Ambition and ambitious character

Ambition and ambitiousness - how often do you hear this word? Perhaps there are ambitious individuals in your environment. Or you yourself are one. Either way, you stand out in the crowd. You are probably confident in yourself, you know how to get what you want and achieve your goal. Is it good or bad? How does ambition affect your life and the lives of those around you?

How to realize your ambitions

In order to realize your ambitions, you need to understand that desire alone is not enough. Achieving what you want involves painstaking daily work and developing yourself as an individual.

An ambitious person has every chance of becoming successful; the main thing is to know the basic rules for implementing his plans:

Self-knowledge. First, you need to decide what exactly you want to achieve, and for this you will have to go a long way to understanding yourself as an individual: realizing your own individuality, identifying your needs and desires. Treat yourself with respect and listen to your feelings, they are the ones who will tell you in which direction to move. Do not force yourself into the framework of generally established social norms, because being one of thousands does not always mean being happy and satisfied with your life. Remember your needs and don’t give up on realizing them to please other people’s desires, but you shouldn’t treat others with a disregard either. The main thing is to stick to the golden mean and maintain harmony in the soul.

Active actions. Once you have decided what you really want to achieve, be ready to act immediately. Make a detailed plan for the implementation of your plans, otherwise you will simply be scattered on absolutely unnecessary actions that will most often slow you down on the path to your dream

Planning will help you motivate yourself to take each next step, organize your time as efficiently as possible, and develop the ability to focus on what is important.

Consolidation of the result. Once you realize your goal, stop and evaluate your actions

Conduct a detailed analysis of everything you had to go through and what you sacrificed for the sake of your own ambitions. You must realize your achievements, otherwise you will never feel inner satisfaction. Acceptance of your own success and increased self-confidence is the result of achieving your ambitions that you must achieve.

One can argue for a long time about how important the role of ambitions is in a person’s life. But, you see, their absence is less preferable. Ambitions stimulate you to work on yourself, give you the opportunity to become better, to begin to respect yourself even for small victories. So, the conclusion is obvious: ambition is very useful for personal development.

But never forget that in any situation you need to remain a worthy person. Therefore, treat others with respect and do not forget about the needs of your family and friends, otherwise one day you will simply lose yourself.

Signs of healthy ambition

A harmonious personality with healthy ambitions can be recognized by certain signs. These include:

presence of positive thinking;
belief in your success;
the ability to set bold but realistic goals;
demanding of oneself and others;
the ability to adjust your plans depending on circumstances without giving up the global goal;
constant work to improve personal growth;
presence of activity and energy;
self-esteem;
the ability to defend one’s beliefs;
willpower, steadfastness.

What is ambition

Ambition - what does it mean? The term came to Russia at the beginning of the 18th century. Initially, it was believed that ambition was a negative personality characteristic. Synonyms for the word included “vanity”, “ambition”. Later, under the influence of numerous psychological and social studies, the attitude towards this concept changed. It began to be viewed as a positive personality trait, which, if overdeveloped, becomes a disadvantage.

What is human ambition in the modern definition? Ambition is the level of aspiration. They are based on self-confidence and self-esteem. What is the modern meaning of the word? Now this is understood as the desire to act, to achieve success, power, wealth. But in life there is still a noticeable contradictory perception of this term. For example, some employers only look for ambitious candidates, while others prefer to avoid such applicants.

Meaning of the word

What does the word ambition mean? Literally translated as “walking around”, derived from the Latin ambitio. What is an ambitious person? In its primary meaning, this is an individual who constantly plans, sets goals, dreams, aspires, but achieves nothing, abandons goals. This is one of the theories. Let us examine in more detail what the word ambition means, ambitious in other theories.

What else does the word ambition mean (alternative meanings of the word ambition):

heightened pride;
arrogance;
swagger;
claims, demands;
ambition.

In some sources, ambition is understood as an extremely inflated level of aspirations and inadequate self-esteem. In other sources they are classified into adequate underestimated and overestimated levels.

To determine the meaning of the word, the meaning of its cognates, we turned to Wikipedia. What is ambition as defined by Wikipedia? Ambition, according to the definition from Wikipedia, is pride, arrogance, pretension, aspiration. In Wikipedia we found the meaning of the same root word - an ambitious person. This, according to Wikipedia, is an overly narcissistic, power-hungry, full of pretensions person.

Definition and concept of ambition

In a broad sense, ambition is the desire of an individual to achieve success in any way, to get more, to improve his life. Moreover, most often the subject does not know exactly how he will do this, but is sure that he will certainly do it. Some even succeed (ideas come while moving towards the goal), others in the process realize that they overestimated their capabilities.

Why such a different result? It all depends on the level of ambition; it can be adequate or inadequate. The level of ambition can be determined by an individual’s behavior and speech. A person with adequate ambitions, one who is truly successful, has perfect verbs. An overly ambitious person's speech is rich in imperfective verbs.

An ambitious person does not mean successful and someone who gets everything right the first time. This means that when he achieves success, he does not deviate from his goals, tries again and again, even after defeat.

Consolidate the result

Having figured out the definition of what a person’s ambitions are and having taken all measures to ensure that they are adequate, it is necessary to summarize the work done. This must be done in order to understand your previous mistakes and try not to repeat them in the future. After about a year of working on yourself, psychologists recommend assessing the benefits of transformation according to the following criteria:

whether self-esteem has increased;
whether self-confidence has increased;
whether there is a desire to make plans for the future;
whether the number of risks has decreased;
have your relationships with others improved?
have there been fewer failures?
have you managed to learn to control your emotions;
whether the person has learned to objectively assess the situation.

If a person’s life has noticeably improved, happy events begin to happen more often, and the soul has a feeling of peace and harmony, then everything was done correctly. Even if some points do not yet correspond to the desired results, everything will definitely improve over time. Well, if you haven’t yet been able to feel peace of mind, you need to try to start work again. Adequate ambitions will win, and life will improve.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Ambition

Everyone needs ambition in reasonable quantities. After all, it encourages you to move forward.

This is not its only advantage:

desire to become successful;
the need to maintain good physical shape;
self-development;
achieving all set goals;
lack of fear of difficulties;
the right priorities.

Despite so many positive aspects, being ambitious also has its disadvantages. A person may not get what he wants even if he works hard. In such cases, he has a number of unpleasant qualities:

selfishness;
arrogance;
irritability;
ruthlessness;
deceit;
uncompromisingness;
aggressiveness.

Such people strive to manipulate others, are constantly offended, and have difficulty communicating.

Positive sides

Ambition is necessary for a person to be realized in all areas of life. Without a reasonable amount of this quality, success cannot be achieved, since it implies the presence of self-discipline.

Positive sides of ambition, what does it mean:

generating a desire to achieve success;
the need to always be in good shape;
self-improvement;
assistance in achieving the goal;
ignoring obstacles;
commitment to the idea;
assistance in the process of personality formation in society;
correct prioritization.

How to develop ambition

The level of aspirations can be adjusted if a person wants it. Moreover, it is easier to lower the level than to increase it. But in both cases, you need to work separately with each of the components of the structure:

self-esteem,
self confidence,
motivation,
awareness,
self-perception,
goal setting,
the ability to listen to others.

The level of aspiration is based on the innate characteristics of the individual, but is formed and developed in the process of socialization. It depends on achievements in childhood and adolescence, and the reactions of others to this. In addition, family upbringing, the attitude of classmates and teachers, the level of knowledge, a person’s erudition and much more have an influence. Claims are formed under the influence of external and internal factors.

Successes and praise for them are important for developing ambition. Ambitious people come from families where parents constantly supported the child, praised, rewarded, and encouraged independence and the right to choose. They taught him to cope with difficulties, in case of failure they supported and prompted him, rather than criticizing and scolding him. If a child was humiliated and suppressed, his achievements were ignored, then he develops a low level of aspirations. If he was always praised for everything, an excuse was found, and others were punished instead of him, then an inflated level of claims is formed. And only a balance of constructive criticism and praise leads to the development of a useful, healthy level of aspiration.

Varieties of Ambition

What is ambition? First of all, this concept refers to individual aspirations and plans. If a person has no ambitions at all, then his life becomes uninteresting. It is ambition that stimulates a person to become better and more perfect, and helps to gain self-confidence.

An ambitious person will never follow anyone’s lead and will not allow himself to be used to please other people’s desires.

Human ambitions can be divided into three separate types, which depend directly on character, worldview and individual aspirations.

Adequate ambitions

This type should be considered as the most desirable option. A person with adequate ambition is able to:

soberly assess your capabilities;
set realistic goals;
keep your emotions under control;
do not depend on the opinions of others.

If you are the happy owner of adequate ambitions, it means that you are able to take full responsibility for everything that happens in your life.

Unfortunately, this type of ambition is extremely rare due to the fact that not every person is able to objectively evaluate himself as an individual. Most often, people set their sights on absolutely unrealistic goals, and then, having not achieved what they wanted, they are completely disappointed in themselves.

Important

Learn to be critical of yourself and your character. Analyze your feelings and actions

If you learn to adequately evaluate yourself, this will noticeably affect your ambitions.

Low ambitions

They appear if their owner has low self-esteem. A person with low ambitions often:

experiences depression, apathy, and lack of self-confidence;
calmly tolerates insults from others towards him;
almost always goes with the flow;
tries to stay away from any opportunity to express himself.

The most striking example of a person with low ambitions can be considered the “gray mouse” type. Even the most shy and insecure people trying to blend in with the crowd have their own aspirations and desires, but this does not mean that they are ready and take action to realize them.

Inflated ambitions

This type is characteristic of individuals with high self-esteem and is expressed in too high demands on others. This kind of person:

uncompromising in his judgments;
capable of showing aggression and intolerance.

Inflated ambitions force you to completely devote yourself to achieving your goals, often neglecting the needs of others. To be fair, it should be said that a person with inflated ambitions constantly strives to prove through his behavior his own exclusivity and rightness.

Factors influencing the development of ambitions

Ambition is the psychology of human thinking. It depends on many aspects of influence on personality development. There are three fundamental factors that shape ambition:

Personality type. A lot depends on the personality type to which a person belongs. Extroverts strive to communicate, they need a large audience, so their circle of acquaintances is constantly expanding. They are very dependent on the opinions of others; they need recognition from society. These people definitely have their own ambitions, since this trait is fundamental to their character. Introverts are the exact opposite of extroverts. They communicate little with others and care little about their reputation. The ambitions of these people are at the lowest level or completely absent.
Self-esteem. People with high levels of self-esteem necessarily have inflated ambitions. They are so confident in their superiority that they do not notice obstacles to self-affirmation along the way. The situation is also indicative when a person has no ambitions, which means a low level of self-esteem.
Family environment. An important factor is the environment in which the child was raised. If parents have succeeded in life and have great hopes for their child, they will involuntarily lay the foundation for the formation of an ambitious personality.

What are the types of ambitions?

There are 3 types of ambitions:

Overpriced. An individual sets goals for himself, but cannot achieve them. He lacks time, energy, funds, and intellectual abilities. But at the same time he behaves impudently, boastfully, arrogantly. Although in reality he never achieved anything.
Understated. There are goals, but they are too simple and are achieved instantly. A person does not want to move on, to develop. He is satisfied with the way he lives now. This can happen in any area of his life: personal relationships, career, wealth.
Normal, adequate. The name speaks for itself. An ambitious person confidently moves towards his goals without causing discomfort to the people around him. He is smart, intellectually developed, endowed with wisdom.

Ambitions are also divided into types depending on the direction:

Professional. Concerning career advancement. They are mainly owned by owners of companies, enterprises and offices. They strive to build a career, get a highly paid position, and have people under them. And they will get what they want. But they will have to learn to make the right decisions, to follow the right path, and not over their heads. Otherwise, they will not see a good position.
Family. A person of this type is trying to build an ideal family. This wish can be fulfilled. But don't go to extremes. If you constantly force your soul mate to live up to a fictitious ideal, quarrels and misunderstandings will begin. As a result, the family will fall apart. Remember, there are no ideal individuals. You may also not fit someone's idea of an ideal person.
Financial. Everyone wants to improve their financial situation. These are normal desires: to pay off debts, increase the family budget, be able to travel. But there is another side to the coin. Financial ambitions can make a person angry, greedy, even cruel.

There are also political ambitions. They are especially pronounced among politicians. Interestingly, their goal is not only to achieve certain heights in politics. They want to rule the country, gain popularity and become famous among many people. Such qualities are visible from childhood and adolescence. The teenager is interested in shows and television programs on political topics. Actively participates in school self-government organizations and is interested in social issues.

Fighting inadequate ambitions

Inappropriate ambitions can and should be fought. Experienced psychologists recommend listening to advice that will help you change your character for the better.

If a person realizes that he needs to overcome his ambitions, he is already half cured of the negativity present in him.
Love yourself, but with sincere healthy and creative love. Understand what needs to be done to improve your health and appearance, ensure proper rest, and properly distribute your strength. It is worth engaging in self-development and self-improvement. Having loved himself, a person will find inner harmony and will not demand love from everyone around him at the expense of his power or strength.
Find a vector of movement, decide on your goals and not be distracted by useless complaints to others. Following your own path, try to help others as much as possible. Do not waste your energy and only watch your actions.

Realization of ambitions

Ambition in character motivates every individual to action. If they are not there, then you can lie on the couch and admire the successes of others. If there is ambition in a person’s character, then he sets goals for himself and does everything to get to them.

But it also happens that ambition is a negative character trait. We can talk about positivity if a person has reason to hope for the realization of his plans - education, personal growth, knowledge. If a person does not have the basis for forming and implementing plans, then ambitions are false. It's like a mirage in the desert, it builds on the sand and disappears just as well. To understand how this is, we suggest studying a specific example.

“This was in the late 80s. The two girls were close friends. Natalya and Zhanna were the same age, but they studied in different classes. So, Zhanna always studied well and dreamed of going to medical school. Natalya, on the contrary, was sickly, studied with C grades, but her plans also had an element of grandiosity. She loved languages and dreamed of entering the faculty of foreign languages or journalism.

Both graduated from school and began to prepare for admission. Zhanna studied non-stop, and Natalya didn’t seem to miss days of preparation. But then came the admission, and one managed to pass the exams and become a student, but the other did not. It’s just that Natasha’s plans were based on “mirages”. She did not have the appropriate knowledge and naturally failed the exams.

Years passed, one of the friends, as expected, graduated from university and began working as a doctor. And the second one got married and for a long time did not think about getting an education. Only after family troubles, left alone with the child, Natalya decided to try her luck again. She began to prepare to enter the university at the Faculty of Law.

She studied in the correspondence department, each time she had to pay extra for taking tests and exams. As a result, she still received a diploma. But why does she need it for someone who does not have clear, adequate ambitions to achieve success in the legal field? Surely many people guessed that Natasha hid the diploma in the chest of drawers and never thought about it again.”

We studied a banal, but very instructive story, Natasha seemed to have ambitions, but did not have the desire or determination to achieve results and work on them. They were false.

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 become ambitious

Ambitiousness is not an innate trait.

. It originates in early childhood and is formed in the process of growing up and personality development.

Parents play a decisive role in the development of ambition in a child. If they rejoice at his successes and encourage his endeavors, then in adult life such a person will “stand firmly on his feet” and feel confident. If you do not show interest in his results and achievements in various fields, and constantly scold him for his mistakes and failures, then most likely with age a person will become indecisive and complex, devoid of any ambitions.

The main thing is to encourage real achievements

, and not praise the child on every, sometimes completely inappropriate, occasion. Otherwise, there is a high probability of developing in the child large, unsupported ambitions, which will subsequently be impossible to moderate.

To become an ambitious person, you need the following:

Ambition as a moral quality has different meanings in different languages and cultures. Traditionally, in the Russian language and culture, which reveres modesty, it is “1) heightened pride, arrogance, swagger; 2) claims, claims to something (disapproved)" S.I. Ozhegov. Dictionary of the Russian language.

At the same time, in Western countries, where ambition was a virtue, people interpret it as 'Striving to achieve goals, ambition. Demand for external signs of respect and honor. Pride, dignity. The desire to take a place in society different from the current one, expressed in status, reward. Wikipedia

However, now that we are building a bright, but still capitalist future, the attitude towards manifestations of ambition has become different in our culture.

Ambitions are human motives, the foundation of which is the need for success. They make us move forward and explore new horizons, and most importantly, strive for the goal!

Ambitiousness is an undoubted virtue only when it is confirmed by something, when there is a basis for it. When there is nothing behind it and ambitions arise out of nowhere, it looks at least funny.

By developing exceptionally healthy

ambitions, we become closer to our goal: to be better, to be more successful, to lead others!

The benefits of being ambitious

Ambition makes us strive for success.
Ambitiousness pushes us to constant self-improvement.
Ambitiousness ensures achievement of set goals.
Ambition gives you the strength to overcome obstacles.

Manifestations of ambition in everyday life

Professional activity. Even if you are not striving to make a dizzying career, a bit of ambition will not hurt you, because... In the modern world, inertia is not at all welcome.
Career growth. Well, if you care about your social and economic situation, you can’t do without ambition.
Family life. This is an area where ambition may not play the best role. You need to learn to balance so that ambitions do not suppress your other half and do not interfere with family happiness.
Parenting. How often we make mistakes when trying to realize our ambitions in children. Not worth it! They have their own. It is better to instill in the heirs from early childhood the desire for success and teach them how to achieve more.
Sport. You don’t think that the most important thing in sports is not victory, but participation... it’s your ambitions that don’t allow you to think so. A healthy body has healthy ambitions! Develop and improve your ambition!

How to develop adequate ambition

Confidence. Be confident in yourself and your actions.
Self-esteem. Always evaluate the degree to which your own abilities match your level of ambition.
Motivation. Ambition refers to those human qualities that are constantly developing and changing. Ambition is based on personal motivation.
Listen to those around you. An objective assessment of your performance by colleagues and loved ones allows you to better understand your own abilities, growth potential and increases self-confidence.
Clear understanding. Be clear about what you want. Outline ways to realize your desires.
Setting goals. Always set realistic goals for yourself! Only having achieved them, move on. Only then will your ambitions be realized.
Stay alert. Do not allow inertia to appear in your life and affairs.

Inertia

Ambition

Vanity, sick ambition, pride

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:

Persistence.
Self-confidence.
Demanding on people.
Positive thinking.
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. It is very important for him that everyone has a good opinion of him and does not dare say anything bad.

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.

How to develop

Since the quality in question is in fashion today, many are wondering how to develop ambition in themselves. And is this even possible? It must be said right away that you are not born with ambition. This quality is acquired in the process of personality development and is laid down from childhood. His own parents play a big role in shaping a person’s ambitions. If they encourage all the child’s successes, are happy for him and praise him, then such a person grows up more self-confident, and with age he develops ambitions.

But if parents mainly scold the child and do not pay due attention to his achievements, then, most likely, he will grow up lacking ambition, downtrodden and insecure.

Situations are also possible when children, whose parents do not provide them with adequate support, grow up and strive to prove to them, to themselves and at the same time to the whole world that they are also worthy of something. Such people try to challenge society, and their ambitions are often morbid.

Thus, we can say that ambition cannot be developed - this trait is ingrained in a person from childhood.

Negative sides

A person with great ambitions is often unhappy. He does not get what he dreams of, does not have the opportunity to relax and open up even to the closest people. He suffers himself and makes everyone around him suffer. Unhealthy ambitions make a person's character very complex. The following qualities appear:

irritability;
touchiness;
selfishness;
arrogance;
arrogance;
egocentrism;
ruthlessness;
deceit;
desire to manipulate people;
uncompromisingness;
lack of communication skills;
aggressiveness;
authoritarianism.

What are the types of ambitions?

As we already know, ambitions can be overestimated or underestimated. But let's look at each of them separately.

So, inflated ambitions - a person sets goals for himself, but for this he has neither financial, nor intellectual, nor time grounds. He acts arrogant and swaggering, boasts, but in reality he is nothing of himself. A simple and accessible example is girls from the outback who dream of becoming stage stars. No, no one is saying that there are no talented people in the province. But if we are talking about someone who has neither a voice, nor artistry, nor an attractive appearance, then what kind of fulfillment of desires in terms of “stardom” can we talk about?
Low ambitions - a person sets himself small-scale, simple desires and does not pretend to anything more in this life. The question may concern the choice of the other half, career, material wealth.
There is also a third type of ambition – adequate. Already by the name we understand that quality is inherent in an intelligent, intellectually developed, wise person. Such types are capable of achieving their goals, but they go towards them gradually, without disturbing the quality of life of those around them and taking into account the interests of loved ones. Ambitions can concern different areas of life. Therefore, psychologists also distinguish political, careerist, champion, imperial and other types of ambitions.

Experts also distinguish between different areas:

Professional. Those who decided to build an excellent career, achieve a high and well-paid position, and have as many people as possible subordinates have precisely this type of ambition. Quality is inherent to owners of holdings, offices, and enterprises. But if the road to realizing your desires was wrong, the wrong decisions were made, you can remain a banal workaholic and never achieve what you want

It is important to set priorities in time and correctly and abandon secondary, unimportant

Family. In this case, a person wants to find an ideal soul mate and build harmonious family relationships in which there will be no place for scandals and omissions. In his dreams, there is always a picture of a family in which there are children, where everyone is friends, communicates, is frank and honest with each other. Well, this is a normal and completely realizable desire. The main thing is not to overdo it with the ideal partner. If you demand from your spouse (wife) to conform to the ideal personality, conflicts and breakup are possible.

In the heat of building ideal family relationships, ambitious parents often force their children to live up to their ideals. The requirement to study better, to achieve success in languages, exact sciences and other subjects can lead to a child’s nervous breakdown and rebellion. At one point, he will refuse to do anything at all and, to prove his independence, will go to great lengths.

In order to at least get closer to your desires, you should learn to talk to your child, listen and hear his arguments. Connection, openness and trust are essential. This is the only way to find a common language. Imposing your ambitious family plans on everyone is stupid and counterproductive.

Financial. Well, we have many like-minded people on this issue. Who among us does not dream of improving our financial affairs? And make sure that you don’t need anything, don’t look for anything, don’t borrow in order to “plug” money holes in the family budget. But believe me, our problems have nothing to do with financial ambitions. There is a desire here to have lots and lots and lots of money. In this case, unlike normal people who want to live like a human being, everything is aimed at only one thing - to have wealth. In such cases, ambitious people do not think about others, they become greedy, stingy and pragmatic in everything.

Political. We can watch the activities of individuals with political ambitions every day on television. These are deputies, officials, political scientists, presidents, chancellors, prime ministers, etc. But it is worth understanding that such persons do not just aim to occupy some high position. They dream of ruling states and enjoying the authority of almost the entire planet. As a rule, future politicians have been interested in political talk shows, magazines, and newspapers since childhood. They begin their political “career” while still at school. They participate in the editorial board, publish wall newspapers, hold a post in the school parliament, participate in debate clubs, etc.

Concept

The term ambicja migrated into Russian-speaking culture from Poland during the time of Peter the Great and at first had the meaning of “pride, arrogance.” In turn, the origins of the Polish word lead us to the Latin ambitio, which translated means “vanity, ambition,” as well as to the verb ambire, which literally means “to seek” favors from influential persons, rank, place.

Read about what vanity and ambition are on our blog.

Thus, in the original version, ambition was assigned a negative message. A man with ambitions sought to please high-ranking officials and achieve patronage, displaying qualities that were not held in high esteem: excessive pride and arrogance.

There is a well-known stable expression “to be overwhelmed by ambition,” which means “to become offended, angry, show pomposity and unnecessary conceit.”

Neither in Rus' nor in the USSR, people who stood out from the crowd and strived to achieve their goals were welcome members of society. Back then modesty, sameness, and equality were valued first of all. All this was necessary to avoid unnecessary criticism and ridicule.

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With the development of society and the spread of English-language words in everyday life, ambitions acquired a different shade. The meaning of the English word ambition indicates a strong desire, hard work, energy, and desire to achieve success.

Modern psychologists and coaches in the field of success, using this term, mean a quality that helps a person set a high bar for himself and achieve maximum results.

If we talk about ambition in simple words, we can remember one good joke:

Ambition is when you go to an exam, you think you know a 2, you hope for a 3, and when they give you a 4, you are indignant that it’s not a 5.

But here we are talking about inflated ambitions. We'll talk about them a little later.

So, what is the final definition given to us by the modern dictionary?

Ambition is the desire, fixed in a person’s character, to achieve success in accordance with personal goals in such areas of life as personal productivity, leadership, power, influence, recognition by society, etc.

Is it good to be an ambitious person?

It's difficult to say for sure. What do you mean by ambition in a person? If it is the ability to confidently go towards achieving goals, there is nothing wrong with it. If this is arrogance, pride and arrogance, it’s worth thinking about.

In general, being ambitious is a good thing. After all, a person is constantly developing and moving forward. The problem arises when there is ambition, but the person remains stagnant.

The ideal option is that a person wants and knows how to get what he wants. This is the golden mean. There are also 2 extremes. The first is those who believe that nothing will work out. The second is inflated, naked ambitions. A person sets obviously unattainable goals and, of course, fails.

Summarizing

Believe in yourself, believe in your strength, be grateful for everything you have and strive for more. Look around you and help other people achieve their goals. Believe me, this will bring much more benefit to both them and you, because the self-perception of a generous and kind successful person is better than that of a lonely and proud successful person. Both there and there you are successful, but what do you have besides success? Loving and devoted friends, proven over the years, reliable partners, or a snake-like ball of ill-wishers, greedily watching your mistakes? It's up to you to decide. Be honest, kind and patient! And you will be rewarded.