AMBITION
By Dr. Stacie Cooper – April 15, 2011
What exactly is ambition, and what makes a person ambitious in the workplace?
Ambition is commonly defined as a strong desire for advancement, rank, power, achievement, success, and/or honor. Further, when we think of ambition, it tends to be synonymous with passion, drive, and a yearning for growth. Specific to the workplace, people who use their full range of abilities, skills, and resources, and who also have a strong sense of motivation and commitment, are typically characterized as ambitious.
Becoming Ambitious
The precursor to developing a sense of ambition involves having clear short and long-term goals at work. Motivation and commitment can result in increased ambition. To be motivated and committed, you must first have goals you are motivated to work toward, and a sense of commitment to those goals. Goals, motivation, and commitment go hand-in-hand to assist you in becoming more ambitious at work.
It is essential that the goals you create are realistic, tangible, and that they are personally meaningful in some way (fit with at least one of your major values), since this will inherently increase your motivation and commitment; thus, heightening your ambition! It’s equally important to come up with clear ways you can receive feedback or rewards for meeting the short-term goals to keep your motivation high.
Take an example: imagine that a friend of yours is a businessman who sells nutritional drinks, working primarily on commission. This friend sells a product he genuinely believes in, which is in line with his value of helping others, and he has created short-term goals for himself that involve increasing his sales by a specific amount of money each month. The numbers that he has in mind are realistic, but will also continually push him to work harder each month as they increase slightly throughout the year. This desire for advancement, increasing success, and challenge, is characteristic of ambitious individuals in the workplace.
Here is another example of an ambitious person from the business world: Tommy Hilfiger started designing clothes, and couldn’t get anyone to buy his jeans initially. Instead of giving up and pursuing something else, since he knew his passion was to design clothes, he began selling jeans from the trunk of his car. Today, he is one of the most successful and respected designers in the world.
This final example illustrates how ambition can have many faces: Leonardo Da Vinci, iconic Italian artist, is believed to have struggled with learning disabilities (dyslexia and possibly attention deficit disorder) from a young age. His ambition for science and art led him to funnel his creative talents into visual representations of his complex thoughts and ideas. He is known today as a visionary, inventor, painter, sculptor, astronomer, and architect, to name a few.
Summing It Up
In conclusion, I hope to not only illustrate how ambition has some clear components, but also that ambitious individuals come in all shapes and sizes. Further, ambition is something that can be developed in any of us with the right tools. Finding goals that fit your abilities and values, developing a sense of motivation and commitment, and creating or maintaining a sense of passion, drive, and enthusiasm for your work can help you to be ambitious in the workplace.
By Dr. Stacie Cooper – April 15, 2011
What exactly is ambition, and what makes a person ambitious in the workplace?
Ambition is commonly defined as a strong desire for advancement, rank, power, achievement, success, and/or honor. Further, when we think of ambition, it tends to be synonymous with passion, drive, and a yearning for growth. Specific to the workplace, people who use their full range of abilities, skills, and resources, and who also have a strong sense of motivation and commitment, are typically characterized as ambitious.
Becoming Ambitious
The precursor to developing a sense of ambition involves having clear short and long-term goals at work. Motivation and commitment can result in increased ambition. To be motivated and committed, you must first have goals you are motivated to work toward, and a sense of commitment to those goals. Goals, motivation, and commitment go hand-in-hand to assist you in becoming more ambitious at work.
It is essential that the goals you create are realistic, tangible, and that they are personally meaningful in some way (fit with at least one of your major values), since this will inherently increase your motivation and commitment; thus, heightening your ambition! It’s equally important to come up with clear ways you can receive feedback or rewards for meeting the short-term goals to keep your motivation high.
Take an example: imagine that a friend of yours is a businessman who sells nutritional drinks, working primarily on commission. This friend sells a product he genuinely believes in, which is in line with his value of helping others, and he has created short-term goals for himself that involve increasing his sales by a specific amount of money each month. The numbers that he has in mind are realistic, but will also continually push him to work harder each month as they increase slightly throughout the year. This desire for advancement, increasing success, and challenge, is characteristic of ambitious individuals in the workplace.
Here is another example of an ambitious person from the business world: Tommy Hilfiger started designing clothes, and couldn’t get anyone to buy his jeans initially. Instead of giving up and pursuing something else, since he knew his passion was to design clothes, he began selling jeans from the trunk of his car. Today, he is one of the most successful and respected designers in the world.
This final example illustrates how ambition can have many faces: Leonardo Da Vinci, iconic Italian artist, is believed to have struggled with learning disabilities (dyslexia and possibly attention deficit disorder) from a young age. His ambition for science and art led him to funnel his creative talents into visual representations of his complex thoughts and ideas. He is known today as a visionary, inventor, painter, sculptor, astronomer, and architect, to name a few.
Summing It Up
In conclusion, I hope to not only illustrate how ambition has some clear components, but also that ambitious individuals come in all shapes and sizes. Further, ambition is something that can be developed in any of us with the right tools. Finding goals that fit your abilities and values, developing a sense of motivation and commitment, and creating or maintaining a sense of passion, drive, and enthusiasm for your work can help you to be ambitious in the workplace.