Becoming Optimal: Ambition

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Recently, a colleague told me that I was no longer ambitious. That I was just drifting. Hopping one freight car after another.

I retired a couple of years ago. I have been working since the 7th grade, starting as a caddy at Exmoor Country Club in Illinois, then bagging groceries after school, and finding a job as a stock boy after I turned 16. Worked during college and for the 45 years thereafter.

I am not sure that I ever thought about being ambitious. My father came out of the depression and World War II and never had a chance to go to college. As the oldest, I was going to be the first to go to college. In some ways, his ambition became mine.

I am glad his ambition rubbed off on me. Eventually. As a teen, I fought his “guidance” and constant push (read: foot in the ass). Looking back, he was a large reason for my success. Career. Financial. Learning. Even golf.

My colleague started me thinking about ambition and what it is. The word seems to be a live wire, with some seeing ambition as good and others as a source of evil.   

Regardless, I am left with the question: should we be ambitious until we die? After thinking about this question for weeks, my answer is YES.  

Life is full of transitions. Graduating from high school, maybe college. Changing jobs, even careers. Retirement. And ambition should be a part of each of them.

A simple definition of ambition are promises to produce future outcomes that you care about. Ambition gives meaning to life. It directs us to know what to do next. It directs all thought and action, and it insists that we say no to anything except what we determined to be meaningful to us, which optimizes us. And optimized humans are happy humans. 

Throughout my career, ambition kept me focused on where I wanted to be and enabled me to avoid all the sideshow dramas that every organization has. It helped me to become the senior leader I wanted to be.  Ambition along with hard work, persistence, and not giving up helped me achieve those roles and responsibilities. 

In a recent Daily Stoic, Ryan Holiday wrote, “Every time you cut your hair. Every time you trim your nails. Every time you have to replace an old shirt or a worn-out pair of running shoes, take note. Take note of what they symbolize.

Because in those clippings, in that thinning hairline, in that worn out pair of jeans is a message: Time is passing. Life has gone by. Seneca reminds us that every second that has passed belongs to death. We are dying every day, he says. We are dying one haircut, one t-shirt at a time.”

Without ambition we drift and squander our minutes, hours, days, and, eventually, lifetimes. This is true whether you are growing your career at 35 or retired at 70.

This drift can lead to alcoholism, Rx addiction, depression, binge-watching TV, or gaming. Or worse.

As I reflect on my life, I realize how I did it. It was about learning and growth. Pursuing ideas. And the seeking of responsibility. This, in turn, helped me to evolve my lifestyle, career, and finances.  

The following framework gives a way to mold your ambition. Identify that which impacts your ability to live a good life:

  • Is this what I want to be?

  • Is this all that I got?

  • Is this everything I can give?

  • Is this going to be my life?

  • Do I accept that?

Take action to fulfill your promise that you care about:

  • Overcome procrastination. Take action.

  • Move beyond motivation. Some days it shows up; other days it does not.

  • Create discipline, perseverance and the building of habits. 

  • Accept failure. Obstacles and setbacks occur.

  • Develop humility. Learn, acknowledge, and keep moving forward.

While these questions do not change, your answers will evolve over a lifetime.  And use others to help develop the answers.  I had what I termed a Personal Board of Directors to advise and guide me. 

With the above elements in place, you can make good on the promises you made to yourself with the earned outcomes you sought.  

Everyone has access to ambition. No matter who or what we are. It is not about grabbing the brass ring. You are the brass ring.

However, just as in mountain climbing, one peak leads to another. With every goal met, new or revised ambitions will form. And the climb begins again. But now with new knowledge and experience prompting you on.

I need to conclude my writing now. The freight cars are moving, and I need to hop on the train. Oh oh.  The ambition itch is starting to return.  Oh no, a work of fiction.

Nate is a Navy brat.  Back in Yokosuka Japan where he was born 18 years ago.  He has lived in more places than most people in a lifetime.  San Diego, Naples, Italy, Washington, DC, and Hawaii.  Now Japan again….

Pat