Ambitious goals
Manifestations and properties of Ambitiousness
Ambition and the ability to generate and achieve these ambitious goals is one of the most important personality traits that contribute to a person’s success and self-realization in life. To do this, you need to be the owner of the appropriate personality quality – Ambition.
Reasonable ambition presupposes a struggle in the unity of two opposing human qualities: the ability to want and to be able. Great importance has the reality and validity of Ambitious goals. Ambition manifests itself for the good if it is comparable to the capabilities at the current time and level of personal development.
Only a person endowed with the ability to discern the potential for sharp movement and forward development in objects and phenomena of the external world can become a generator of ambitious goals and plans.
An important condition for Ambitious plans is the desire of society to receive what this person came up with and implemented.
Historical interpretations of Ambitiousness at different stages of humanity
Ambition as a personality quality is interpreted differently in Russian and English languages. In the dictionary of the Russian language by S.I. Ozhegov, who traditionally reveres modesty, it is negatively colored: 1) heightened pride, arrogance, conceit; 2) claims, claims to something (disapproved) At the same time, Western countries Ambition is clearly considered a human virtue, implying the desire to achieve goals, the requirement of external signs of respect and honor. In Anglo-Saxon transcription, the word “millionaire” has a positive meaning, but in Russian it evokes envy and hatred. However, this is not a reason to attribute a negative interpretation to the concept of “millionaire”.
When do ambitious plans or goals arise?
Changes in a person’s personal circumstances, most often serious milestones in life, such as graduation from school, higher education, love, are an incentive for the emergence of ambitious plans. Often, ambitious goals and plans are born when the “pockets are empty” and the “head is full” and there are no resources, but there is hope that radical, high-quality transformations will reveal new sources of their emergence.
Personal qualities of an individual such as the desire to give part of one’s energy for the benefit of society, perseverance in achieving a goal, reasonable impudence and prudence give results.
Not every goal deserves to be called Ambitious
Add to the usual goal seeming unattainability, a dream, isolation from the current current state, a certain absurdity, paradoxicality, riskiness and a “portrait” of an ambitious goal in general outline ready. The reality of the goal is the main thing!
An ambitious goal must break out of the general order of mediocre goals and direct its carrier to places where he has never gone or been before. Initially, she does not even imagine on what means she will live; ideas about who will support her come later.
Coco Chanel noted: “If you want to have what you never had, you will have to do what you have never done.”
In the conditions of today's capitalist realities in Russia and the capitalist future, the view of Ambition has become more welcoming and open.
Domestic business looked at it with great curiosity as an undoubted virtue, subject to its adequacy, thoroughness and reality. Business captivates the self-confidence and professionalism characteristic of this personality quality.
In the conditions of a capitalist society, as in big business, low ambition, timidity, shyness and self-doubt are not encouraged.
A person with a lack of ambition is usually an outcast for big politics, sports and business. Success involves passion, enthusiasm and energy. A person without ambition is a “living corpse” for business. Bernard Shaw once said, as if to imply the slogan of intelligent ambition: “Achieve what you want, or you will have to be content with what you have.”
Difference between Ambition and Utopia
When ambition, taking as its allies stubbornness, voluntarism, frivolity and unjustified insolence, “crosses the Rubicon” of the permissible boundaries of rationality and rationality, it turns into a harmful utopia that can “sink” any good undertaking. Excessive, inflated ambition with an unjustified, impossible level of claims can make a lot of noise and cause significant harm to the business in which it is involved.
Difference between Ambition and Ambition
Ambition is individual demands and plans aimed at oneself and at the self-development of the individual. Unlike ambition, which is usually aimed at solving one’s individual, personal goals, ambition is mainly associated with solving corporate, collective, group or social problems. Therefore, the negative consequences of unbridled Ambition are much more painful and widespread.
Overambitiousness and its properties
There is an African proverb: “What smaller lizard, the more he hopes to become a crocodile.” Excessive ambition is a consequence of inflated self-esteem, a discrepancy between the position held and the level of one’s own ambitions. It is quite simply diagnosed by other accompanying personality traits: constant dissatisfaction, excessive pretentiousness, quarrelsomeness, capriciousness and fastidiousness.
Painful pride does not allow Ambitiousness to be wrong and therefore she blames others for all her failures.
Exaggerating her capabilities, she cannot objectively weigh the complexity of the task.
Over-ambitiousness is accompanied by constant failures. These fiascoes and life “defaults” make a person touchy, irritable and unbearable.
Inflated Ambition becomes closer to Pride; without rest and sleep, she is ready to listen about her genius, originality and insight. Over-ambitious thoughts are always in the future. Closed by wounded pride from receiving outside advice, she is unable to accept any criticism.
Inflated Ambition is sometimes explained by a burning desire to rise above others and achieve power. If she is put on a par with the personality traits that are comfortable for her, then the roll call will reveal the following composition: selfishness, arrogance, indifference, formalism, tactlessness, rudeness, envy, vindictiveness and rancor.
An ambitious person recognizes only the stronger and more successful. She is devoid of sympathy; instead, she cultivates causticity, categoricalness and maximalism. Empty Ambition is completely destroyed in case of failure!
Ambition + Perseverance + Planning + Clear visualized goals and set time intervals - this is the minimum to achieve success!
Before implementing ambitious plans, it is always a good idea to ask questions: “Why do you need to do this?”, “What will happen next?”
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There is no single definition of what ambition is. Some understand by it a person’s intention to achieve high positions and big money. Others imply the desire to become the best and most successful in a specific field.
Society encourages ambition in people as long as it does not interfere with others, because it is at this moment that everyone begins to have a negative attitude towards the fact that someone is susceptible.
What is ambition?
What is ambition? An ambiguous understanding of ambition leads to an ambivalent attitude towards it. What is ambition? Different dictionaries give different concepts. In general, ambition is a person’s desire to achieve success and more than what is available today, to become the best, to make his life more beautiful and happier. Often ambitious people bet too much big goals that seem unattainable. However, while someone might be intimidated by unattainable goals, ambitious people are so confident in themselves that they don’t even notice how far they are from achieving what they want.
Ambitiousness is often associated with self-confidence, arrogance, arrogance, pride, and vanity. All this is due to the fact that a person needs to be confident that he will achieve his “distant” goal. He will have to do a lot. If he begins to doubt himself at the start, then his goal will truly become unrealistic.
Ambitious people evoke ambivalent attitudes towards themselves. On the one hand, these representatives are admired, they say they know what they want. But on the other hand, they cause hatred because they are capable of taking actions that are considered in society.
Ambition becomes good or bad only in the hands of the person himself. If he only poses himself dreamily successful person, who actually has no success, then ambition becomes bad. If a person sets goals, makes efforts to achieve them, is ready for perseverance and hard work, develops himself and improves, then we're talking about about the positive energy of ambition.
This quality is promoted by society, since an ambitious person has a large supply of energy. His desire to achieve his goal fuels him and gives him motivation. These are the people who become active, progressive, and happy. Thanks to their achievements, those around them also become a little more successful and happier.
Signs of Ambition
Signs of ambition appear depending on the level of ambition that is found in each person. Ambition is the degree of a person’s claims to possess certain spiritual or material benefits. They can be overestimated, underestimated and adequate.
A person with low ambitions is often timid, passive, and unsure of himself. He may have desires and aspirations, but he always approaches the process of achieving them from the position that “I won’t succeed.” If a person expects defeat, then he easily experiences the moment when defeats happen. At the same time, such readiness allows a person not to struggle and give up when difficulties and problems arise. A person wants to achieve what he wants, but he is not ready to fight, so he often provokes his own failure (defeat).
Adequate ambitions help a person set realistically achievable goals and implement them. The individual makes plans, educates himself, responds adequately to changes in the world around him, changes plans or tactics of his behavior, if necessary.
People with inflated ambitions often set goals that are impossible to achieve. They often exaggerate their own abilities and resources. They often try to do everything themselves. However, a person is not capable of being an expert in everything. Inflated goals, lack of necessary resources to achieve them, selfishness and inability to ask for help lead to failure to achieve what you want. The only advantage is that such people do not lose heart for a long time and set new tasks.
Thus, ambition in character manifests itself in the desire to improve one’s life, to achieve more and better. Selfishness, pride, arrogance, vanity and other qualities are often found here. Ambitions help achieve goals, even if a person does not yet know how exactly he will do it. The achievement plan will be drawn up as you go. However, ambition does not allow a person to give up and be content with little.
Signs of unhealthy ambition include:
- Inflated goals that cannot be realized. They either cannot be embodied in the material world, or a person exceeds his own capabilities, inadequately assesses his own strengths and existing abilities.
- Lack of real opportunities to achieve the goal. If a person seems to be purposeful, but does nothing, then he becomes “fake”.
- Demanding of yourself and others. Since achieving goals requires some effort on oneself, unhealthy ambition leads to demands on others. They must also be purposeful, active, successful, etc. If they are not like that, then the person does not respect them.
Signs of ambition at work
Ambitions manifest themselves in every area of life. Often an ambitious person is ambitious in everything in which he lives and is interested. Often we talk about career success, where a person must hold high positions, have a business or earn a lot of money. Ambitious people at work are welcomed by employers because they have those signs of ambition that help in the development and accomplishment of work tasks.
The most remarkable sign is the desire to improve and learn something new. An employee who does not stand still, but studies his field of activity, gains new professional knowledge, improves his skills, is valued much more than an employee with experience. It’s good when a person voluntarily attends trainings and seminars to get a new useful information which he will use in his work.
The second notable sign of ambition at work is the desire to be the best in your field. This creates healthy competition, where a person tries to become the best among specialists in his profession. If he sees that someone is doing a better job than him, then he tries to eliminate his gaps and rise above him. Here we can talk about envy, but it provides a positive stimulus that helps in personal self-development.
In addition to career growth and receiving a high salary, an ambitious person is interested in his inner comfort, which he should experience in the workplace. That is why he always looks for a favorable environment for himself. He makes efforts to make the existing conditions more comfortable and convenient. He is always determined to achieve the intended result, and this helps in overcoming difficulties and eliminating various kinds.
Employers gravitate toward ambitious employees because they are the ones who are willing to take on difficult challenges. They are interested in development and growth, so they are not afraid to take on difficult work that will allow them to express themselves and show their best side.
Ambition appears when a person clearly understands what he wants. He goes there and does what will help him achieve his goal. This is good for employers because ambitious people do not quit their jobs where they realize themselves. A person without desires succumbs to his own emotions, which may indicate that it is time to change jobs. An ambitious person is guided by his desires, which tell him what to do, where to go and when to change jobs.
Conventionally, ambitions can be divided into personal and collective. Employers want employees who want to fulfill their collective ambitions. If a subordinate can work in a team, find mutual language with other people (colleagues, clients and bosses), works for the company's results, then it becomes interesting in the eyes of management.
Ambitiousness of goals
Ambitions are goals and the energy that is aimed at achieving them. The ambition of a goal is the scale of the goal itself, which inspires a person and encourages him to achieve it.
A person wants to make his life better, so he begins to dream. These dreams become goals when a person not only wants something, but also begins to act with enthusiasm and perseverance. It is generally accepted that goals need to be set big. Ambitious goals are truly long-term and large-scale. They contain a life that is far from the reality in which a person lives now.
Goals must be global and long-term. But you must follow the rules:
- Goals must be realistic. You must have examples real people who have already achieved what you dream of.
- Goals must be realized natural ways. No magic, witchcraft or other fantasy.
- Goals should be inspiring. Otherwise they will simply remain dreams.
If one only dreams or makes a goal of something that can never be realized, then an ambitious person can experience the negative effect of his defeat. , low self-esteem - the state of those who dreamed of many unrealistic dreams, but in the end achieved nothing. To avoid this, it is better to consistently move towards your goal.
The ambitiousness of the goal arises on the basis of the correspondence of values and achieved results. The goal should be a person’s internal desire, and not an external imposed factor.
An ambitious person does not lose faith in himself, the reason for which is the internal desire to achieve his goal. It's a kind of finding your purpose. A person sincerely believes that this is how he should live - in his goal. That is why even failures are not able to turn him off the path. Maybe he'll be sad for a while. However, then the strength will appear for new attempts to achieve what you want.
To understand your true desires and find your inner potential, which will motivate you to take action, you can seek the help of a psychologist on the website.
Bottom line
Is ambition good or bad? Do enterprising people need to curb their ardor? Do you need to develop this quality in yourself? These are perhaps the main questions that a person can ask himself. The answers will be based on the results that a person will achieve if he is ambitious.
Ambitiousness is having a goal and being willing to achieve it. Many people suffer from things they don't realize own desires. They have goals but do nothing to achieve them. An ambitious representative not only understands what he wants, but is also full of strength to realize his desires. This is good.
Is it necessary to humble ambition, because some are afraid of it, and some even condemn it? It should be understood that people are not afraid of this quality, but of the fact that an ambitious person cannot be controlled. Who determines the morality of your actions? Other people. It’s not you who tells yourself how morally and rightly you acted, but those around you who judge you. What right do they have to judge? If you haven't killed anyone, haven't robbed anyone, and the police aren't chasing you, then you've committed a moral act. If your action resulted in desired result, then you did the right thing. Other people's opinions should not interest you. Those around you will always be ready to pull you into their swamp, in which they themselves find themselves - moral, correct, but at the same time unhappy and poor.
Only you can decide whether to develop ambition in yourself or not. Remember that there will always be critics who will judge and evaluate. What can they do when they do nothing all day? You will be judged and evaluated. This is good: it means something is happening in your life. It is impossible to criticize someone who does nothing. It is impossible to criticize someone who lives as poor and unhappy as the critics. Be ambitious - this will allow you to achieve success and surround yourself with people as enterprising as you.
In life we come across many different words and concepts, but we do not always know their meaning and what meaning is embedded in them. Understanding what a word means helps us better understand not only its meaning, but also how and when it is appropriate to use it. Today we will try to figure out what the meaning of the word “ambition” is.
This term in Lately It’s becoming more and more common, and many people are hearing it. The translation of this term can clarify the understanding of what ambition is. So, with Latin language it is translated as vanity and ambition.
It must be said that previously this definition had a mostly negative connotation and was associated with negative traits personalities:
- Ambition is pride, conceit and complete focus on oneself.
- Ambition is pride, arrogance, lust for power, and a tendency toward arrogance.
IN modern world a lot of changes have happened. The development of the economy, the emergence of more and more new companies has led to the fact that now the word ambition carries more positive value. Personal ambition or ambitiousness is associated with the desire to achieve certain goals, with perseverance, this means the desire for career growth, prosperity and position in society.
Kinds
Firstly, ambitions can be inflated or real:
- Inflated ambitions do not reflect reality; a person with such vanity wants more, but can offer little . For example, a person graduated from higher education educational institution is quite average, he has no work experience and his knowledge of the profession is not deep enough, but he makes high demands on his future place of work (expects a high salary and a high position).
- Real aspirations are associated with understanding oneself, with high level a person’s awareness and understanding of what he can actually achieve. For example, when a person really evaluates his data and understands that in order to achieve what he wants, he needs to go through certain stages, first gain experience, study the environment, and only then climb the career ladder. At the same time, it contains “ inner fire"and the desire to develop.
Secondly, they can be both large and small:
- Big ambitions are close-ups, serious expectations from life. For example, this is the desire to achieve a lot, to become a business owner or director of the company where you work, to implement a new and large-scale project, or to go on a trip around the world.
- A person’s small, modest ambitions are based on low self-esteem, when he deliberately underestimates or does not notice his merits. For example, when a person already understands some issue seriously enough, becomes an expert, and is offered a promotion, but he refuses, believing that he is not worthy. This personal manifestation is also called lack of ambition.
What kind of person are you?
It is important to understand the meaning of the term and the word ambition and ambitious in relation to a person. After all, it is in real life you can observe a person’s ambitions and understand what it is, who has this quality and how to notice it in other people.
The most important period for the formation and development of aspirations, self-esteem and ambitions, of course, is the preschool period, as well as junior school age. The role of parents and teachers is important here, because if you support a child in his successes and endeavors, the positive experience will last a lifetime.
If you blame him for any manifestations of “himself,” then he will stop striving for anything. We can say that ambitious, goal-oriented people express themselves with youth and it’s extremely difficult not to notice.
We can identify the main characteristics of a person with high aspirations (the qualities presented below are more related to the term - professional ambitions):
- The ability to set yourself achievable, clear and realistic goals.
- Believing in your success.
- Demanding of yourself and others.
- The ability to flexibly adapt to changes without losing sight of your goal.
- “Inner fire” and a lot of energy.
- Constant development and improvement of both professional and personal qualities.
- The ability to clearly feel your boundaries and stand up for yourself.
- Positive thinking.
If you have found more than five of the qualities listed above, then we can assume that you have adequate self-esteem and healthy aspirations, which means that you are an ambitious person.
In conclusion, it is worth saying that this quality is a double-edged sword. It is important what significance ambition plays in the life of a particular person, because it can both stimulate him to activity and vice versa.
Ambition as a moral quality has different meanings in different languages and cultures. Traditionally, in the Russian language and culture, which reveres modesty, it is “1) heightened pride, arrogance, swagger; 2) claims, claims to something (disapproved)” S.I. Ozhegov. Dictionary of the Russian language.
At the same time, in Western countries, where ambition was a virtue, people interpret it as ‘Striving to achieve goals, ambition. Demand for external signs of respect and honor. Pride, dignity. The desire to take a place in society different from the current one, expressed in status, reward’. Wikipedia
However, now that we are building a bright, but still capitalist future, the attitude towards manifestations of ambition has become different in our culture.
Ambitions are human motives, the foundation of which is the need for success. They make us move forward and explore new horizons, and most importantly, strive for the goal!
Ambitiousness is an undoubted virtue only when it is confirmed by something, when there is a basis for it. When there is nothing behind it and ambitions arise out of nowhere, it looks at least funny.
Developing in oneself exclusively healthy ambitions, we become closer to our goal: to be better, to be more successful, to lead others!
The benefits of being ambitious
- Ambition makes us strive for success.
- Ambitiousness pushes us to constant self-improvement.
- Ambitiousness ensures achievement of set goals.
- Ambition gives you the strength to overcome obstacles.
Manifestations of ambition in everyday life
- Professional activity. Even if you are not striving to make a dizzying career, a bit of ambition will not hurt you, because... In the modern world, inertia is not at all welcome.
- Career growth. Well, if you care about your social and economic situation, you can’t do without ambition.
- Family life. This is an area where ambition may not play the best role. You need to learn to balance so that ambitions do not suppress your other half and do not interfere with family happiness.
- Parenting. How often we make mistakes when trying to realize our ambitions in children. Not worth it! They have their own. It is better to raise heirs from the very beginning early childhood the desire to succeed and teach how to achieve more.
- Sport. You don’t think that the most important thing in sports is not victory, but participation... it’s your ambitions that don’t allow you to think so. A healthy body means healthy ambitions! Develop and improve your ambition!
How to develop adequate ambition
- Confidence. Be confident in yourself and your actions.
- Self-esteem. Always evaluate the degree to which your own abilities match your level of ambition.
- Motivation. Ambition refers to those human qualities that are constantly developing and changing. Ambition is based on personal motivation.
- Listen to those around you. An objective assessment of your performance by colleagues and loved ones allows you to better understand your own abilities, growth potential and increases self-confidence.
- Clear understanding. Be clear about what you want. Outline ways to realize your desires.
- Setting goals. Always set realistic goals for yourself! Only having achieved them, move on. Only then will your ambitions be realized.
- Stay alert. Do not allow inertia to appear in your life and affairs.
Golden mean
Inertia
Ambition
Vanity, sick ambition, pride
Catchphrases about ambition
A bad soldier is one who does not dream of becoming a general. - A.F. Pogossky/ A.V. Suvorov / Napoleon Bonaparte - Character consists of a firm determination to want to do something, and then in the actual implementation of what was proposed. What is contrary to morality is, of course, not included here. - I. Kant - ...We must want something great, but we must also be able to do great things; otherwise it is a worthless desire. The laurels of desire alone are dry leaves that have never grown green. - G. Hegel - ...Wanting is not enough, you have to act. - W. Goethe -Ambitiousness is the need for success, achieving more, based on increased aspirations for life.
Ambitiousness is when you go to an exam, you think that you know a 2, and when they give you a 4, you wonder why not a 5.
Ambition manifests itself for good if it is the same height as its bearer.
Often, ambitious goals and plans are born when the “pockets are empty” and the “head is full” and there are no resources, but there is hope that radical, high-quality transformations will reveal new sources of their emergence. Not every goal deserves to be called ambitious. Add to the usual goal seeming unattainability, a dream, isolation from the current current state, a certain absurdity, paradox, riskiness and the “portrait” of an ambitious goal in general terms is ready.
An ambitious goal must break out of the general order of mediocre goals and direct its creators to places where they have never gone or been before. Initially, she does not even imagine on what means she will live; ideas about who will support her come later. Coco Chanel noted: “If you want to have what you never had, you will have to do what you have never done.”
Only a person endowed with the ability to discern in objects and phenomena can become a generator of ambitious goals and plans. outside world potential for dramatic movement and development. To do this, you need to have the appropriate personality quality – ambition.
Ambition as a personality quality is interpreted differently in Russian and English. In the dictionary of the Russian language by S.I. Ozhegov, who traditionally reveres modesty, it is negatively colored: 1) heightened pride, arrogance, conceit; 2) claims, claims to something (disapproved). At the same time, in Western countries, ambition is clearly considered a human virtue, implying the desire to achieve goals, the requirement of external signs of respect and honor. In Anglo-Saxon transcription, the word “millionaire” has a positive meaning, but in Russian it evokes envy and hatred. However, this is not a reason to attribute a negative interpretation to the concept of “millionaire”.
In today's realities, when we are rapidly approaching a happy capitalist future, the view of ambition has become more welcoming and open. Domestic business looked at it with great curiosity as an undoubted virtue, subject to its adequacy, thoroughness and reality. Business captivates the self-confidence and professionalism characteristic of this personality quality. In big business, low ambition, timidity, shyness and lack of self-confidence are not encouraged. A person with a lack of ambition is usually an outcast for big politics, sports and business. Success involves passion, enthusiasm and energy. A person without ambition is a “living corpse” for business. Bernard Shaw once said, as if to imply the slogan of intelligent ambition: “Achieve what you want, or you will have to be content with what you have.”
The ability to generate and achieve ambitious goals seems to be one of the most important qualities individuals who contribute to achieving success. Reasonable ambition presupposes two-facedness in unity: the ability to want and be able. “I want” without “I can” turns into a fable, and “I can” without “I want” turns into an unguided projectile. It practically turns out like in a joke. The woman was asked: “What to call a man who wants, but cannot” - “Impotent” - “And who can, but does not want” - “Bastard”. In this context, Raul Gonzalez noted: “Ambition is something without which you cannot climb to the top, and ability is something without which you cannot stay there.”
When ambition, taking as its allies stubbornness, voluntarism, frivolity and unjustified insolence, “crosses the Rubicon” of the permissible boundaries of rationality and rationality, it turns into a harmful utopia that can “sink” any good undertaking. Excessive, inflated ambition with an unjustified, impossible level of claims can make a lot of noise and cause significant harm to the business in which it is involved.
Unlike ambition, which is usually aimed at solving one’s individual, personal goals, ambition is mainly associated with solving corporate, collective, group or social problems. Therefore, the negative consequences of unbridled ambition are much more painful and widespread.
L. D. Trotsky, who played the “first violin” in the Bolsheviks’ triumph in seizing power, became a victim of his ambition. When no one had ever heard of Stalin, he created the Red Army in battles civil war. It was Trotsky who became the author of the idea barrage detachments, hostage taking. By order of the “lion of the revolution,” lists of relatives of officers who went to the whites were compiled. Every commander of the Red Army knew that in case of treason, the arrest of his family members would inevitably follow. Every tenth person in the regiment that left its position was shot. Stalin’s famous order No. 227 “Not a step back” during the Great Patriotic War borrowed it from Trotsky.
In a carefree triumph of ambition, Trotsky let a more competent and resilient stayer go ahead. While Trotsky was inspiring the Red Army soldiers with his fiery oratorical genius, “a comrade from the Caucasus - “Koba”, painstakingly and imperceptibly in the routine personnel work prepared a huge contingent of his supporters. Trotsky's main problem in the confrontation with Stalin was ambition; because of it, he did not even notice the formidable, deadly enemy. And when I noticed, the train, as they say, left. Until the early thirties, Trotsky considered Stalin a second-rate revolutionary from a huge cast of reserves. And he miscalculated. Stalin’s scheme of struggle against Trotsky’s ambition was simple but effective - unconditional recognition of merit, then opposition to the actions of the party’s Central Committee and, finally, labeling him a “renegade” - a bearer of harmful ideas for the cause of the revolution. When, already in exile, but never taming his painful ambitions, Trotsky wrote the lines: “Life is beautiful,” the Mexican communist Ramon Mercader was already delivering his historical blow with a mountaineering ice ax.
There is an African proverb: “The smaller the lizard, the more it hopes to become a crocodile.” Excessive ambition is a consequence of inflated self-esteem, a discrepancy between the position held and the level of one’s own ambitions. It is quite simply diagnosed by other accompanying personality traits. Close friends of such ambition are constant dissatisfaction, excessive pretentiousness, quarrelsomeness, capriciousness and fastidiousness. Painful pride does not allow her to be wrong and therefore she blames others for all her failures. Exaggerating her capabilities, she cannot objectively weigh the complexity of the task.
When the need for competent help becomes obvious, overambitiousness will stubbornly prove to everyone that it can cope on its own. Well, when everything collapses, she will move to the side, pretending that she is on the side of the heat. If she is involved in football, then she aims to surpass Maradona, if she is involved in politics, then she certainly wants to become president, if she is in business, then big. However, it’s not the business that makes it big, it’s the talking about it. As they say, great things were waiting for him, but they did not come. She is not a dreamer, although she inhabits a world of her own imagined importance, in which ambition is identified with indispensability and unique intelligence. It’s unimaginable to even imagine that she would admit the idea that she had taken on something other than her own and dragged other people into a deliberate adventure. Closed by wounded pride from receiving outside advice, she is unable to accept any criticism.
Over-ambitious thoughts are always in the future. She perceives the present like a sculptor looking at a rough stone - cutting off the excess from the “here and now”, turning it into a substance pleasing to her. But the processed stone is unable to satisfy the exacting demands of ambition, and she mercilessly continues to destroy the natural monolith, unsuccessfully trying to hew out an ideal shape from it.
Taming over-ambitiousness is not as easy as getting a hungry wolf to guard a flock of sheep. Constant failures, fiascoes and life “defaults” make her touchy, irritable and unbearable. When dealing with overbearing ambition, you need to remember every minute about her extraordinary envy, which extends to the successes of even close people. But without rest and sleep, she is ready to listen about her genius, originality and insight.
Ambitions usually show exactly what and how much a person lacks for “complete happiness”, for a comfortable existence.
A mind colonized by ambition is doomed to a restless bed of insomnia.
An ambitious fool is like a soap bubble.
It’s stupid to lay your life down for the realization of someone else’s ambitions.
A ridiculous sight - a narrow-minded, superficial creature, stuffed with ambition.
Unhealthy ambition is sometimes explained by a burning desire to rise above others and achieve power. If she is put on a par with the personality traits that are comfortable for her, then the roll call will reveal the following composition: selfishness, arrogance, indifference, formalism, tactlessness, rudeness, envy, vindictiveness and rancor. An ambitious person recognizes only the stronger and more successful. She is devoid of sympathy; instead, she cultivates causticity, categoricalness and maximalism. Before implementing ambitious plans, it is always a good idea to ask questions: “Why do you need to do this?”, “What will happen next?”
One day, a businessman stood on a pier in a small village and watched a fisherman sitting in a fragile boat as he caught a huge tuna. The businessman congratulated the fisherman on his luck and asked how long it takes to catch such a fish. “A couple of hours, no more,” answered the fisherman. - Why didn’t you stay in the sea longer and catch a few more of these fish? - the businessman was surprised. “One fish is enough for my family to survive tomorrow,” he answered. - But what do you do for the rest of the day? - the businessman did not let up. - I sleep until lunch, then go fishing for a couple of hours, then play with my children, then my wife and I take a siesta, then I go to the village for a walk, drink wine in the evening and play the guitar with my friends. “You see, I enjoy life,” the fisherman explained. “I’m a Harvard graduate,” said the businessman, “I’ll help you, you’re doing everything wrong.” You should fish all day and then buy yourself big boat. - And then what? - asked the fisherman. - Then you will catch more more fish, and you can buy yourself several boats, even ships, and one day you will have a whole flotilla. - And then? - Then, instead of selling the fish to a middleman, you will bring the fish directly to the factory, and by increasing your profits, you will open your own factory. - And then? - Then you will leave this godforsaken village and move to Big city, and maybe one day you can open a huge office and be the director there. - How long will all this take? - 15–20 years. - And then what? “And then,” the businessman laughed, “then the most pleasant part will come.” You can sell your company for several million and become very rich. - And then? - Then you can stop working, you will move to a small village on the coast, you will sleep until lunch, do a little fishing, play with the children, have a siesta with your wife, walk around the village, drink wine in the evenings and play the guitar with your friends...
Petr Kovalev 2013