Hello lovelies! Today I start the A to Z Blogging Challenge, where I will be posting a word for one letter of the alphabet every weekday this month. I’ve got a nice mix of long and short posts and some humour I hope you’ll love coming up so stick with me!
A is for Ambition.
Ambition seems to be a dirty word these days. There are thousands of people who get paid(many of them rather small amounts) to write about different types of motivation and how to foster it in yourself and your children, but you hardly ever see blog posts written about ambition. At least, not blog posts that openly call it ambition. I’ve easily read a thousand blog posts about “inner drive” over the years, but ambition? I can’t even think of one, at least not a single positive one.
But I think ambition is a great word. It describes one of the most powerful intrinsic motivators a person can have. Hell, ambition is what kept me alive during my worst struggles with depression. When I felt like I didn’t have anything else I always still had my ambition, my dream of being a successful author.
I still haven’t reached my goal of successful novelist but I am making a living off of my writing–and I’ve built a rock solid foundation of social media knowledge thanks to all the time I’ve spent blogging for various companies. None of that would be possible without ambition. So why does “ambition” seem like a dirty word? Why do people insist on calling it a thousand other names like “drive”?
I don’t claim to know much about the social roots of language, but if I had to guess, I’d say that it’s because people associate the word “ambition” with ivy league schools and big corporations. Yet ambition can be about anything–your ambition could be to become an artist, travel the world or start a life saving non-profit.
What do you think? Why do we associate negative images with the word “ambition”? Do you feel uncomfortable calling yourself ambitious?
Where would we all be if we didn’t have ambition. To be an ambitious person doesn’t mean you’re bad.
Thanks for a great post.
Shalom,
Patricia @ EverythingMustChange
Exactly! I think the issue is that people tend to think ambition and greed are pretty much the same thing.
I think ambition is a good thing and we need more of it in this country. I don’t know why it’s been turned into a dirty word, but it sure seems like it has.
Congrats on being able to earn a living from your writing and good luck with your novel!
We do need more ambition! Too many people have simply accepted less-than-awesome lives and come to believe the world will always be a horrible place. I hope my work will be able to inspire people to find their own ambition.