In Western societies, ambition is a prized virtue. Strive to be the best you can be, go further than your parents did, and reap the obvious rewards: riches, comfort, status, and more.
Conversely, lack of ambition is considered a sin. What if you are offered a promotion at work? You take it, right? More money, perhaps a new title… living “the dream.” But what if you are happy with your current position? What if you have enough money? What if you would rather have less responsibility and more time to pursue other areas of your life? We have names for people like you: slacker, lazy, unmotivated, etc. Lately, researchers are calling you lazy slackers something else: smart.
Dr. Timothy Judge, a professor at Notre Dame’s Mendoza college of business, decided to look into the idea of ambition – the positives and negatives. What he and his colleagues have found might surprise you.
Using multiple criteria to measure ambition, Judge studied 717 “high-ability” individuals over seven decades from grade school through colleges like Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Stanford, Columbia, Cornell, Northwestern, Berkeley, Oxford and Notre Dame — to more modest educations, including high school diplomas and community college degrees. Judge observed the fallout of their ambition:
If ambition has its positive effects, and in terms of career success it certainly seems that it does, our study also suggests that it carries with it some cost. Despite their many accomplishments, ambitious people are only slightly happier than their less-ambitious counterparts, and they actually live somewhat shorter lives… So, yes, ambitious people do achieve more successful careers, but that doesn’t seem to translate into leading happier or healthier lives.”
What does this all mean?
For many, this may be hard to accept. After all, ambition and hard work are supposed to set the stage for a perfect life. So, what gives? Ambition is a funny thing. It can be viewed two ways, and both of them are correct.
Ambition is synonymous with “drive,” that inner force that wants us to achieve more. It is also a form of self-imposed stress. To be ambitious, you must constantly focus on the future. This goes against the refrain we hear so often lately – one, incidentally, that has echoed through the ages – to be happy one must live in the moment.
Ambition is about the next moment. Instead of focusing on where you are and enjoying your life, you are focused on where your life is headed and what it will be like when you get “there.” Clearly, this is a stressful way to live. It may make you successful, but that depends on your definition of “success.” If you want a new car every year and the power to make decisions that impact the world around you, ambition is your friend. Just consider whether you are willing to trade a few years of your life to use the executive washroom.
References
Source: University of Notre Dame
I think ambition being considered a virtue goes back to the strong work ethic that America was founded on. Also, I’m wondering if the individuals who took part in this research were required to define ambition? The reason I’m curious is b/c U think that sometimes ambition and the desire to get ahead gets tangled up in materialism, i.e. people want to climb the career ladder b/c it will lead to a better-paying job. I know people who chose which grad school to go to based on which one would get them the best job, i.e. the best-paying, most successful job. While I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that, I think ruthlessly pursuing something that is, in the grand scheme of life, relatively shallow (material things), would explain why ambitious people aren’t overwhelmingly happier than less ambitious people.