How does ambition work?

Ambition is the strong desire to do something or achieve something, a desire or determination to achieve success. It’s one of many ingredients in the ability to achieve goals. Motivation, perseverance, willingness to develop skills needed, and determination are also parts of the recipe we need to accomplish things we set out to achieve.

A healthy amount of ambition can help you succeed in various areas of life. Scientists who study successful people view ambition as part of the equation in that success. It can be viewed as the energy that propels the work toward a goal. Ambition, like motivation, is determined as being an underlying “why” behind the work you put in or the reasoning behind selecting a particular goal.

Without a solid “why,” ambition may quickly fade and leave you falling short of goals you’ve set. Culturally, success is often measured in most developed countries in terms of money, position, and economic status, where wide gaps in income equality are frequently observed. Research indicates that when these are the drivers making you ambitious – your desire for position, status, or money-you’re likely to experience anxiety, depression, and a host of other problems, including lack of achievement toward goals.

Wanting to keep up with the neighbors or your sister, the CEO isn’t viable “whys” that are likely to support ambition and the other factors needed for success in attaining a goal. The underlying why of your ambition and goals are very important to uncover and solidify. If you want to graduate college to be able to say, “I have a degree,” this is less powerful than, “I want to graduate college to work in X capacity so that I can do X.”

The way you set goals is also a major contributor to whether or not you reach the goals. Goals should be SMART:

• Specific with real numbers and deadlines.
• Measurable with trackable stats.
• Attainable, or something you can attain, but that is challenging.
• Timebound with a specific deadline.

If you want to generate ambition, set goals, or define your “whys,” working with a therapist can be a great way to help clearly identify and support your success.