Ambition can be a wonderful thing, but it can be one of the most detrimental motivators in your life. When you are motivated by ambition, you may be prone to walk all over other people. Ambition isn’t always bad though, it can motivate you to push forward. To make good long term decisions in your life. But, you have to be careful with your ambition.
I watch ambition in myself, and in other people. If I don’t turn it down, ambition will cause me to run over other people. At work, it is best for me to have the organization in mind, not myself. When I’m making a decision, if that decision is affected by ambition, it will usually not be good for other people on my team. It may not take the stakeholders into account because I want to look good.
Making a decision that benefits you, and hurts other people won’t go over well. I’m sure you’ve made one. You made the decision because you want something. You aren’t thinking about anyone else. It’s all about you….
Where ambition hurts you the most is when you need to ask people to do things. You know who the ambitious people are, they are the ones that you dread at work. They come to you for personal favors, and they always think their ideas are the best. They ask you to do things that will help them, and then they take all of the credit. When they make decisions, you always know it will help them and no one else.
There are also people who have learned how to handle their ambition. They make the tough decisions that don’t do much for them. They make decisions that are the right decisions that affect the organization, not themselves. These are the people that are wise beyond their years. If you know someone like them, you love working with them. When they come to ask you to do something, you know they’re asking something that you should say yes to. These are the people you want on your team. You know you can trust them.
How can ambition be good? Ambition is great! Without ambition the world would be a sad sad place. Where would you be or go or do without ambition? Probably nowhere. Don’t turn your ambition off, just turn it down a bit.
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