Ambition

Ambition

There's nothing wrong with ambition. It's not a bad thing at all. Far from it. In fact, ambition is essential to living a fulfilled and meaningful life. Ambition is not just about earning money. It's the desire to do things you want to have done rather than always doing the things you want to do.

Unambitious

Picture in your mind a person who has only one guiding principle which is simply to always do the things they feel like doing at the moment. They only do whatever is most enjoyable right now. The things that make them feel good right now. This is an unambitious life.

People like this will never do anything worthwhile with their lives because the most enjoyable thing at any given moment is always going to be sitting on the couch and watching television or endlessly scrolling their phones. This is why a lot of people never do anything and accomplish nothing. They always do what they feel like doing right now which is nothing.

Who really feels like doing anything, right?

Fulfillment

Instead of thinking about what you want to do right now, try thinking about what you want to have done. We hear writers often say that they don't love the process of writing but they love having written. The experience of having written and crafted something with language from your own mind is one of the most fulfilling things in the world. But writing itself is not enjoyable very often. It's hard, exhausting, and tedious. You write so that you have written. The payoff comes at the end. You do what you want to have done. This is what you wish you did yesterday.

I go hiking in the mountains. When I'm climbing what seems like a vertical straight-up climb, it sucks. The reward is at the top when I stop and admire the views and reflect on what I've accomplished.

You might not feel like going to the gym today but you wish you went yesterday. Everybody wishes they went yesterday. You might not want to pursue that difficult opportunity, take on a tough project, or take a chance but you wish you did it yesterday. So do it today and tomorrow it will have been done.

Instance gratification

Losers demand instant gratification. They can't bring themselves to endure even a small amount of pain or discomfort. Each moment has to be pleasurable in itself. For most of human history, this wasn't even an option but now it is. There isn't any way to achieve anything or live a real life like this. If you do, your forfeit success with your unambitious life.

If success provided immediate pleasure, everyone would be doing it. This keeps the lazy people out of the game.

Don't be lazy

Laziness is the habit of thinking about the cost of things or the effort instead of thinking about the payoff or the outcome. You can reverse this by thinking about the thing you want to enjoy rather than the effort to go get it. Try to think more about the outcome and less about the work to get there.

Hikers like to say embrace the suck. They try not to think about the rain, bugs, hot or cold temperatures, or a steep climb. Instead, they think about the small joys.

Go do something

If there's something that you wish you had already done then it's worth doing now. If it is something that you'll wish you hadn't done after doing it, then it's not worth doing ever. This principle will never let you down.

You're alive right now. Don't sit on the couch. You can still accomplish all of your goals.