How to audit your ambition
February's alignment check
A couple of weeks ago, we looked deeply at the question of ambition. Sometimes with a longer essay, I find it easy to forget the main points, much less know how to apply them. So this week, I’m offering a series of reflection questions to help you bring to life the big ideas of that prior essay.
The article’s thesis was this - “Ambition must be powered by the right motivation, for it to be durable and sustainable over time.”
Here are the main points from the essay and a few questions that can help you consider the implications for your own life.
Point 1: You need to understand why you want to achieve your goal(s)
What are you actually pursuing right now? Is it the thing you are working on or something deeper?
How do you respond when things work in your favor?
If you never achieve this, what will that mean in your life?
Point 2: Outcomes won’t be determined by ability
Where are you telling yourself that you aren’t good enough yet?
How are you exploring the limits of your capability?
Where are you pushing yourself? Do you need someone to help push you?
Point 3: Learning to be patient and impatient
Where can you simply go faster?
How do you chose each day’s/week’s priorities? Are these priorities aligned with the most important thing?
Where are you not seeing results? How will you continue to be disciplined where results have not materialized yet?
Point 4: The destination is uncertain and progress will be slow
For destinations with a clear path, have you set the right goals to get there?
For uncertain destinations, how are you feeding your curiosity? What are you reading? Who are you meeting?
Where are you finding ways to experiment within the mundane of the day to day grind?