Conscious Ambition Tips: To help become more consciously ambitious and thrive in life and work.
Right Ambition: Choose the challenge you’d enjoy
Not every hard thing is worth doing. But some are worth doing because they’re hard. In the context of games, philosopher C. Thi Nguyen calls this “striving play”: we chase a goal in order to have the struggle, and the struggle itself becomes the reward.
Ask yourself: Where do I want to be challenged, just for the joy of it? And if the point is the struggle, not just the finish line, how will I measure success? For my former podcast guest Jack Hsueh, finishing became the bonus. Read more here.
Right Time: Notice how your relationship with effort has changed
Jack put Tor on the backburner for a few years when a new role took his time. Then, when the time was right, he went back and ran it again to the finish.
Ask yourself: Is there a challenge I’ve postponed that I might be ready for now? Or one that felt too challenging before that I might carry differently today? As Jack wrote, sometimes the burden stays the same, and what changes is us.
Right Effort: Sustain yourself through the effort
Valuing effort doesn’t mean running on empty. We still need to restore ourselves along the way, and most of us think we don’t have the time.
My latest podcast guest, psychologist Eli Susman, PhD, makes the case that we do. In his new book, Micropractice: A Science-Backed Approach for Calm, Clarity, and Joy in 30 Seconds or Less, he shows how tiny practices can make well-being a way of life.
Ask yourself: What's one 30-second practice I can build into my day this week? Pulling from Eli’s book, consider:
Move - Microdance: Dance to your favorite song
Touch - Self-compassionate touch: Rest hands on heart
Breathe - Slow, deep breathing: Controlled, deep inhales and extended exhales
Flow - Mindful living: infuse awareness and presence into everyday tasks
Want to get insights, tips, and tools on how to live with Sustainable Ambition? Join in here. Welcome!
Sustainable Ambition offers a strategic approach for pursuing our professional and personal goals in a way that is motivating, meaningful, and manageable from stage to stage, rather than be all consuming in a way that compromises other important aspects of our lives or sacrifices our well-being.