100. Looking Back, Looking Forward: Sustainable Ambition Turns 100

Overview

During the pandemic, the cultural tides around work ambition turned. People were over their ambitions.

Consider these stats: In 2022, Gartner found that more than 50% of surveyed workers said they were questioning the purpose of their jobs and the role work should play in their lives. Also in 2022, the Mckinsey Health Institute found that one in four employees experienced burnout symptoms. And in mid-2022, 29% of employees who resigned from their jobs said they did so for better work-life balance, according to the Society for Human Resource Management.

Maybe you recognize yourself in one of those numbers. 

And yet as we move away from the pandemic, there is a thawing and a movement with people wanting to reclaim their ambition. 

I’ve been exploring ambition on the podcast for the last two years, and so for the 100th episode, I’m going to look back and reflect on conversations with guests, and how their insights and my research have sharpened my thinking about the three core pillars of Sustainable Ambition: Right Ambition, Right Time, and Right Effort.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

  • How our cultural view of ambition and what we want is evolving post-pandemic

  • Why we should embrace conscious ambition as a beneficial part of being human

  • The four key focus areas for tapping into the meaning and motivation behind your personal ambition

  • Five questions to ask yourself about your ambitions for the year

  • Why you should plan your life before your work

  • How our ambitions change and evolve over time, especially at major life transitions

  • How personalization, pace, and periodization impact our resilience to sustain us while we stretch for our ambitions

  • Inquiries to help you focus your Right Effort

Resources Mentioned

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