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What is ambition and does it have something to do with insecurity?
Ambition manifests as a light inside us that burns hotter and longer in some and shorter and more faint in some others
How does raw energy manifest in our lives?
“Energy and Determination” Dean Simonton (UC-Davis)
Goals but no energy = “One day I’m gonna”
Energy but no goals = “This project isn’t the one”
Energy and goals = "Ambition"
Tyrants and greedy thieves
Intentional family planning and career advancement
“Energy may be genetic but a lot of times its just finding the right thing to be ambitious about”
Where does Ambition come from?
Energy seeking energy = Ambition
Self Organizing matter seeking energy to sustain, grow, and multiply
Inexhaustible to phlegmatic
Robert Cloninger, Washington University
Ambitious participants showed 80% more activity in Limbic region of brain (emotions and habits)
Maybe you did inherit. Maybe your Limbic region is on by nature but it can be turned on and turned off... Why?
A 2019 study by Michael P Wilmot at Princeton
Conscientiousness is the most potent noncognitive (emotional) predictor of performance at work
Positive link between ambition and longevity, happiness, and relationship success and satisfaction
Ambition for a better life and to feel better about life
Sometimes can lead us down a dark path fueled by insecurity
We won't label this "good" or "bad"
One possible source of ambition is “Status Anxiety”
Some people perform a cost analysis
Quick, competitive reproductive hits vs long term care and safety
Inertia of the motivated or hopeless
Upper-middle class produces the greatest proportion of ambitious people mostly because it also produces the greatest proportion of anxious people
Resistance to ambition can deem it “unnecessary” by those most fortunate or a “luxury” by those just trying to survive
Beta Life - Desire for position
Quiet Inner Caesar, little dictators who, if given the chance, would rise to power for their measure of control and power
Energy seeking distinction, meaning, worth, and respect can breed Insecurity
Manifests as... Spitefulness
In my research, I came across the phrase "Relative Deprivation"
people make comparisons between themselves and people they look at as peers and believe that they have been unjustly disadvantaged in comparison to those people, thus engendering feelings of frustration, anger, and resentment”
"when personal significance is challenged by conditions of personal injustice, individuals, especially ambitious ones, increase their willingness to self-sacrifice for a valued objective in order to restore their dignity and respect."
For many, if not most ambitious people, insecurity and injustice are the vehicles we fill up with ambition
If you get what you're looking for it often falls flat and when that happens it breeds resentment, bitterness, and apathy...
It's a will to live that produces Patience and tenacity
Malcolm X's conversion changed him
Wanting to be a better friend and father changed me
The idea of generous ambition
The best way to use ambition is in relation to the wellbeing of others
Suffering Alone vs Striving Together
Individuals from collectivist environments who strive together and migrate to competitive environments outperform those native to the competitive environment
They don't come preloaded with the comparison of what they're lacking but what they have to gain and share
