The Danger of Too Much Ambition
Recently, it feels like the concept of ambition has drawn more attention.
This is because these youngsters are doing big things and sharing them on social media. This fires people up.
Another reason may be the people committing to self-improvement after realizing their life isn’t where they want it to be.
Perhaps the main reason is all these degenerate TikToks about being a Sigma male or some shit, who knows.
Before we dive in, what is ambition exactly?
Ambition (in my eyes) is to set high expectations for yourself and to be driven to accomplish big things.
Ambition could be:
- The desire to become a millionaire by 25
- The goal of reaching 100k subscribers on YouTube by the time 2025 rolls around
- The drive to run 10 miles every day of the week in preparation to go sub 3 in a marathon
However, it goes without saying that ‘too’ much ambition is a thing that can come with consequences.
Think about the guy who wants to go to the gym 6x a week for the year as his New Year’s resolution. To put it short, he doesn’t have the consistency or discipline built to do this, and he will lose that New Year’s drive in 2–3 weeks.
Ambition isn’t about who can achieve the craziest thing at the youngest age.
Everyone has different stories, and that comparison would be unfair.
Ambition is about setting your goals as more and more, progressively overloading, as time goes on.
With all this said, I want to go over more on ambition, how too much can be harmful, and how to know if you’re challenging yourself enough.
Don’t Go Too Hard On Yourself
There are times when one must distinguish the difference between unrealistic expectations and reasonable ones.
To achieve your goals efficiently, they have to be set appropriately.
Putting too much pressure on yourself to achieve something (especially by a specified date) can force you to work harder or cause you to fold into a ball.
If you can’t imagine where you want to be with that goal by that date, you ought to reconsider your capability.
For instance, when I had just discovered weightlifting, little old me set the “ambitious” goal of going from 116 pounds to 150 pounds in a year.
If I wanted a shot at that, I would have had to lift 6x a week, diet accordingly, and know about proper form and rest. I knew none of that, let alone the consistency to do so.
Nevertheless, I busted my butt, learning along the way, and managed to get to 138 pounds, so about a 22 pound increase.
This experience, now reflecting on it as I write this, made me realize that there is a line between being too ambitious and having humility with your goal setting.
You must take one step at a time.
As Tom Platz said: “Just do baby reps”.
In this case, baby steps.
Is Your Bar Set Too High?
One crucial aspect of getting hard work done is how the work itself feels.
Does it feel too easy?
Too hard?
The perfect balance between these two ends of the spectrum would be work that isn’t too hard, but not too easy.
You can’t settle for doing easy work because it won’t result in growth (not a lot anyway).
On the other hand, work that’s too demanding for the current you won’t do much good either, especially in the long term.
Trying to stick to a routine that leaves you overwhelmed will only leave you discouraged the day you inevitably burn out.
This isn’t an attack on you, it’s the truth. As I said, I got into weightlifting thinking that I could work out 6x a week. I burnt out. This is all about discovering where you are, and where you want to be.
Don’t overdo it, but always push yourself slightly above your baseline in goals, work, the gym, and anything else.
This is how things that grant growth get done.
Not too difficult, not too easy — this makes for work that feels less like a chore, and more like a game.
Conclusion
All in all, this article is not me trying to prevent you from aiming high, nor giving you a sense of your capability.
That is something that only you know.
An athlete doesn’t enter a sport on day 1 and aim to dunk, hit a home run, or score a hole-in-one, no — that isn’t ambition, but just borderline delusion and ego.
Take notice of when you are performing too hard from here onwards.
If it’s a one-time cause (like a race), sure. Go all out.
But you can’t go all out day after day.
If you have a routine, ask yourself: can I stick to this and more for the rest of my life? Or at least a pretty long time?
If yes, then you’re on the right track.
Thanks for reading.
I’ll see you in the next article.
