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Ambition: "A strong wish to achieve something"

Also: "A strong desire for success, achievement, power, or wealth"

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Am I ambitious?​

​Much of our childhood -which school we attend, who is our neighboring friend or in which supermarket we buy cereals from - is influenced by circumstances such as where you live or upur socio-economic level.

Ambition is not an exception.

• If you are from the US (especially the coasts sides or born into a wealthy family), you are more likely to associate ambition with success or approved role models such as NBA players.

• If you are from a low or middle-class family, you may be told that you are lucky to have a good job in hard economic times.

• If you are from a collective society such as Japan, "a lot of" ambition is seen as excessive because one should be humbler and care about the group.

So most of us reflect and act (or not) with ambition influenced by the paradigm we grew in.  

Your early history kind of shapes your aspirations and expectations for career and life.

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So, how much ambition?

As economists enjoy saying, "it depends".

I cannot answer that question for you, but here is some food for thought. And don't worry, I am not a big fan of self-help books with fancy quotes. 

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Get to know you ​​

Take a minute to reflect on what ambition means to you.

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You may have thought of money, fame or wealth.

Or independence, challenge, and mastery..

Or nothing. Most likely, a mix of things.

 

Not everyone thinks ambitiously about their careers. You may be totally fine with the idea of finding a good enough job and keeping it for many years. Or you may not be interested in just doing a job well and not being promoted, so you have more time for other things.  That is fine IF it is a choice.

The problem arises when not thinking ambitiously is imposed by external factors - such as fear of not fitting in or not having anyone to figure out where to start -, or just the result of not been confronted with the idea. I never thought about it.

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In 10 years, do you imagine yourself...?

• Being very good at something - you name it: programming, finance, etc.

• Building something that doesn't exist today (such as a product to solve some need)

• Making a lot of money with a job 

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If your answer is yes to one of these questions, then...

Congrats! There is ambition in you

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How to put your ambition to work?

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Take ownership

This is probably the most important part.

Every year, many smart and capable people tell me "I want to change my job". And they want, really. But the year passes by, and they stay in the same place - or they change jobs just because some firm reached out to them, interviewed and recruited them. They are not proactive in deciding when and how things happen.

 

Acting ambitiously may look like:

• Taking your job seriously and giving your best. Working hard doesn´t always have an immediate reward, but that shouldn't stop you. The way you work should reflect what sort of professional you want to be. If your firm systematically decides to not reward you or you do not feel motivated to do a good job, then that is a different topic. Time to consider a new job.

• Considering changing jobs every X years. Reflect on what you want to get from your current job, and what would need to happen for you to stay after a period of X time. Many people say "I want to leave because something went bad". However, it is better to think "I want to stay X years here because my learning curve is steep, I have a clear growth path or I like the corporate culture. Then I will consider other options unless there is a reason for me to stay longer". This way, if you stay in your job, it is the result of making a choice and not just going with the flow. When you like a company, changing departments or jobs within the same company can be as good as switching companies.

• Taking time to think about that sort of company, industry or job you want next. It is tempting to just accept the first recruiter`s offer you get or apply to the first good enough job you see in LinkedIn. I recommend you think strategically about where you want to go and plan accordantly.  

• Being strategic when applying to jobs, considering which companies are good matches with your goals, which skills you want to build next, and which jobs imply a career jump (rather than a lateral move). For example, if you are a project manager at a consulting firm like Deloitte, you probably don't want to move to the same role to EY. It will take you at least 2 years to be promoted. I recommend making only lateral movements (same job title) when there is a strategic reason (ex a much better company)

• Keeping an eye on the job market - even if you do not plan to change jobs, it is always a good practice to check with sort of jobs are out there or even interview for a job you wouldn't take just to keep your interview skills sharp 

• Being proactive in continue improving your skills and resume, with new courses, languages, etc.

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Sometimes, the difference between people who get what they want and not is how hard they work towards it. So taking ownership is about taking initiative and advocating for yourself. And this is very linked to how we plan and cultivate habits.

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Note: I do not buy - and you should not either - that the world is fair, and meritocracy works perfectly. Working hard is not always enough, even more if you come from a difficult place. But taking ownership on what you can influence helps.

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Cultivate habits​

Bill Bradley, a well-known US basketball player, politician, and writer once said

"Ambition is the path to success. Persistence is the vehicle you arrive in”

And he was quite persistent himself.

Habits, the repeated practice of something, are the bricks that end up looking like a house. Small habits help us get closer to jobs or MBAs and also improve us as professionals. No one has made it to a good university by dedicating a full week to writing cover letters or practicing the GMAT. It takes a small % of work (and improvements) over a longer period of time.

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We are more likely to succeed at adopting habits when habits are:

• Obvious - decide "every day, after dinner, I will sit down at my desk and dedicate X min to do Y"

• Attractive - tie the habit to something you enjoy (such as playing a podcast while you do Y)

• Easy - break large problems into small pieces and simplify the habit. For example, it may feel overwhelming the idea of changing jobs. But it is easier if you split the process into pieces such as (1) make a list of companies / industries you like, (2) work on your resume, (3) ... Also, simplify the habit by avoiding noise (for example, try not to make plans with friends in the time slot you assigned to working on your application).

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And more importantly, we are better at sticking to habits when we believe those habits are part of us.

If you consider yourself a hard-working person, you are more likely to work hard because it is a behavior that goes well with your view of youself. If you consider yourself a non-smoker (rather than a person who is trying to quit), you are more likely to say "no" to a cigarette offer. No one like disagreeing with themselves. The book "Atomic Habits" develops these ideas well.

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Tell yourself "I am hard-working and ambitious". How would a person like this behave?

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Be open

Acting ambitiously may imply: 

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• Many of our grandparents and parents kept the same job for decades. You may make different choices, and you should not feel sorry about it. Changing companies and jobs does not mean you are a bad employee or disloyal. Just make sure you do a good job until the last day, you communicate well in advance your decisions.

• Do not consider that climbing a career leader is the only way, or a linear process. You may want to act ambitiously by focusing on skills, values, and continuous learning rather than upward growth. Or you may climb the leader, but in your way. In my case, I accepted an offer for a lower position with a 40% salary cut just because I knew there were some strategic things that job could give me fast.

• Be open about finding a balance between your passion and/or what you are good at. If there is a perfect match, congratulations! Your early career years are a good time to explore whether you are good at things you love, or if you can fall in love with things you are good at. As a teenager, I always wanted to be a journalist or professional photographer for National Geographic. I haven´t achieve that yet (although I do write in my free time), but I managed to build skills that I was good to begin with and found interesting enough. ​

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Some readings:

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XXX

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