Is ambition evil?
Posted by Andrew
As always, the answer is: it depends.
It’s one thing to to want to improve your standing in life when you’re average or mired in mediocrity.
It’s entirely another thing when ambition becomes greed. When we stop cherishing and valuing what we do have now, only to focus on what we don’t have or want to have.
Like anything in life, there must be moderation.
“We must have enough money.”
“We must have enough love.”
So what if our significant others don’t look like movie stars or don’t have perfect personalities?
They’re human!
Just like us.
And if they love us and care for us all the same, isn’t that enough?
Is it okay to settle and be happy with what you have?
On the big road of life, we should relax sometimes and stop to smell the roses. To appreciate everything around you.
Because who knows? Your life could end before you achieve your goals. Doesn’t it make sense to have had a good journey along the way?
What do you think? Am I rambling again? Or preaching to the choir?
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July 14th, 2009 at 8:27 AM
Ambition is only evil when the pursuit of material reward and power hurts others. We all need some ambition to just get up and do something with our lives. That’s healthy. That’s what invents great things and cures disease.
Ambition turns evil when the we become so selfish that nothing else matters. We become consumed with our own material worth to the point where nothing is off limits. At that point, you have Enron, WorldCom and Lehman Brothers. Truly sad.
Jarie Bolander´s last blog ..Leadership includes Followership
July 14th, 2009 at 11:08 AM
This is an awesome post. It is SO important to cherish every day in life. I can honestly say that I take time every single day to take a couple minutes and kind of soak it all in. It’s surprising how much better this can make your entire day, even if it wasn’t necessarily a great one.
As far as money and things like that, it’s all a matter of sufficiency.
Great post!
Nate´s last blog ..Online relationships are fragile ones
July 14th, 2009 at 5:03 PM
@Jarie:
I think you’ve summed up what I was trying to say very nicely.
I posted this reply on Brazen Careerist and it fits here too of course:
@Nate:
You and I are clearly on the same wavelength.
Sufficiency ~ Enough
That’s fantastic advice that I hadn’t thought of/should follow more often. “take time every single day to take a couple minutes and kind of soak it all in.” I generally just think about it as my internal self sees fit. To actually set aside time to do it; that’s great advice to being more thankful and appreciative of our lives!