Can we be ambitious and healthy?

Being ambitious has been a character trait I have developed over the course of my childhood. This ambition propelled me to join sports teams, to study at school, to learn at university and finally to perform at my job. When I think about my character, ambition used to come close to the core. Notice I say "used to". Why is that? Before I discuss this topic, let's review what traits ambitious people have. Wikipedia [1] defines ambition as "drive, initiative, tenacity, and the pursuit of excellence." Ambitious people seek accomplishment through achievement and value success very highly. This can certainly be a driving force for good yet valuing success also creates an aversion towards failure. The more an individual is ambitious, the more they fear perceived failure. Hence, building a mindset on pure, unbounded ambition is a risky endeavor, as it leads to a shaky view of the self, with strong attraction towards external success and equally strong aversion towards perceived failure.

Both aversion and attraction towards an object, person or idea put a person in a stimulated state of mind and body. The nervous system is on alert. In medical terms, the sympathetic nervous system is activated [2], meaning the stress response of the body is activated. When our bodies are in stress mode, they cannot recover actively. They are in coping mode. If we are a high achiever and view the world in terms of opportunities to shine or fail, our stress response will be chronically activated, potentially leading to a myriad of health problems [3] or at least to emotional discomfort, both of which I have personally experienced.

Figure 1: Some of the possible complications of chronic stress. [3]

With this evidence in mind, it is clear that a strong ambition-driven personality is unsustainable long term. It is shocking to think that chronic health problems can arise in an adult who doesn't smoke, drink much, who exercises regularly, meditates and has healthy sleeping patterns. This is just how damaging prolonged stress is for our bodies. The stress response was designed to help us survive in difficult situations when living on the African Savanah, yet it comes at a huge biological cost to our organisms. We were not designed to use stress to boost our productivity daily and meet the needs of our ambitious selves. I have found that managing my ambition helps to keep me healthier and more grounded, ultimately increasing life satisfaction, the quality of relationships and even the quality (not quantity) of my work output.

If you have a tendency to be driven by ambition, what choices are available to you, in order to preserve health and well being, while maintaining some degree of ambition and drive in life?

The obvious answer to this is to be ambitious in moderation. This means that we first have to explore ourselves and see if there are tendencies to sacrifice wellbeing for ambition. Once we have that insight, we can start to make progress towards achieving a balanced state of mind and body. If we are yet unsure about our levels of ambition, we can take an ambition test online. Once we have determined our current starting point, we can decide whether more ambition or less ambition is optimal for our specific lives. Some people tend to lack ambition in life, who shy away from challenges and are dissatisfied from the outcomes of life and I will address that state of mind in a future article. Let's focus on the people who suffer from high ambition in life for the remainder of this discussion.

Changing our levels of ambition is no straightforward task. Immediate challenges arise such as leaving the confort of the known mindset and hence fear of the unknown can settle in. I think there is a deep belief rooted in us, which has has been reinforced over time to produce our current thinking patterns. Hence, figuratively speaking, the current that we have to swim against is strong if we set out to change our thinking patterns. Yet, change is possible and is indeed encouraged for some of us. In the following sections, I will share insights into how one can moderate ambition.

Ambition is rooted in our ego, in our sense of self. The ego needs constant validation that its image of self is upheld in reality. Given that ambition is the desire to achieve, to change, to maximise something, it feeds on the notion of success. Ambitious individuals set high goals for themselves and sometimes expect a lot from people around them, holding themselves and others to high standards of performance. Once this thinking pattern becomes ingrained, it becomes functional. In fact, it can be a very functional pattern, leading to much external and internal gratification. However, if the cost at which this gratification comes is high, meaning that negative health outcomes appear due to chronic stress, it is not wise to ignore them. According to a famous quote by novelist Rita Mae Brown [4],

"Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results."

Hence, by continuing along the same path, we either fool ourselves that the outcomes will be different next time round or simply neglect our health in the process of satisfying our ambitiousness. So what can a human being do to loosen the grip ambition has on them?

Once a person has recognised they are governed by unhealthy ambition, they can start to distance themselves from the thoughts and feelings associated with it. When planning, an ambitious person will imagine the best case scenario and expect to meet it. They tend to set their goal as high as possible and see anything below as failure. Notice the goal setting process as it unfolds. What emotions are associated with it? Typically, overly ambitious individuals are very emotionally attached to success and have strong emotional responses when planning and evaluating their work or interactions. Sitting with the emotion and leaving the planning or evaluation to a stage when the emotion has subsided may helpful. Exploring what will happen if we set a lower goal than the first goal that we come up with, and identify naturally with, is another useful strategy. Will we disappoint anyone if we achieve less? Will anything catastrophic happen? Or will life just go on as usual around us, with the only change being that we feel less tired and with a more manageable work load/social calendar?

Tip: Explore mentally and then in practice what will happen if we set a lower goal than the goal we naturally identify with when planning a task or interaction. What do you anticipate will happen if you reduce expectations of yourself? Do you fear anything will happen? If you have the courage to enact this lighter plan, observe what actually occurs. Do any of your fears materialise or do you find that your original fears do not actually hold in reality?

Reminding ourselves that we are worthy human beings independently of the professional and personal achievements is another useful strategy for coping with ambition. How we talk to ourselves is a powerful tool for calming our over-achiever tendencies and insecurities. The human body tends to be mobilised out of necessity, because it is genuinely scared to disappoint our ambitious side. If we are able to loosen the grip that our ambitions have on us, we will find it easier to conserve energy and act more wisely. Our inherent tendencies to demand a lot of ourselves will come up again and again yet, over time, we should be able to distance ourselves from them slowly and appreciate another perspective on ambition. Finally, identify if other people around you are being overly ambitious with your time and energies. Is somebody demanding too much of you? Can you address that with a conversation or remove yourself from the situation?

Remember I am not advocating that we completely neglect ambition and drive, merely that we moderate it in cases where it is harming ourselves and our physical body. As always, I urge you to share your experiences with ambition and health for the benefit of all readers and share this post if you found it insightful.

References

[1] ‘Ambition (Character Trait)’. In Wikipedia, 13 November 2023. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ambition_(character_trait)&oldid=1184956312.

[2] Cleveland Clinic. ‘Sympathetic Nervous System (SNS): What It Is & Function’. Accessed 30 October 2024. https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/body/23262-sympathetic-nervous-system-sns-fight-or-flight.

[3] Healthline. ‘The Effects of Stress on Your Body’, 5 June 2017. https://www.healthline.com/health/stress/effects-on-body.

[4] Google Arts & Culture. ‘Who Really Said These 5 Famous Phrases?’ Accessed 31 October 2024. https://artsandculture.google.com/story/who-really-said-these-5-famous-phrases/JAXh1xsiCEHOqw.