Lately, I've been thinking about unsustainable ambition - and its antithesis.
How high can you climb? How fast? Not too high, and not too fast. "Too", here, is open to individual interpretation. One man's overambition is another man's day job. (Applies to women, too.)
"Too high, too fast" is determined by whom we might have left behind. Old friends don't know you anymore? Are you a stranger to your kids? Or, been meaning to have kids but don't have the time and money? Worse - do you not know who you are anymore? You've left yourself behind. You've gone too far. Your ambition is no longer sustainable.
I'm thinking of people who climbed up the ladder on the fuel of ridiculous hours and unquestioning dedication. To continue up that ladder then requires more ridiculous hours and cult-like devotion. (Some companies think this is a good thing. They are led by false messiahs.) How far can these people go before their relationships - and then their bodies - break down? Will the company then swoop in like a white knight and restore them to health and healthy relationships? Or will they be unceremoniously replaced?
You've got to have ambition. The antithesis of "unsustainable ambition" is not unsustainable
lack of ambition. It is
scalable ambition. Your ambition must be sustainable. It should promote healthy personal, social, familial, financial growth - success in all areas of your life - at the bottom rungs of the ladder
as well as at the in-the-clouds top. Otherwise, you're on the wrong ladder. Have the courage to find another one. Or
build another one (see
http://alphalim.me/career-are-you-a-ladder-climber-or-are-you-a ).
Your ambition has to be scalable, or you're going to burn out in a blaze of vainglory somewhere near the top. Entertaining fireworks for the rest of the world. Not so good news for you. That's my concern.
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