development. In this case, we are talking about the fact that complete immersion in one’s own desires and aspirations can lead to the fact that a person ceases to notice the needs of family and friends, not to mention others around him.

Unhealthy ambitions can significantly complicate life, especially when they are involved in relationships between a man and a woman. Psychologists in such a situation strongly recommend stopping and looking at yourself and your goals from the outside. Are you sure that your plans will truly bring you happiness and mental satisfaction? After all, it may turn out that you already have everything to consider yourself truly happy.

Types of Ambitions

As a rule, all human ambitions can be classified into:

Healthy/destructive.
Adequate/inadequate (that is, overestimated).
Imperial/political, etc.
Careerist/championship.

Adequate ambitions are considered the most realistic, because they most fully correspond to a person’s capabilities and in most cases bring a positive result, that is, a person somehow manages to fulfill the goal he has set for himself.

If a person sets himself impossible tasks, then the result, of course, will be completely different from what he expected.

The word “ambition” still evokes negative associations in half of people, while the other half often idolizes ambition, believing that this is the only way to achieve something in life. Not only is there nothing wrong with healthy ambitions, they greatly help a person set goals and achieve them. We can say that ambition is an internal source of motivation, which is little susceptible to outside influences, and, as a rule, arose in a person during childhood and adolescence. Inflated ambitions, as well as their complete absence, are deviations from the norm that do not allow one to live a normal, happy life, throwing a person to one of the extremes. Today we will talk about how to cultivate healthy ambition and how it will help you in life.

Ambitions come from childhood

Surely, you are wondering why some people have innate ambition, while others do not show this quality. Since ambitions are the claims and aspirations of a person, professional sports are very good at raising their adequate level in children. Even if at the city level, participation in team competitions, as well as in individual competitions, significantly increases the desire, and, most importantly, the ability to set a goal and achieve it, and also teaches you to lose with dignity and find new motivation in losing. Another factor that fosters ambition in children is the example of successful parents who have achieved everything on their own. Well, and finally, research shows that children from large families are much more likely to achieve noticeable results in their business than those who were an only child. The desire to stand out from numerous brothers and sisters creates excellent motivation.

What are ambitions?

A person’s level of aspirations in life can be adequate, underestimated or overestimated. Adequate ambitions force a person to be in constant motion, learn new things, set feasible (which does not mean easy) goals and achieve them. A person with low ambitions usually goes with the flow: if he gets a promotion at work, that’s good, but it’s not because he tried to achieve it. Inflated ambitions are a very insidious enemy; they force you to set unrealistic goals and lead to an overestimation of your own capabilities and qualities. Such a person has very high self-esteem, while there may be no real evidence of such a high opinion of himself at all. Most often, ambitions are associated with a career, but they can manifest themselves in other ways. For example, in the desire to look great 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Regulars of fitness clubs, who practically live there and look like Apollos, realize their ambitions in this way. In women, ambition is often expressed in the desire not just to start a family, but to be an ideal wife and mother who manages to do everything and with whom everyone is always happy.

How to develop healthy ambitions

Of course, it is very convenient to accept the position of psychologists and agree that ambition is laid in early childhood, and now nothing can be corrected. If your problem is low aspirations (and this is very, very common today), and this does not allow you to reveal yourself at work, to realize yourself in your social and personal life, you can cultivate adequate ambitions on your own. Start listening to yourself - a sign of low ambition is not that you have no desire to achieve something, but that you give up without even taking up the task of bringing your goal to life. Try next time, when you feel inspired and energized by some goal that has appeared in your imagination, not to give up on it “because it is too difficult and unattainable,” but to think through a plan (or several options) for achieving it. Communication with ambitious people helps a lot if you use it correctly. Let such a person not be a reproach for you, who has achieved little so far, but a model of behavior. Allow yourself to be infected by this wonderful state, when the whole world does not yet belong to you, but you are confident in yourself and know that sooner or later you will conquer it. The development of ambition is facilitated by working on self-esteem, which we have already talked about. Set a goal for yourself to become a more ambitious person, and you will see how much richer and more interesting your life will become. (via)

How to develop and realize ambitions?

It is no secret that the emergence of the psychology of ambition occurs in very early childhood. Often, parents themselves instill high self-esteem in a child, and most often this happens unconsciously. And sometimes parents nurture personal unrealized ambitions in their children, starting to praise their beloved child long before he actually does something important and meaningful. If the child does not succeed in something, then such parents begin to blame anyone for it, but not their baby. As a result of this approach, the child begins to imagine himself as a completely unique and brilliant person only because his parents constantly tell him about it. And, having nurtured too great ambitions in a child from an early age, parents subsequently cannot tame them.

Psychologists say that the character of such individuals does not change over the years: constant, one might even say chronic, failures make them overly touchy and terribly irritable, in a word, completely unbearable, and oh how difficult it can be to find a common language with them. These people almost never have real friends (and this is quite understandable - few people would want to strengthen another person’s narcissism by living exclusively in his interests), and they always try to satisfy their remaining unfulfilled ambitions at the expense of those around them.

Overcoming high self-esteem is only possible if a person desires it himself. In order to do this, he will need to conduct a thorough analysis of all the results of his activities, while being as objective as possible aware of both all his advantages and every single disadvantage. Ideally, it would not hurt him to learn to follow the example of successful people who are able to adequately respond to constructive and well-deserved criticism.

In order to develop adequate ambitions, you will need:

The ability to listen to your surroundings. An unbiased and objective assessment of a person’s activities on the part of his colleagues or close people helps not only to understand his abilities, but also to outline plans for further growth, and this in turn will allow him to increase self-confidence.
Self-esteem. This concept implies an assessment of the degree to which existing abilities correspond to the personal level of ambition.
Setting goals. You should strive exclusively for real goals, and once they are achieved, you need to continue to move on and move only forward.
Clear understanding. It is this that helps you realize not only your own desires, but also possible ways to realize them.
Motivation. Any ambitions are qualities that are in continuous development and capable of constant change, since they are all based solely on motivation.
Confidence. Consistent confidence in yourself and in all your own actions is another important factor for the development of healthy ambition!

The most important thing is to never, under any circumstances, forget that only healthy ambition can lead to the achievement of desired goals!

Varieties of Ambition

What is ambition? First of all, this concept refers to individual aspirations and plans. If a person has no ambitions at all, then his life becomes uninteresting. It is ambition that stimulates a person to become better and more perfect, and helps to gain self-confidence.

An ambitious person will never follow anyone’s lead and will not allow himself to be used to please other people’s desires.

Human ambitions can be divided into three separate types, which depend directly on character, worldview and individual aspirations.

Adequate ambitions

This type should be considered as the most desirable option. A person with adequate ambition is able to:

soberly assess your capabilities;
set realistic goals;
keep your emotions under control;
do not depend on the opinions of others.

If you are the happy owner of adequate ambitions, it means that you are able to take full responsibility for everything that happens in your life.

Unfortunately, this type of ambition is extremely rare due to the fact that not every person is able to objectively evaluate himself as an individual. Most often, people set their sights on absolutely unrealistic goals, and then, having not achieved what they wanted, they are completely disappointed in themselves.

Important

Learn to be critical of yourself and your character. Analyze your feelings and actions. If you learn to adequately evaluate yourself, this will noticeably affect your ambitions.

Low ambitions

They appear if their owner has low self-esteem. A person with low ambitions often:

experiences depression, apathy, and lack of self-confidence;
calmly tolerates insults from others towards him;
almost always goes with the flow;
tries to stay away from any opportunity to express himself.

The most striking example of a person with low ambitions can be considered the “gray mouse” type. Even the most shy and insecure people trying to blend in with the crowd have their own aspirations and desires, but this does not mean that they are ready and take action to realize them.

Inflated ambitions

This type is characteristic of individuals with high self-esteem and is expressed in too high demands on others. This kind of person:

uncompromising in his judgments;
capable of showing aggression and intolerance.

Inflated ambitions force you to completely devote yourself to achieving your goals, often neglecting the needs of others. To be fair, it should be said that a person with inflated ambitions constantly strives to prove through his behavior his own exclusivity and rightness.

Where does ambition come from?

A BBC Capital correspondent is trying to figure out where ambition comes from and whether it is needed in modern life.

Most often, showing ambition to achieve success in business is considered a sign of Western culture. In the United States and Canada, such behavior is generally approved, but in some Asian cultures, assertiveness is discouraged. However, ambition leads to success everywhere, it just manifests itself in slightly different ways.

Why do some people try to become managers, while others are quite satisfied with working in the same position for many years and slowly moving up the career ladder?

Part of the matter is whether you are a team player or someone with an indomitable desire to succeed.

Definition of Ambition

Two American professors in their study tried to define ambition and find out why some people have it and others do not. According to this 2012 study, ambition involves primarily striving for status and achievement.

Ambitious people don't always aim to be bosses, they just want to become the best.

“It's not just how hard you work,” says John Kammeyer-Mueller, an assistant professor at the Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota. “It’s about achieving your goals and obtaining the appropriate status.”

Ambitious people don't necessarily want to lead a company, he adds. Some people simply want to be the best in sales or the best engineers—what Kammeyer-Mueller calls the “backbone of the performers.” However, there are also those who want to climb the corporate ladder - this primarily applies to people with the desire to lead.

Disapproval

According to John Kammeyer-Muller, many people consider ambition to be a disadvantage. There is a belief that ambitious people are selfish and always unhappy because they constantly want to achieve more.

Many cultures think this way, but in some countries ambition is more frowned upon than in others.

The Japanese prefer humble and loyal workers.

For example, in Japan, a person who demonstrates his ambitions too clearly risks becoming isolated at work. Sam Griffiths, managing director of recruiting firm Ambition Group in Tokyo, points out this.

However, some changes are planned. Thus, historically, in China, the authorities provided citizens with work for life, but now the Chinese economy has become more open and is developing rapidly, so people can more easily change jobs and make careers.

Increasing wages and clear career prospects are two of the main reasons mainland Chinese move from one job to another. This is stated in a report prepared in 2014 by the Beijing-based recruiting agency MRI China Group, which specializes in hiring executives. It turns out that ambitions have begun to play a big role in the careers of the Chinese.

“People expect certain career prospects from current or future employers,” the report’s authors say.

Believe in yourself

There are several factors that influence a person's ambition, but one of the most important is self-esteem, says Nassir Ghaemi, professor of psychology and pharmacology at Tufts Medical Center in Boston.

According to him, studies have shown that people with high self-esteem are more ambitious than those with low self-esteem. How to find out? Employers look at the applicant’s education—namely, where he studied.

“[Japanese] companies believe that hiring a sincere and polite graduate from a top university is a better strategy than hiring a more talented, intelligent, and ambitious graduate from a less prestigious university,” says Daniel Dolan, a professor of business communication. — A person with a high opinion of himself will not necessarily have a brilliant career, but “the higher your self-esteem, the more ambitious you are, because you believe that you can do a lot,” says Ghaemi. “Having the abilities necessary to achieve your goals is less important than your belief that you can achieve them.”

Family history is also important, says John Kammeyer-Muller, and this is true for most cultures. If a person has successful parents or grandparents, they are more likely to be ambitious too. Such people believe that success is expected of them by default.

“Because their parents became successful, they also believe that they belong to the class of people who achieve a lot in life,” says Kammeyer-Mueller. “Their logic is: “This is what is expected of me, that’s the kind of person I am.” I am capable and should get a prestigious job.”

In Western countries, another significant factor is the character of the person himself, Kammeyer-Müller believes. According to his observations, people who are highly conscientious and extroverted are more likely than others to strive to succeed in life.

Extroverts love recognition from others; it makes them more energetic, the expert notes. Introverts are less concerned about whether other people think well of them and do not need approval to feel good about themselves.

Ambition: how to be ambitious and happy?