Where to find this idea:
All the Gold Stars: Reimagining Ambition and the Ways We Strive by Rainesford Stauffer
Picture yourself as a character in a video game where you derive your strength from three power sources: work, health and relationships. Right now, your work power is buzzing at a solid 80%, but your relationship and health powers are lagging behind at a mere 10%. That’s often the reality of ambition – we tend to put all our ambition eggs into the work basket. But just like in a game, constantly focusing on one power source won’t make you the strongest player.
So, how about we switch things up a bit? What if you choose to be ambitious in areas outside your work, pouring the same level of enthusiasm and commitment into your health or relationships?
Ambition can unfold into every aspect of your life that you passionately invest your time, dreams, and creativity into. You can be ambitious about having a life filled with joy, ambitious about having a thriving family life or ambitious about enhancing your physical well-being.
Ambition can be as diverse and expansive as you allow it to be. And it doesn’t need to just be about individualistic goals. It can be a collective pursuit, like looking out for your community. Or even at your job, you might not be interested in becoming a “super star,” but you can totally aim to be the best mentor and use your ambition as a force for good.
Finally, we see ambition as something massive that never stops burning. But sometimes your ambition stops or changes over time and that’s okay. What made you feel successful 10 years ago might not anymore and this includes your career. What we’ve all learned in recent years is that there is no job security, no matter how ambitious you are, but we’ve also learned that we are capable of reinventing ourselves over and over again. Set aside time to explore your non-work ambitions and harness this power to build a richer and more joyful life.