What’s Your Ambition? Know Your “How Far.”
An important consideration when determining your next career step is to define your “How Far,” and ask yourself “What is my ambition?” This is a fundamental question many people fail to ask. Most of us just assume we’ll do the “should” (e.g., get to the next level, be a Vice President, be a CEO). But how many of us are honest with ourselves about how far we want to reach, when and how we want to get there, and accept the sacrifices that may be required to reach that ambition?
A great book on this topic is “It’s Not How Good You Are, It’s How Good You Want to Be,” by Paul Arden, the former Executive Creative Director at Saatchi & Saatchi. He starts the book by claiming, “Your vision of where or who you want to be is the greatest asset you have.” Arden goes on to ask, “So how good do you want to be?” The options: “Quite good. Good. Very good. The best in your field. The best in the world.” These are all accompanied with a picture, the last one cleverly being aligned with a picture of Napoleon (i.e., the best in the world).
Arden states that it’s not talent that makes people famous or rich, but having a clear ambition and the drive to reach a goal that leads them to their desired outcome. Take for instance this account from a 2003 article in The New York Times in which Arnold Schwarzenegger said he saw himself becoming a movie star, millionaire, and even politician.
Oprah Winfrey has been quoted as saying, “I always knew I was destined for greatness.” Jimmy Fallon had a singularly focused goal to be on Saturday Night Live. Some people have the ambition of being a great mother and raising amazing children. Others have the ambition to be President of the United States. In his book, Arden gives the example of Victoria Beckham who said she wanted to be as well-known as Persil, a dominant detergent in Britain. How many of us have that clear of a goal?
To determine your How Far, ask yourself:
Level: Where do you want to excel? What level do you want to reach? Consider Arden’s categories—where do you align?
Effort: Are you willing to put in the effort and go the distance to reach that level? Are you committed to your purpose or to your ambition to make it happen?
When: When do you want to get there? Why? Are you at a time where you want to further commit, lean in, and go for it? Or, are you wanting to pull back for a time, while keeping your foot in the door?
The Insight: Ambition is about what you want to achieve and how far you want to reach on any dimension. Claiming your ambition can have significant power and influence on your trajectory.