Why You Might Not Be Feeling Ambitious & What to Do About it

“I am not an ambitious person” you might tell yourself. But what is ambition really?

A strong desire to do or achieve something

And what is that something?

Maybe like me, you grew up in a family where that something was writing, good grades, studying law, medicine, or psychology, and working your way up in a nine-to-five in order to make lots of money.

And maybe like for me, that just never aligned with your true nature at all.

I believe many people who lack ambition, just lack a vision for how they want their life to look & feel like.

How can you have a strong desire to achieve something, if that something is not designed from a place of authentic desire but from the expectations of society, family members, or peers?

My version of success just didn't look like the one defined by my surroundings. And therefore, I for a long time didn’t identify as an ambitious person.

I felt like something was wrong with me, that I wasn’t good enough, and that I could never be successful.

But then, I allowed myself to define what success actually means for me.

Now, I know that my version of success looks like being free — financially, emotionally, geographically, and energetically. Being able to follow my excitements, feeling flow in my everyday life, and just feeling alive! It means having my own integral business that helps people to live happier lives and that supports me in living the best version of my life (by my own definition).

I am so dedicated to bringing that life into reality — which one may call ambitious.

But for a long time, I half-heartedly tried to achieve the things that I thought I should be pursuing, instead of pursuing the things, feelings, and experiences that truly lit me up.

So, if you struggle with not feeling ambitious, I want to invite you to ask yourself the following questions:

How do you want your life to feel?

What does your unique version of a good life look like?

What is standing in your way of making that life possible?

Key message: If you don’t consider yourself an ambitious person, there is a high chance that your version of success looks very different to the one of the people around you. Only by owning up to our unique definition of a good life, can ambition find a place in our life.