Ambitions: what they are and what are examples of their implementation

Each person puts his own meaning into the concept of what ambition is. Some believe that this is the main trait in the character of a successful person, while others, on the contrary, think that this is just empty talk and nothing depends on ambitions, but rather the opposite. So is this quality positive or negative? Who do they help, and when can they play against you?

Is ambition good or bad?

In modern life, in order to achieve success, and even more so far-reaching goals, more and more certain qualities are required from a person.
Along with perseverance, diligence, and determination, ambition is increasingly mentioned. However, the attitude in society towards ambitious individuals is ambiguous. Some consider such people to be arrogant, vain and have a hostile attitude towards them. Still, is it good or bad to be ambitious? To do this, you need to understand what is meant by this quality of character, and what types of ambitions exist.

Every person has heard a similar phrase: “He has great ambitions.” However, not everyone understood its meaning. Many also cannot understand what character trait ambition is, bad or good. To answer this question it is necessary to consider a specific individual. Some people use it to achieve their goals, while others only need it to show off in front of someone and stroke their pride.

This word has many definitions. For example, in Ozhegov’s dictionary it has a negative connotation, because in Russian culture modesty has always been valued, and ambitious people were considered tyrants who needed to be ridiculed and belittled in every possible way. According to Ozhegov’s dictionary, ambition is closely related to the following character traits:

1. Heightened self-esteem.
2. Arrogance.
3. Swagger.
4. Arrogance.

However, in Western society this character quality is considered positive, primarily because it helps achieve goals and happiness. The main thing is that it does not develop into arrogance and contempt for other people.

In the West, employers value such people very much: they are able to generate income for the company, and high wages allow them to please their pride.

Previously, the majority of the population in Russia was the working class. This is why ambition was a bad quality. Now there are quite a lot of entrepreneurs in our country, and the business world does not tolerate unambitious people. At the present stage, the attitude towards this quality has changed for the better.

First of all, this concept is associated with the desire to achieve one’s goals, no matter what. If someone wakes up every morning with the thought that they need to change their life for the better, they have great ambitions. However, quite often such people have no idea how they can achieve their desires.

With ambition, people often set themselves impossible goals and suffer because of it. For example, an employee has a salary of 35 thousand rubles.

If he sets a goal to have an income of 50 thousand rubles by next year, it will be quite achievable. An ambitious goal is an income of 100 thousand rubles in a few months. Of course, some will be able to achieve this goal, but not all.

And when it is set, the individual himself does not believe in achievement, but ambitions take precedence over common sense.

Character traits

Many people are interested in what an ambitious person is like and what is characteristic of him. He has the following character traits:

1. Persistence.
2. Self-confidence.
3. Demanding on people.
4. Positive thinking.
5. High level of aspiration.

Such people, no matter what, go towards their goal. Of course, there are often various obstacles along the way, but this does not stop them. The only thing that can stop them is moral standards. There are situations when in order to achieve a goal it is necessary to violate moral standards. This stops some people, but not others. It all depends on upbringing.

Achieving results is impossible without self-confidence and self-confidence. However, ambition implies development into self-confidence: a person may not sincerely believe in achieving his goal, but set himself up for the fact that he will achieve it.

He will constantly tell his friends or acquaintances about his plans and that he is already having his first successes. However, most often we are talking only about upcoming successes.

If a person has ambitions, he will demand respect and respect for himself. Even if he is nothing, ambition will take its toll. He may be offended or even angry at adequate criticism addressed to him.

Self-confidence is closely related to positive thinking. Even if everything is bad, the individual will not give up and give up. He will move forward and come up with new tasks for himself. However, over time, if nothing works out, he may lose interest in the goal. He has very high self-esteem and demands on people, life and attitude towards himself, and constant failures do not stop him.

A high level of aspirations means strict demands on life.

For example, a university graduate with poor academic performance and who does not have any professional skills expects a salary of 100 thousand rubles.

Or an unattractive guy who doesn’t know how to communicate with a girl sees himself next to him only as models from the cover of a magazine, and doesn’t even look at ordinary girls who might like him.

Many people don't understand what the word ambition means. Quite often they associate something negative with this concept. Of course, this character trait has some disadvantages, but you can’t concentrate only on them.

Thus, some ambitious individuals have the following disadvantages:

1. Arrogance is a negative trait. It’s better to get rid of it, because it pushes people away. Of course, ambition will help you achieve your goals, but why should a person have high results in some field of activity if he is lonely? Don't alienate people if they don't meet your requirements and standards.
2. Distortion of reality. Very often, people with ambitions set too high goals for themselves and greatly exaggerate their capabilities. Of course, you can achieve all your goals. But for this you need to work hard and make enormous efforts on yourself. Ambitious individuals believe that the whole world owes them and sincerely believe in quick results.
3. Very often, ambitious people are stressed and even prone to depression. This happens because their inflated goals are not achieved. Even though they have achieved high results, their goal bar is higher. The thought appears in your head that the goal has not been achieved, and hence stress and bad mood.
4. Perfectionism, on its negative side, can interfere with people's happiness. That is, the result can be achieved, but with minor shortcomings. These shortcomings can spoil the whole picture, and in the head of an ambitious perfectionist the thought arises that the result has not been achieved.
5. After achieving a global goal, you can feel empty and tired. The point is that ambitious people try to prove their exclusivity not only to themselves, but also to others. To avoid this, goals should be based only on personal intentions, and not social standards.

Of course, you shouldn’t regard ambition as an exclusively bad quality. She is very often useful. The main thing is to learn to enjoy small victories and treat other people well, and then the individual will be living proof that ambition is a positive character trait.

It is very important to remember that ambitions should be based only on real achievements and skills. If claims appear out of nowhere, it will play a negative role in understanding oneself and interacting with the world.

The meaning of the word ambition is the desire to succeed. Despite all the negative aspects of this character trait, it is based on a positive desire. No matter what kind of character a person has, ambition can be developed.

Before developing such a quality in yourself, you need to understand whether it is necessary. Many people have learned to be content with what they have and live happily. However, if someone cannot sit still, but lacks the strength to move forward, they should definitely develop ambition.

To do this you need to take the following steps:

1. Stay alone with yourself and think about your life. Remember all the good and bad situations that influenced your character. You may have to look into your childhood, since ambition develops or is completely destroyed during your school years. When the true reasons for your failures in life are understood, you should begin to work through them.
2. Make a list of unfulfilled goals. This will help you understand your true desires. It is very important to write this text by hand in order to put deep meaning into it.
3. Raising ambition in adults occurs in the same way as in children. If a child is constantly praised for his achievements, he grows up to be confident and ambitious. The task of an adult is to do the same. For example, for some small victory you can reward yourself with a delicious dinner, and for a significant step towards your goal you can reward yourself with a vacation. It is extremely important to receive feedback from other people. The main thing is to talk only about the achieved results, and not about the planned ones. Such a reward system will help cultivate a good attitude towards oneself and work. Living by this principle, it is much easier to achieve your goals.

The choice of profession largely depends not only on professional skills, but also on human qualities. The following professional fields are suitable for an ambitious person:

1. Sales is a business that will “ignite”. Every month there will be a desire to close as many transactions as possible. The employee will bring profit to the company in which he works and receive a good percentage from it.
2. Entrepreneurship is about achieving goals and making unusual decisions. This is an integral part of the life of an ambitious person.
3. Leadership positions are suitable for demanding people. The activities of any company require routine tasks. The head of the department is able to motivate his employees to perform these tasks and control the process, and if they are not fulfilled, punish them. Ambitiousness and demandingness are very important traits for a boss.
4. Sport is about constantly achieving goals and self-improvement. Absolutely all athletes had great ambitions in childhood.
5. Public service. The most striking example is the Armed Forces. It is impossible to grow in this field of activity without ambition. To achieve the next title you need to work hard. This area requires personnel who show great promise.

Your position matters. Stop sitting so much and stop looking at screens all day.

Human beings were not designed to sit and slouch over paper or a computer screen for hours every day. Years of sitting during school hours disrupts back alignment and posture, makes proper running technique difficult, and causes overall tension throughout the back. Try not to sit down so much.

When sitting at a computer or phone, try not to slouch forward towards the screen. Keep your neck straight and your head slightly tilted back. Sitting less will be easier for you.

From an evolutionary and biological perspective, you will feel better when your head is tilted back, your shoulders are down and back, and your eyes are looking forward. Your spine will lengthen and you will appear taller and larger. Your breathing becomes less shallow, allowing you to more easily oxygenate your body, and you'll look and feel more confident.

This is the time in your life when feeling confident pays the most dividends and feeling pitiful brings the most pain. An easy way to gain self-confidence is to correct your posture and sit less.

Definition of the concept and classification

Nowadays, ambition is seen as a strong need to act, to go towards a goal, to success, to strive for prosperity. When wondering what ambition is, you need to understand that there is no single definition. However, they all have the same meaning - to get what you want in any available way.

An ambitious person is a person who has no doubts about achieving success; there is confidence that he will be able to easily cope with any task. Such a person does not know the words “impossible”, “I can’t”, “it won’t work out”. He confidently says that he is capable of achieving any goal. The only difference is how much effort he will need to achieve the result. There are also the following definitions of an ambitious person:

• an individual for whom his superiority is not so important as his ability to prove to everyone that he can achieve a lot;
• a person who sets goals and successfully achieves them;
• an individual who can make a certain amount of self-sacrifice in order to prove to everyone that he can achieve what he wants;
• a successful, strong-willed person who achieves a lot in life is an accomplished person.

People around them see arrogance and selfishness in the character of ambitious people. However, these qualities are more typical of individuals with high ambitions.

Some people admire the ambition of others, especially their desire to achieve their goals and overcome all obstacles. People try to be like them, develop ambitions, and strengthen them. However, there are also individuals who do not consider ambitious individuals to be normal people, do not strive to be such people, and are confident that they can achieve considerable heights if they perform their standard functions.

A person who has good ambitions is very energetic, sets goals for himself, and gives himself motivation for further development. Changes in the life of such a person occur quite often, because he is very active.

I bring to your attention examples of ambitions:

• a girl from a village comes to the metropolis in order to break out of her backwoods and achieve great heights;
• a guy who entered acting, strives to become a famous actor;
• a girl who has set herself the goal of seducing a rich guy does everything in order to get him.

Ambitions include:

• destructive and healthy;
• imperial and political;
• adequate and overestimated;
• careerist and champion.

There are big and small ambitions:

• major goals and plans - situations when a person sets very high standards for himself, for example, dreams of becoming the director of the company in which he currently works as a courier;
• small ones are mainly formed due to low self-esteem - a person does not see his merits and deliberately underestimates his status. For example, a situation where an individual is an excellent specialist, they want to give him a promotion, but he refuses, as he considers himself unworthy of the new position.

Every person has some level of ambition, some don’t show it at all, some have it too high. It all depends on the specific abilities and capabilities of the individual.

1. Low ambitions. Such individuals very rarely manage to achieve good results and be successful. As a rule, these are shy, modest, insecure people. They have practically no desire to achieve anything, to strive for something. Such a person will rejoice in what he has. Difficulties that arise along his way will be frustrating, and he will try to avoid them.
2. Adequate. Synonyms for such ambition are ambition and arrogance. Such a person strives for heights, however, sets goals that are quite achievable. This individual is able to adequately assess his capabilities. When such a person completes a given task, he does not stop there, sets new goals for himself, and tries to conquer them. Having healthy ambitions in a person contributes to self-improvement. These individuals are interesting conversationalists, it is pleasant to communicate with them, they are good listeners, listen to what others say, and do not impose themselves. A person with this level of ambition will prove to himself the validity of his image, but will not demonstrate himself by pointing out his own superiority.
3. Elevated. Such a person is overly self-confident, often exaggerates his capabilities, does not know how to adequately assess his own abilities, rarely completes assigned tasks, and often does not finish what he starts. When something doesn't work out, he blames others or external factors, but not himself. In the team, such people are not taken seriously; they are not assigned important tasks. Unhealthy self-esteem of these personalities pushes people away; it causes problems with communication and loneliness.

Why are people afraid to set ambitious goals?

However, not everything is so pessimistic. It's worth setting ambitious goals. Because they sometimes motivate people to personal achievements and significant development. Why then are some people afraid to set ambitious goals?

Psychologists talk about a “comfort zone” in which a person feels good. We can admire the success of some business woman a thousand times, but we don’t want to spend more time on work than on our loved one. We can gasp at our friend’s career rise, but we don’t want to lose beer and football every weekend. Ambitious goals force you to mobilize, get together and act: constantly, overcoming yourself and your laziness. But the last time is much more pleasant.

There is another point - lack of faith in one’s own strength. If a person is convinced that nothing will work out, he will not try. All energy will go into finding excuses. Don't try to deal with this on your own. It is best to seek advice from a psychologist. After all, such suggestions can have their roots in distant childhood and be associated with very significant people. And working with them is not at all easy. But probably.

Author of the article: Galina Nikolaevna Lapshun, Master of Psychology, I category psychologist

Characteristic manifestations

But over time, the word began to acquire a positive connotation. In the modern world, ambition most often means determination, readiness to achieve goals, a desire for self-realization and higher standards of living.

Thus, ambition is the degree of a person’s aspirations. They force a person to move forward, explore new horizons and strive to achieve his dreams. But ambition can only be considered a virtue if it is backed up by something.

The presence of a certain level of ambition in a person is called “ambitiousness”. This is a rather specific character trait, since everyone interprets this concept in their own way.

An ambitious person always tries to set new goals for himself and strives to achieve more, even if at the moment he does not have sufficient means or abilities to do so.

There is no clear definition of whether it is good or bad to be ambitious. Depending on the capabilities and abilities of each individual person, his ambition can be:

• understated;
• adequate (healthy);
• overpriced.

People with low (or even non-existent) ambitions rarely achieve success. As a rule, these are shy, timid, unsure of their abilities. In their lives they are content with little, being wary of any difficulties and obstacles.

A person with increased ambition, due to his self-confidence and tendency to exaggerate his own abilities, rarely achieves his goal.

But this does not bother him and he does not draw conclusions from his mistakes, attributing failures to external factors.

In most cases, overly ambitious people do not enjoy authority in a team, since their painful pride does not allow them to seek advice from a more competent colleague, which, of course, affects their work results.

Healthy ambition. A person with adequate ambitions strives for high but achievable goals, as he is able to proportionately assess the level of his capabilities and abilities.

Having reached the planned milestones, he will continue to climb to new ones. Having healthy ambitions makes a person strive for self-improvement, to take a daily step forward. Such people are always pleasant and interesting to communicate with.

They always listen to the opinions of others, do not stick their nose into other people’s affairs, and skillfully and timely adjust their goals.

Among other things, an ambitious person has a sense of self-esteem.

• professional activity;
• career growth;
• family life;
• parenting.

Professionally, healthy ambition is essential, even if you don't strive for career heights. Inertia and lack of initiative are not welcomed by employers in the modern world. And if you want to fully realize your professional and organizational abilities, maximizing your social status and strengthening your financial situation, then you cannot do without ambition.

In family life, excessive ambition will be unnecessary, since family happiness is built on the ability to find a compromise and not put pressure on your other half.

In matters of upbringing, parents very often make the mistake of trying to realize their personal ambitions in their children. It is better to avoid this, and to instill in the child from the very beginning the ability to achieve his goals and teach him to strive for success.

If a person is ambitious, ambition will manifest itself in various areas of his life.

1. Career. In order for a person to have the opportunity to move up the career ladder, he needs integrity. For ambitious individuals, their financial situation and high social status are very important, which is what they strive for.
2. Professional activity. Even if a person in his professional activity does not have the opportunity to move up in his career, ambition will still be useful to him. After all, he will want to be a good specialist, will improve his skills, engage in self-development, deepen his interest in a certain area, and develop in it.
3. Marriage. Ambition is not a positive trait for family relationships. The problem is that ambitious individuals can overwhelm their partner with their countless aspirations. In order for the ambitions of one spouse not to interfere with the life of the other, it is necessary to learn to control them.
4. Children. Parents often make a mistake when they try to realize their ambitions in their children. And everything must be done to ensure that the child develops a desire to achieve goals that are interesting to him, to persistently pursue victory. Only in such a situation will he be able to grow up strong, self-sufficient and independent.

There are a number of advantages of ambition:

• the need to achieve great success;
• self-development;
• assistance in achieving the goal;
• motivation that allows you to overcome all the difficulties that arise along the way.

Ambitions - what are they?

Depending on character traits, self-esteem, and perception of life, people have different types of ambitions.

1. Inflated or unhealthy ambitions are present when desires and plans are not supported by anything, but are built from scratch. Overestimating one's own capabilities, a person does not achieve the desired result, begins to blame circumstances or others for failures, creating problems in life and communication.
2. Low ambitions or lack thereof are associated with self-doubt and low self-esteem. Such people are frightened by the difficulties that may arise on the way to their goals, and they prefer to go with the flow, leaving everything as it is, and are not able to fully realize themselves.
3. An adequate level means that a person strives forward, but realistically assesses opportunities and sets achievable goals, taking into account the interests of others. Healthy ambitions help a person improve and develop.

Depending on the sphere of manifestation, the following directions are distinguished:

• Profession or career, when ambitions are aimed at professional achievements or career growth and high social status;
• Family, when desires and aspirations are aimed at creating ideal family relationships. The main thing is not to suppress family members with your ambitions, trying to force them to meet your standards, but to show patience and understanding;
• Prosperity, wealth, when all aspirations come down to having as much money as possible. The danger is that as a result, a person develops such qualities as callousness, greed, cynicism, pragmatism;
• Power and politics, which is expressed in the desire to control people, influence their destinies, and have an honorable position in society.

Unhealthy quality

Now that we have defined what ambition is, let’s try to find out in which cases it can be useful, and in which it can cause significant harm to a person and his environment.

What kind of people can be said to have had their ambitions gone beyond their limits and become unhealthy? First of all, claims must be supported by something. If a person really has some abilities, it is natural that he has certain ambitions. But when they are empty, with a complete lack of abilities in a certain field of activity, it looks funny and stupid.

A person with unhealthy ambition may set impossible goals for himself because he overestimates his capabilities. He cannot even admit to himself that he is not able to cope with any task; he is ready to work on it day and night, just to prove to himself and others that he can achieve this.

In addition, an overly ambitious person is demanding not only of himself, but also of others. He does not respect people with low ambitions and sets difficult tasks for others. He can even act arrogantly, as if he has already achieved a lot. This is what ambition means in an unhealthy and ugly form.

How to develop ambition

In modern life, having ambition is often a sought-after quality, so the question arises: is it possible to develop it in yourself? Ambitions are not given at birth, but are formed with the development of personality. They are formed in a person in childhood, and upbringing in the family is of great importance.

Encouraging success, objective assessment and support from parents contribute to the formation of confidence and healthy aspirations. On the contrary, excessive criticism and indifference to the child’s achievements lead to low self-esteem and lack of ambition. It happens that with a lack of attention and support, children try to prove that they are underestimated and challenge others. In this case, painful ambitions often arise.

1. Learn to give an objective assessment of your abilities and actions. To do this, you need to try to look at yourself from the outside, think about the topics “what are you like,” “can you change?”
2. Understand your desires, clearly formulate them, think through acceptable ways to help implement your plans.
3. Be completely confident in yourself and your abilities, do not be afraid of mistakes, realize that they are given to us for experience, draw conclusions from them.
4. Set priorities, do it right, set only achievable goals. When results are obtained from them, set even higher standards for yourself that were previously beyond your means, and try to achieve them.
5. Learn to respond adequately to mistakes, admit them, listen to what others say, and do not be offended by their criticism.

Factors influencing their appearance

Lack of ambition is just as bad as an inflated level of a person’s aspirations. The correct view of reality and, very importantly, of oneself is largely determined genetically. But otherwise it develops in society.

So, one of the important factors influencing the manifestation of your ambitions is the type of temperament and personality. If we consider types such as extroverts and introverts, then it is crystal clear that the former will be more ambitious people due to their bright, punchy personality. The latter, on the contrary, are reserved and calm, who for the most part do not care what others think about them. They are not inclined to realize their ambitions.

There is another important factor. It also influences the expression of ambition - it is a family atmosphere. In a circle of self-confident, successful people, a purposeful person with healthy ambition will grow up. In a family where a child is praised over trifles and shown in every possible way that he is the best, an unhealthy inflated sense of self-importance will appear. There are also families where unjustified pressure is put on a normotypical child, which can affect the lack of desire to realize themselves in the future.

A properly structured educational process can, to a greater or lesser extent, influence the formation of ambition. A competent reward system, training in setting and implementing goals and objectives can form the correct level of a person’s aspirations.

How to communicate with an ambitious person

Sometimes among your acquaintances you may find a person with high ambitions and with whom it is quite difficult to communicate. If you still want to maintain contact with him, you need to follow certain tips to help improve your relationship.

1. When you are with such a friend, do not mention the success of other people.
2. Don’t talk about your achievements, try not to remember them when an ambitious person is nearby.
3. Point out to your friend his uniqueness, beauty and genius.
4. If you know that this person has some awards for his victories, ask to demonstrate them.

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Ambition in the modern world: is it worth fighting it?

It is believed that in our time it is difficult for an unambitious person to make his way in life. And the very lack of ambition makes life uninteresting. Personal ambitions help a person become independent, independent, and successful. The main thing is that they are creative and contribute to internal development. By setting meaningful, real tasks and consistently completing them, a person learns to organize himself and achieve his intended goal.

To properly realize your ambitions, you need to understand your own needs and interests, and systematic actions in a given direction. Awareness of the successes achieved will contribute to the emergence of new plans and goals, and, ultimately, complete self-realization. At the same time, you need to remember the interests and needs of those around you.