Why Is Ambition Important?

What Ambition Is

Ambition involves two very important components that can lead to achievements: desire and determination. It is important to note that desire does not necessarily lead to determination. For example, a person may have a strong desire to be wealthy, or to lose weight, to earn a college degree, or to have a healthy relationship, but this does not mean that person will have the determination to accomplish these, as desire does not necessarily lead to the willingness to make sacrifices or the ability to achieve goals.

How it Can Help Us Succeed

With determination in addition to the desire, an individual can begin to carefully map out how to achieve a goal. Ambitious people tend to be focused, hard-working, goal-oriented, and unaccepting of failure. They often learn how to avoid making excuses for not accomplishing goals, feeling responsible for both their achievements and shortcomings.

Ambition is also not only important for us to accomplish a goal, but it is also important for us to possess in general, as being goal-oriented and motivated can help us feel more positive about ourselves and hopeful. People who experience depression often lose some ambition when feeling depressed, but it can be regained. When we feel stagnant in life, that we are not accomplishing or moving forward, finding ambition can help us to feel excited, empowered, capable, resilient, and hopeful.

There are a few strategies for increasing your ambition. One is to choose SMART (specific, measurable, attainable/achievable, realistic, and time measured) goals. These allow you to be very clear about what your goals are. Another suggestion is to focus on what strengths you have to accomplish your goals. A third suggestion is to find accountability, such as by telling others about the progress towards your goals or asking them to check in on you. Also, do not only focus on long-term goals but rather break your goals into short-term, very achievable goals so that you can accomplish steps along the way, as this can further increase ambition. Finally, be careful not to let setbacks damage your ambition. Think about a sports team—if they allow a disappointing first quarter of a game to affect their level of ambition, their chance of better performance for the rest of the game may be diminished. Focus on what is going well, and never let a failure make you feel like you are a failure. Always keep moving.