7 Habits of Highly Ambitious People

Who manage to be decent as well.

Karen Nimmo
Published in
4 min readSep 17, 2020

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Are you ambitious?

If you’re nodding, all good, nothing wrong with wanting to push the boat out with your talents and make the most of your life.

But many people struggle with the question. Some fear admitting to having ambition will set them up for failure and looking a fool. What if I don’t achieve what I say I will?

But many others fear being seen as ruthless, someone who’ll use people as paving stones on their quest for money, power or fame.

Fair point. We all know what excessive ambition does: skews thinking and unleashes scary biases, damages reputations, relationships, mental health, companies, economies, countries — lives.

But ambition isn’t — or shouldn’t be — a dirty word. If you get it right it’s your ticket to a better life. Here’s how to channel your ambition healthily.

7 Habits of Highly Ambitious (But Still Decent) People

“When you’ve worked hard, and done well, and walked through that doorway of opportunity, you do not slam it shut behind you. You reach back and you give other folks the same…

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Karen Nimmo

Clinical psychologist, author of 4 books. Editor of On the Couch: Practical psychology for health and happiness. karen@onthecouch.co.nz