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Good day, dear blog readers! Today we will try to understand such a question as ambition is good or bad. After all, it seems that without them, it is impossible to achieve success, career growth and, in general, realize your goals. On the other hand, they can sometimes really interfere in life, reducing its quality. So, let’s try to find a «golden mean» to balance their level and direct them to work for you, and not against.
Types
In fact, ambition is a person’s need to achieve success, which motivates him to act, these are his desires that do not just exist, but with a claim to implementation. Can be:
- overpriced, unreasonably high. That is, when a person’s level of self-confidence does not correspond to reality. The way of thinking and attitude towards the world comes down to the fact that everyone owes him, that he deserves the best, without giving anything in return. For example, having somehow graduated from the university, without having the necessary skills and knowledge, he immediately claims a prestigious position in a large organization.
- Real. When a person is aware, he understands his strengths and gaps that need to be worked on. He knows how to rely on his resources, he knows what he wants to get and what efforts need to be made for this. He never rests on his laurels, and the process of self-development is continuous.
- understated. When self-esteem is too low, a person prefers to “keep a low profile” so that they are not rejected once again. May have amazing abilities along with disbelief in their abilities, constantly devaluing themselves. Because of what there is dissatisfaction with life, because it usually ignores its needs. And sometimes he cannot track them, getting used to taking care only of strangers, hoping in this way to gain recognition.
What factors influence?
Environment of upbringing
A lot depends on the parents. A child, like a sponge, absorbs the value system and attitude to life from birth from them, and especially from their expectations. The kid does not know what he is, only thanks to his relationship with his parents, he builds his image bit by bit. And if they do not know how to realistically assess their capabilities, then, accordingly, they cannot teach this. And very often it happens that adults, having failed to achieve something, with the help of children, not always realizing it, try to fulfill their potential and fulfill their dreams.
For example, the father, for some reason, did not build a sports career, and now he gave his son to boxing. He demands victories and does not pay attention to the fact that the child is not interested or does not succeed. There are times when a person already in adulthood asks the question: “Why do I have so many ambitions?”. And if he returns with his thoughts to childhood, he remembers that they paid attention to him only when he succeeded in something, that is, they appreciated and were proud not of him, but only of what he achieved. And now I’ve fallen into the trap of thinking that love can only be earned.
Temperament
In the article “A Brief Description of the 4 Main Types of Temperament in Psychology”, I talked about melancholic, sanguine, choleric and phlegmatic people, as well as what temperament is. So, if you remember, melancholic and phlegmatic people are more directed inward, they are not very active, and, accordingly, they prefer to “go with the flow”. It is important for active people to receive recognition from others, they have high demands on themselves. While introverts are more comfortable alone with themselves and their thoughts, they have no need to prove something to the world, to take risks. The most valuable is stability.
Competition
It is she who sometimes encourages action when we understand that the other has something that we would like to ourselves. If a person knows how to compete and notice, recognize the merits of others, this will increase the level of his ambitions. With low self-esteem at the time of competition, only anger arises, with normal — excitement, admiration and recognition. For example, Einstein revealed his potential precisely thanks to her. At school, he lagged behind, he was even considered inferior, but against the backdrop of competition with a classmate, he pulled up his grades to be first in the rankings. And, as far as you know, his success didn’t end there.
Spheres
It is generally accepted that ambitions can only be professional, in business, political, for example, when a person strives for material well-being, primacy, respect. But sometimes they can also manifest themselves in the family sphere, when there are high requirements for a partner, sometimes there may be suppression of his personality, in order to feel his primacy and power. This sometimes happens when a person strives for ideality, or is unsuccessful in his career, and is looking for confirmation of his importance in the family.
Recommendations
As you already understood, harmony is important in everything, and it is not good when the aspirations of achievements are overestimated or underestimated, this greatly affects the quality of life, both for the person himself and for those around him. Therefore, I decided to share recommendations that will help balance your level:
- As you already understood, self-esteem is practically the most important factor, because success depends on one’s knowledge of oneself, resources and limitations that a person strives to work on. And if you have it underestimated, read the article that will help you, here is the link.
- Learn to recognize your true desires, rank, that is, prioritize them, and plan your activities in order to gradually realize them. My article on effective time management will help you with this.
- In the case of overestimated self-esteem, take the risk of facing the truth, for example, by writing out your shortcomings and thinking carefully about them. Aspirations are good, but not when for their sake you «go over other heads», substituting employees and causing everyone one wish: «do not choke on your aspirations.» In this case, you should pause and think about what the achieved result will give you, and is it really worth such sacrifices as the loss of respect and, in general, close people who appreciated and supported you?
- Learn to listen and hear those around you, who can sometimes share valuable experience, or their reactions, opinions, with the help of which it will be easier for you to realize yourself, how you are presented in this world, and how you are perceived. And this is necessary in order to notice the reality, especially in the case when the ambitions are too big, and the person becomes arrogant, and subsequently lonely. About how to listen and what methods exist for this, we discussed in the last article.
- When in doubt, start small, set yourself an insignificant goal, having reached it, move on to a larger one. Gradually, you will discover yourself from a new side, learning about hidden abilities. And dream, allow yourself to want more, stop being content with little, experiment, take risks, and then life will sparkle with new colors.
Conclusion
That’s all, dear blog readers! If you start to change, the world around you will begin to change, and perhaps, in this case, you will achieve the result and the intended goal much faster. Good luck and accomplishments! Subscribe to my blog to always be aware of the most useful and effective information that will help in this difficult but interesting business — self-development. Bye Bye.