Unhealthy ambitions. What are human ambitions, how to develop and realize them? The difference between Ambition and Utopia

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Ambition is a personality trait that is characterized by the need for success, building plans to achieve more, based on increased claims to life.

Manifestations and properties of Ambition

Ambitiousness and the ability to generate and meet these ambitious goals, is one of the most important properties personality, contributing to the achievement of success and self-realization of a person in life. To do this, you need to be the owner of the appropriate personality trait - Ambition.

Reasonable ambition presupposes a struggle in the unity of two opposite qualities of a person: ability - to want and to be able. Of great importance is the reality and validity of the Ambitious Goals. Ambition is manifested for good if it is comparable to the possibilities at the current time and the level of development of the individual.

Only a person who is endowed with the ability to discern in the objects and phenomena of the outside world the potential for a sharp movement and development forward can become a generator of ambitious goals and plans.

An important condition for Ambitious plans is the desire of the society to get what this person invented and implemented.

Historical interpretations of Ambitiousness at different stages of mankind

Ambition as a personality trait is interpreted differently in Russian and English. In the dictionary of the Russian language by S. I. Ozhegov, who traditionally reveres modesty, it is negatively colored: 1) heightened pride, arrogance, swagger; 2) claims, claims for something (disapproved). At the same time, in Western countries, ambition is unequivocally ranked as a human virtue, implying the desire to achieve goals, the requirement of external signs of respect, honor. In the Anglo-Saxon transcription, the word "millionaire" has a positive meaning, while in Russian it causes envy and hatred. However, this is not a reason to attribute a negative interpretation to the concept of "millionaire".

When Ambitious Plans or Goals Are Born

A change in a person's personal circumstances, most often major milestones in life, such as graduation from high school, higher educational institution, love, are the stimulus for the emergence of Ambitious plans. Often, ambitious goals and ideas are born when the “pockets are empty”, and the “head is full”, there are no resources, but there is hope that cardinal, qualitative changes will reveal new sources of their appearance.
Personal qualities of a person, such as the desire to give part of their energy for the benefit of society, perseverance in achieving a goal, reasonable arrogance and prudence give the result.

Not every goal gets the right to be called Ambitious

Add to the usual goal an apparent unattainability, a dream, isolation from the current current state, a certain absurdity, paradoxicality, riskiness and a “portrait” of an ambitious goal in in general terms ready. The reality of the goal is the main thing!
An ambitious goal is obliged to get out of the general system of ordinary goals and send its carrier to where he has not yet gone or been. Initially, she does not even assume on what means she will live; ideas of who will support her come later.
Coco Chanel remarked: "If you want to have what you never had, you have to do what you never did."
In the conditions of today's capitalist realities in Russia and the capitalist future, the outlook on Ambition has become more welcoming and open.
Domestic business looked at it with great curiosity as an undoubted virtue, provided it was adequate, solid and realistic. Business captivates self-confidence and professionalism, characteristic of this quality of personality.
In the conditions of a capitalist society, as in a big business, underestimated ambition, timidity, shyness and self-doubt are not encouraged.
A person with a lack of ambition, as a rule, is an outcast for big politics, sports and business. Success involves passion, enthusiasm and energy. A person without ambition is a "living corpse" for business. Bernard Shaw once said, as if implying the slogan of reasonable ambition: "Achieve what you want, or you will have to be content with what you have."

The difference between Ambition and Utopia

When ambition, having taken stubbornness, voluntarism, frivolity and unjustified audacity as allies, “crosses the Rubicon” of the permissible boundaries of rationality and rationality, it turns into a harmful utopia that can “sink” any good undertaking. Excessive, inflated ambition with an unjustified, unrealizable level of claims can make a lot of noise and bring tangible harm to the cause in which it is involved.
The Difference Between Ambition and Ambition
Ambition is individual requirements and plans aimed at oneself and at the self-development of the individual. Unlike ambition, which is usually aimed at solving one's individual, personal goals, ambition is mainly associated with solving corporate, collective, group or public tasks. Therefore, the negative consequences of unbridled Ambition are much more painful and large-scale.

Exaggerated Ambition and its properties

There is an African proverb: "The smaller the lizard, the more it hopes to become a crocodile." Excessive ambition is a consequence of overestimated self-esteem, a discrepancy between the position held and the level of one's own ambitions. It is quite simply diagnosed by other personality traits that accompany it - constant discontent, excessive pretentiousness, quarrelsomeness, capriciousness and fastidiousness.
Painful pride does not allow Ambitiousness to be wrong and therefore she blames others for all her failures.

Exaggerating its capabilities, it cannot objectively weigh the complexity of the task.
Exaggerated ambition is accompanied by constant failures. These fiascos and life "defaults" make a person touchy, irritable and unbearable.
Exaggerated Ambition becomes closer to Pride, without rest and sleep, she is ready to listen about her genius, originality and insight. Inflated ambition with thoughts always in the future. Closed by wounded self-esteem from the perception of third-party advice, she is not able to perceive any criticism.

Exaggerated Ambition is sometimes explained by a burning desire to rise above others and achieve power. If you put her on a par with the personality traits that are comfortable for her, then the following composition will be revealed during the roll call: selfishness, arrogance, indifference, formalism, tactlessness, rudeness, envy, vindictiveness and vindictiveness.

An ambitious person recognizes only the stronger and more successful. She is devoid of sympathy, instead she cultivates causticity, categoricalness and maximalism in herself. Empty Ambition is completely shattered if it fails!

Ambition + Perseverance + Planning + Clearly visualized goals and set time intervals - this is the minimum for success!

Before the implementation of ambitious plans, it is always not superfluous to ask questions: “Why do we need to do this?”, “What will happen next?”

Everyone has heard a similar phrase: "He has big ambitions." However, not everyone understood its meaning. Many also fail to understand whether ambition is a good or bad character trait. To answer this question, it is necessary to consider a specific individual. Some people use it to achieve their goals, while others need it only to show off in front of someone and amuse their pride.

What is ambition

This word has many definitions. For example, in Ozhegov's dictionary, it has a negative connotation, because modesty has always been valued in Russian culture, and ambitious people were considered tyrants who had to be ridiculed and belittled in every possible way. According to Ozhegov's dictionary, Ambition is closely related to the following character traits:

1. Heightened self-esteem.
2. Arrogance.
3. Swagger.
4. Arrogance.

However, in Western society, this quality of character is considered positive, primarily because it helps to achieve goals and happiness. The main thing is that it does not grow into arrogance and contempt for other people.

In the West, employers value such people very much: they are able to generate income for the company, and high wages allow them to indulge their pride.

Earlier in Russia, the working class made up the majority of the population. That is why ambition was a bad quality. Now there are quite a lot of entrepreneurs in our country, and the business world does not tolerate unambitious people. On the present stage attitude to this quality has changed for the better.

First of all, this concept is associated with the desire to achieve your goals, no matter what. If someone wakes up every morning with the thought that need to change life for the better- He has great ambitions. However, quite often, such people do not even have an idea of ​​how they can achieve their desires.

With ambition, people often set themselves impossible goals and suffer because of this. For example, an employee has wages 35 thousand rubles. If he sets a goal to have an income of 50 thousand rubles to next year, it will be quite achievable. The ambitious goal is an income of 100 thousand rubles in a few months. Of course, someone will be able to achieve this goal, but not all. And when it is set, the individual himself does not believe in achievement, but ambitions take precedence over common sense.

Character traits

Many people are interested, an ambitious person is what kind of individual and what is characteristic of him. He has the following character traits:

1. Persistence.
2. self-confidence.
3. Demanding for people.
4. Positive thinking.
5. High level of claims.

Such people, no matter what, go to their goal. Of course, there are often various obstacles on the way, but this does not stop them. The only thing that can stop them is moral standards. There are situations when, in order to achieve a goal, it is necessary to violate moral norms. Some people stop it, others don't. It all depends on upbringing.

Achieving results is impossible without confidence in yourself and your abilities. However, ambition implies a development into self-confidence: a person may sincerely not believe in achieving his goal, but set himself up for the fact that he will achieve it.

He will constantly tell his friends or acquaintances about his plans and that he already has his first successes. However, most often it is only about the upcoming successes. If a person has ambition, he will demand respect and respect for himself. Even if he is nothing, ambition will take its toll. He may be offended or even angry at adequate criticism addressed to him. It is very important for him that everyone has a good opinion of him, and does not dare to say anything bad.

Self-confidence is closely related to positive thinking. Even if everything is bad, the individual will not give up and give up. He will go forward and invent new tasks for himself. However, over time, if nothing works out, he may lose interest in the goal. He has a very high self-esteem and demands on people and life and attitude towards himself, and constant failures do not stop him.

High level of claims These are veiled requirements for life. For example, a university graduate with poor academic performance, who has no professional skills, expects a salary of 100 thousand rubles. Or an unattractive guy who does not know how to communicate with a girl sees himself next to him only as models from the cover of a magazine, and does not even look at ordinary girls to whom he can be attractive.

Negative sides

Many people do not understand what the word ambition means. Quite often they associate something negative with this concept. Of course, this character trait has some disadvantages, but you can not concentrate only on them.

So, some ambitious individuals have the following disadvantages:

Of course, one should not treat ambition as an exceptionally bad quality. It is very often helpful. The main thing is to learn to enjoy small victories and treat other people well, and then the individual will be living proof that ambition is positive trait character.

It is very important to remember that ambitions should be based only on real achievements and skills. If claims appear from nothing, it will play a negative role in understanding oneself and interacting with the world.

How to be ambitious

The meaning of the word ambition is the desire to succeed. Despite all negative sides this character trait, it is based on a positive desire. No matter what character a person has, ambition can be cultivated.

Before developing such a quality in oneself, it is necessary to understand whether it is necessary. Many people have learned to be content with what they have and live happily. However, if someone cannot sit still, but lacks the strength to move forward, one should definitely develop ambition.

For this it is necessary do the following steps:

1. Stay alone and think about your life. Recall all the bad and good situations that affected the character. You may have to look into your childhood, as ambition develops or is completely ruined during the school years. When the true reasons for your failures in life are understood, you should begin to work them out.
2. Make a list of unrealized goals. This will help you understand your true desires. It is very important to write this text by hand in order to put a deep meaning into it.
3. The upbringing of ambition in adults occurs in the same way as in children. If a child is constantly praised for his achievements, he grows up to be self-confident and ambitious. The task of an adult is to do the same. For example, for some small victory, you can reward yourself with a delicious dinner, and for a significant step towards the goal, you can reward yourself with a vacation. It is very important to receive feedback from other people. The main thing is to talk only about the results achieved, and not about the planned ones. Such a reward system will help cultivate a good attitude towards yourself and work. Living by this principle, it is much easier to achieve your goals.

Suitable Professions

The choice of a profession largely depends not only on professional skills, but also on human qualities. Ambitious person Suitable for the following professions:

1. Sales is a business that will "ignite". Every month there will be a desire to close as many deals as possible. The employee will bring profit to the company in which he works and receive a good percentage from this.
2. Entrepreneurship is about achieving goals and making extraordinary decisions. This is an integral part of the life of an ambitious person.
3. Leadership positions are suitable for demanding people. The activity of any company requires the performance of routine tasks. The head of the department is able to motivate his employees to perform these tasks and control the process, and in case of their failure to punish them. Ambitiousness and exactingness are very important traits for a boss.
4. Sport is a constant achievement of goals and self-improvement. Absolutely all athletes had great ambitions in childhood.
5. Public service. The clearest example is Armed forces. In this field of activity, it is impossible to grow without ambition. It takes a lot of hard work to get to the next level. This area needs personnel who show great promise.

For people with low ambitions, the following types of work are ideal:

1. Scientific activity.
2. Service sector.
3. Production.

Any job requires ambition. The meaning of the word is the desire for success. Without this desire, no one will have the desire to work. In any case, the development of this quality will be useful to everyone, the main thing is to set realistic goals and not lie to yourself.

Each person puts his own meaning in the concept of what ambition is. Someone believes that this is the main feature in the character successful person, while others, on the contrary, think that this is just empty talk and nothing depends on ambition, but rather the opposite. So is it a positive quality or a negative one? Who do they help, and when can they play against you?

What is human ambition?

People are born with a certain set of skills and qualities. Ambitious is having a number of certain qualities characteristic of any individual, developed to a greater or lesser extent. Their development depends on the social environment during the formation of the personality, that is, starting from the first childhood achievements and ending with the complete formation of the personality. Ambitious people are not necessarily those who get everything at once, quite the contrary - they achieve their goals themselves, step by step.

Ambition - is it good or bad?

In order to achieve at least the smallest successes, it is elementary to start walking, a person must have a desire to take actions, understand why he needs it, and see the opening prospects. Therefore, an ambitious person is a person who moves towards a goal. Every individual goes towards something in life. It’s just that some people are building “Napoleonic plans”, while others have enough of what they have.

What are ambitions?

There is also a concept such as naked ambition, which characterizes a person who talks a lot, wants everything, makes big plans, but sits still. The degree of manifestation of pretentiousness depends on his perception of surrounding factors and the ability to analyze what is happening. An important trait is the ability to focus not only on achieving your goals, but also to notice if this will harm others. According to the degree of development, ambitions are of different types:

• overpriced;
• understated;
• justified.

Reasonable ambition

It is very important to be able to correctly realize ambitions. Adequate acceptance of reality and comparison of facts is the key to successful realization of oneself in society, in moving up the career ladder. People with justified claims always know exactly what they want, correctly calculate resources (their own capabilities), therefore they have great success in implementing life plans. Personalities that are easy to find mutual language with people, normally relate to criticism and advice. Not everything and not always comes out right away, but when they fall, they do not give up, but get up and confidently walk towards the goal.

Low ambition

With low self-esteem, a person’s personal ambitions will also be underestimated. This type manifests itself in the form of lack of independence, the inability to express oneself. These people have no idea which way to go. They often give in to the flow and try to avoid opportunities to somehow participate in the life of society, and in their own too. Characteristic image of "gray mice". As a rule, this is a person who is not seen or heard. This does not mean that such people do not have desires or needs, they just do not even try to make any attempts to solve problems.

Inflated ambition

This type is characteristic of individuals with very high self-esteem. Exaggerated ambitions are too high demands on yourself and others. Even more to those around you. A person is so focused on achieving their personal goals that they stop noticing other people's needs. Such behavior does not allow building relationships in society correctly. Ultimately leads to loneliness, quarrels, hostility.

How to develop ambition in a person?

Human ambitions are laid in the womb. All these factors can affect, and increase or decrease the requirements for oneself and the world around. All this does not mean that it is impossible to develop ambitions already at a conscious age. Their proper development depends on many factors:

• family education;
• value system, laid down in childhood;
• attitude towards human achievement;
• influence of society in school years.

It is very important to adequately perceive your strengths and capabilities - then you don’t have to think about the question of what ambition is. If self-esteem is low, you need to work on its increase.

1. For example, you can try to do something that has not been done before. You have to believe that you can do it too. It can be like skydiving, or something less extreme and more creative. Try writing poetry if you've never done it before, or cooking a gourmet meal if you've had nothing but scrambled eggs.
2. It is important to form the right mindset regarding your capabilities. Give yourself a mental attitude and compare yourself with others, make sure that you are no worse, and that they can - you can, and maybe even better. Pay attention to the achievements you already have and imagine how many people cannot do what you have already done.

How to moderate ambition?

Unhealthy ambitions poison life not only for their owner, but for everyone around, especially when it comes to relationships between a man and a woman, so you should moderate your ardor a bit and do some introspection. To look at things from a different angle and decide whether what you are trying to achieve is really necessary for complete happiness, or whether it is worth stopping a little and looking around, evaluating what is. As soon as the understanding comes that many criteria can be reduced, the attitude towards the world and others will change dramatically, and the attitude of the society towards you will also change.

Thus, the conclusion suggests itself that an ambitious person is a person who has all the makings for successful life. Each person goes to his goal. For some it is a family, for others it is a high position. To the extent of their upbringing and perception of values, all people are different and the paths to it will also differ. Big ambitions are not bad. The main thing is a correct assessment of the situation and opportunities.

Most of our readers, and we are sure of this, have come across ambitious personalities. Or they themselves are. But if such a person met in a company, then it is easy to identify him. He is self-confident, holds himself "above others", he has inflated demands on his fate. It is these individuals who achieve high results if, in addition to ambition, others are used to achieve goals. character traits character - perseverance, diligence, hard work, dedication, etc. But let's find out how good it is to be ambitious, and what a person's underestimated ambitions mean, why, for what reason this trait is formed.

What is ambition

According to the definition of psychologists, ambition is a certain level of ambition of a person striving to achieve his goals. The main desires of this type are to be in the center of attention on a positive basis, to be held in high esteem and content with the respect of others. Such a person devotes his life to achieving both material and professional benefits by realizing his abilities in various fields corresponding to his interests.

We often say about such people “He will achieve a lot! He needs everything from this life! In cases where a person does not make claims to this life, does not want to achieve much, he is considered a person with an underestimated level of ambition.

And the one who sets ambitious goals for himself and is ready to “gnaw the earth”, just to achieve the goals set, is considered a person with inflated ambitions. Based on everything described, we can present an easy and quickly remembered interpretation of an ambitious person. This is the status that the personality is aiming for - it can be overestimated or underestimated.

How are human ambitions realized?

The term "ambition" in different nationalities is treated differently. For example, since ancient times in Russia, modesty, calmness, balance, respect, selflessness have been held in high esteem. And if someone says that he is ambitious, then he is treated with negativity. Since the word is associated with pride, pride, arrogance. But as far as European culture is concerned, the word ambition is held in high esteem by them. They perceive it as a desire to achieve the set goals, implement plans, and be successful.

It should be understood that the word "ambition" in itself does not translate very positively. On the English language"ambition" means vanity, ambition,. And for this reason, in some cases in Europe, the attitude towards ambition is very ambiguous.

There is a fact - ambitious people are often distinguished by swagger, boastfulness, arrogance, and even a deceitful character. They are arrogant, arrogant, cynical and can, as they say, go over the corpses, just to satisfy their ambitions.

A negative attitude towards an ambitious person is often due to the fact that because of his claims, others feel discomfort. For example, if a person has a desire to buy an expensive car, he has to save on family budget. Of course, in such a situation, such a person will be treated negatively.

The same with a woman for whom the main thing is career growth. She does not want to have children, stays in the office for a long time and does not think that they are waiting for her at home. And it is quite natural that this state of affairs, due to the ambitions of a careerist, causes discomfort.

What are the types of ambition?

As we already know, ambitions are overestimated and underestimated. But let's look at each of them separately.

1. So, inflated ambitions- a person sets goals for himself, but for this he has neither financial, nor intellectual, nor temporal grounds. He behaves arrogantly and snobbishly, boasts, but in fact he is nothing of himself. A simple and accessible example is girls from the outback who dream of becoming stage stars. No, no one is saying that there are no talented people in the provinces. But if we are talking about one that has neither a voice, nor artistry, nor an attractive appearance, then what kind of fulfillment of desires in terms of "stardom" can we talk about?
2. Low ambition- a person sets himself small-scale, simple desires and does not pretend to something more in this life. The question may concern both the choice of the second half, career, material wealth.
3. There is also a third type of ambition - adequate. Already by the name, we understand that the quality is inherent in a smart, intellectually developed, wise man. Such types are able to achieve their goals, but they go towards them gradually, without violating the quality of life of others and taking into account the interests of loved ones. Ambition can touch different areas life. Therefore, psychologists also distinguish political, careerist, champion, imperial and other types of ambitions.

Specialists also distinguish between different areas:

Professional. Those who decide to build an excellent career, to achieve a high and well-paid position, to have as many people as possible under their control, have precisely this type of ambition. Quality is inherent in the owners of holdings, offices, enterprises. But if the road to the realization of desires was erroneous, the wrong decisions were made, you can remain a banal workaholic and never achieve what you want. It is important to set priorities on time and correctly and to abandon the secondary, unimportant.

Family. In this case, a person wants to find an ideal soul mate and build in which there will be no place for scandals, omissions. In his dreams, there is always a picture of a family in which there are children, where everyone is friends, communicates, is frank and honest with each other. Well, this is a normal and quite realizable desire. The main thing is not to overdo it with the ideal partner. If you require a spouse (wife) to match the ideal personality, conflicts and rupture are possible.

It is important to understand that ideal people do not exist. And if your picture of the future is disturbed by the usual quarrel, omission, refusal of children to obey and do everything in their own way, you live in an illusory world. Look at yourself from the side. Does your attitude towards others, your character traits and habits correspond to the dreams of an ideal family? It is unlikely that you also have flaws. The main thing is to find love and understanding, and everything else can be experienced.

In the heat of building ideal family relationships, ambitious parents often force their children to live up to their ideals. The demand to study better, to achieve success in languages, the exact sciences and other subjects can lead to a child's nervous breakdown, his rebellion. At one point, he will refuse to do anything at all and, in order to prove his independence, will embark on "all serious".

In order to at least get closer to your desires, you should learn to talk with the child, listen and hear his arguments. Communication, frankness and trust are needed. This is the only way to find a common language. Imposing your ambitious family plans on everyone is stupid and counterproductive.

Financial. Well, we have a lot of like-minded people on this issue. Who among us does not dream of establishing their own financial questions. And do it in such a way that you don’t need anything, don’t look for it, don’t borrow, in order to “plug” money holes in the family budget. But believe me, our problems have nothing to do with financial ambitions. Here there is a desire to have a lot, a lot, a lot of money. In this case, unlike normal people who want to live like human beings, everything is aimed at only one thing - to have wealth. In such cases, ambitious people do not think about others, they become greedy, stingy and pragmatic in everything.

Political. We can watch the activities of people with political ambitions every day on TV. These are deputies, officials, political scientists, presidents, chancellors, prime ministers, etc. But it should be understood that such persons do not aim only to occupy any high post. They dream of ruling states and enjoying authority over almost the entire planet. As a rule, future politicians have been fond of political talk shows, magazines, newspapers since childhood. They begin their political "career" while still in school. They participate in the editorial board, publish wall newspapers, hold a post in the school parliament, participate in debate clubs, etc.

Realization of ambitions

Ambition in character drives every individual to action. If they are not there, then you can lie on the couch and admire the successes of others. If there is ambition in the human character, then he sets goals for himself and does everything to get to them.

But it also happens that ambition is a negative character trait. We can talk about positive if a person has reason to hope for the realization of his plans - education, personal growth, knowledge. If a person does not have a basis for the formation and implementation of plans, then ambitions are false. It's like a mirage in the desert, it builds on the sand and disappears in the same way. To understand how this is, we suggest studying a specific example.

“It was in the late 80s. The two girls were close friends. Natalya and Zhanna were the same age, they just studied in different classes. So, Zhanna always studied well and dreamed of entering a medical school. And Natalya, on the contrary, was painful, studied for triples, but her plans also had an element of grandiosity. She loved languages ​​and dreamed of entering the faculty of foreign languages ​​or journalism.

Both graduated from high school and began to prepare for admission. Zhanna studied non-stop, and Natalya did not seem to miss the days of preparation. But here is the admission, and one managed to pass the exams and become a student, while the other did not. It's just that Natasha's plans were based on "mirages". She did not have the appropriate knowledge and, naturally, she failed the exams.

Years passed, one of her friends, as expected, graduated from high school and began working as a doctor. And the second got married and for a long time did not think about getting an education. Only after family troubles, left alone with the child, Natalya decided to try her luck again. She began to prepare for admission to the university at the Faculty of Law.

She studied at the correspondence department, each time she had to pay extra for passing tests and exams. As a result, she still received a diploma in her hands. But why is it needed for someone who does not have clear, adequate ambitions to achieve success in the legal field? Surely, many guessed that Natasha hid the diploma in a chest of drawers and did not remember about it anymore.

We studied a banal, but very instructive story, Natasha seemed to have ambitions, but there was no desire, firmness to achieve results and work on them. They were false.

Is it possible to fight ambition

If a person’s ambitions prevent him from living or create discomfort for those around him, it makes sense to fight them. But there is one But! It's like being an alcoholic or a drug addict. It is impossible to fix the problem if the person suffering from the “problem” does not want it. If he did not recognize that his ambitions are harmful, then there is no point in doing anything.

In the case when there is agreement, it is necessary to start with an analysis of your actions and activities. It is important to identify positive and negative traits character. To do this, take a piece of blank paper and write down all the bad things that you notice about yourself. And each time to fight with the negative quality. Of course, you can't fix it right away. But time works for you - keep fighting and you will succeed.

1. You need to learn how to respond normally to criticism from those who really treat you with respect and love. It is not necessary to see a dirty trick, betrayal, deceit in everything. Only people who truly love you can tell the truth. And ill-wishers, watching your baseless ambition, happily rub their hands.
2. If you have a desire to realize your ambitions, pay attention to how adequate they are, whether they correspond to your internal and external potential. If yes - continue, and you don’t need to fight it, if you don’t have the opportunity - refuse and don’t make people laugh. This will help communication with loved ones. Listen to their assessment of your performance and advice. It is not necessary to do everything, but it is still necessary to weigh all the pros and cons in a particular case.

How do ambitions arise?

Most believe that ambition is a hereditary quality. Such an opinion has the right to life, because it is not based on an empty place. Notice who is the ambitious person? Often this is the son or daughter of successful people who have achieved high altitudes. Or the offspring of talkers, braggarts, greedy and mean people who raised their children in the same way. But if you dig deeper, you cannot call ambition a hereditary trait.

Everything is formed in childhood and for this reason children look like their parents. It is adults who can bring up inflated, understated or adequate ambitions in a child. For example, parents of dentists who understand that for a career as a dentist it is necessary to study well, graduate from medical school, and constantly improve. Teach your child to work hard. He attends from an early age different kind circles, sections, is engaged in exact sciences, sports, etc.

In the case when children in the family are not fond of anything, but only do what they dream of a successful career in some industry, nothing will be achieved. Their ambitions are too high. And finally, despite the fact that the beloved child is an excellent student at school, gets good grades, attends sports clubs, parents say that he will not achieve anything. This is a perfect example of understated ambition. It is brought up in a child by his parents - pessimists, whiners and losers. Here, more than ever, the saying “water does not flow under a lying stone!” fits.

Ambition is often the product of unreasonable admiration for the actions of the baby. It happens like this - the child picked up a candy wrapper from the floor - and the whole family is simply delighted with a normal act. Then he was able to turn on the TV himself - “wow, what a fine fellow!”. Further, performances in kindergarten, school, and from each such moment, relatives lose consciousness, what an event! That is, ordinary actions cause a violent, unfounded reaction. The kid gets used to easy successes, his ambitions are formed. With age, the child's aspirations grow in line with the growth of needs.

Fortunately, there are many exceptional moments when a child who grew up in a family with inadequate formation of ambitions is able to achieve a lot. This is especially true for those who constantly heard that he would not be able to succeed. But there is no - "I can!". “Why am I worse than others!” He challenges society and proves that everything is feasible, the main thing is to fight low ambitions. And go to the intended goal without stopping and without doubting your abilities.

Modern ambitions - what they look like

Experienced psychologists say that ambition today is main way achieve positive results in life. Ambitiousness has become a fashionable character trait, otherwise you will not “live” in our world. We urge readers not to confuse ambition modern man with greed and cynicism.

Let's think, with such competition, a huge number of applicants for Good work, salary, is it possible to "survive" without ambition? No, except perhaps somewhere on the outskirts of the country, with no prospects for the future. But as we already know, they must be healthy, adequate. And the formation of claims is influenced by such qualities as heredity, training and personal moments.

1. Self-esteem - it is very closely related to the claims of the individual. Those who have it too high have an overestimated type of ambition. And with low self-esteem, you should not count on more than low claims. And of course, an adequate level of self-esteem is a healthy claim.
2. A family. In some homes, the main word in raising a child is "should"! Hearing it from childhood, the child grows up to be the one who must justify the desires and expectations of adults.
3. Personal factors - we are all divided into two types of people - introverts and extroverts. The first are closed, do not make contact and live in their own world. The latter, on the other hand, have high level communication, easy to get to know and make friends with people. And of course, these qualities affect ambition. And what is remarkable, introverts often have inflated claims. And extroverts try to please everyone and everything and are not able to achieve much due to an underestimated degree of ambition.

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How to spot an ambitious person

Everything is simple here. If a person has overestimated or underestimated claims, it will not be difficult to consider quality.

Women with claims always represent not only excellent wives, but also diligent housewives. They always have everything clean, perfectly prepared breakfast, lunch, dinner. She will never let her husband and children out of the house in untidy, unironed clothes. Also, ladies with pretensions often visit sports clubs, shaping, fitness clubs, spas. An ambitious woman is smart, she reads a lot, she holds a high position in the company.

Men also stand out in what they demonstrate, attend bodybuilding clubs, swing, dress in everything fashionable. And of course, these are bosses who receive high salaries and have a couple of expensive cars in their garage.

We understand that if an individual has achieved something in this life, and did not boast in vain, he has normal, adequate desires, which he achieved through work and efforts. In pursuit of success, such types do not lose their individuality and constantly improve their abilities, grow “above themselves”.

Also, unlike those who have low ambitions, he will never allow himself to be humiliated and insulted, to treat his person without due respect, because during the time of success he was able to develop self-esteem. And constant self-development, the desire to learn new things and not waste time on trifles allows you to gain valuable knowledge and grow up the career ladder even faster.

So, we have studied with you - what are ambitions, how to realize them and what are the types of claims. We hope you were able to extract useful moments from the article and be able to achieve success in your life with their help. The main thing is not to be afraid to act and look like an ambitious person who has only adequate claims to his own destiny in his thoughts.

Someone treats ambitious people negatively, considering them snobby snobs, and someone does not hesitate to call himself an ambitious person and is proud of it. But what is ambition, really? Is it a positive or negative quality? Let's try to figure this out.

Ambition - what is it? Interpretation of the term in different cultures

Various dictionaries give different interpretations. For example, Ozhegov's dictionary gives this word a negative connotation. In Russian culture, modesty has always been valued above all else, so the meaning of the word "ambitiousness" is sharply negative. These are inflated claims, and swagger, as well as arrogance and unhealthy pride. Russian culture did not honor ambitious people and labeled them as petty tyrants who needed to be ridiculed in every possible way.

In Western society, a completely different attitude to the concept of "ambitiousness" has formed. The meaning of this word is positive. Such people are valued by employers because they always strive for more, set high goals and achieve them.

Today, when Russia also began to strive for a capitalist future, the attitude towards ambitious people began to change. In business, timid, insecure individuals are not valued. Employers began to be interested in ambitious people who could lead the company to success.

Ambition: definition

In a general sense, the term can be described as the desire to achieve success at all costs, get more than you have at the moment, change your life for the better, set high goals and get what you want. Very often, the ambitious do not have how they can achieve the task, but still hope for a positive outcome and strive for the goal, even without having any means to achieve it. Most often, ideas come already in the process of moving towards the desired. An ordinary goal differs from an ambitious one in that at first glance it seems unrealizable, it is like a dream looming in the vastly distant future, it seems risky and dangerous, and it is ambition that makes it so. Synonyms of this concept can be given as follows: ambition, pride, pretentiousness, vanity, arrogance, arrogance. An ambitious person can never be satisfied with his current position and will always find something to strive for further. Such people usually become politicians, sports stars, successful businessmen.

Ambitious character

Let's try to draw an approximate portrait of a person who is characterized by the quality we are considering. What is ambition in character? First of all, it is a constant desire for self-development and self-improvement. An ambitious person attends various trainings and seminars, reads professional literature, as he understands that without development there will be no movement towards the goal. He is aware of the need to adapt to the changing environment and at the same time tries not to lose his own individuality. He will always try to learn something new, as new knowledge contributes to his progress.

Secondly, an ambitious person will never allow others to treat him badly, disrespectfully. He has a strong feeling

Thirdly, such a person will always be easier than others to climb up the career ladder. Often ambitious people achieve more success than more talented, but not so vain.

And finally, such a person always tries to set himself up for a positive outcome, even if he has doubts about the reality of achieving what he wants. He likes to set goals a little higher than what he can realistically achieve. And only achieving heights, he feels genuine satisfaction.

Now you probably understand better what ambition is in character. A person endowed with this quality has a great chance of achieving success in all areas of his life.

How to develop?

Since the quality in question is in vogue today, many are wondering how to develop ambition in themselves. And is it even possible? It must be said right away that ambitions are not born. This quality is acquired in the process of personality development and is laid from childhood. An important role in the formation of a person's ambitions is played by his own parents. If they encourage all the successes of the child, rejoice for him and praise him, then such a person grows up more self-confident, and with age he has ambitions.

And if parents mostly scold the child and do not pay due attention to his achievements, then most likely he will grow up devoid of ambition, downtrodden and insecure.

There are also situations when children whose parents do not provide them with proper support grow up and strive to prove to them, to themselves and at the same time to the whole world, that they also deserve something. Such people are trying to challenge society, and their ambitions are often painful.

Thus, we can say that ambition cannot be developed - this trait is laid down in a person from childhood.

unhealthy quality

Now that we have defined what ambition is, let's try to find out in what cases it is useful, and in what cases it can bring significant harm to a person and his environment.

What kind of people can be said that their ambitions have gone beyond and become unhealthy? First of all, the claims must be backed up by something. If a person really has some ability, it is natural that he has certain ambitions. But when they are from scratch, with a complete lack of abilities in a certain field of activity, it looks ridiculous and stupid.

A person with unhealthy ambition can set himself unrealistic goals, as he overestimates his capabilities too much. He cannot even admit to himself that he is not able to cope with any task, he is ready to work on it day and night, just to prove to himself and others that he can achieve this.

In addition, an overly ambitious person is demanding not only of himself, but also of others. He does not respect people with low ambitions and sets others difficult tasks. He can even act arrogant, as if he has already achieved a lot. This is what ambition means in an unhealthy and ugly form.

healthy claims

A person who adequately assesses his abilities will never set himself unrealistic goals. He will aim for lofty but achievable goals. Having reached them, he will continue his movement to new ones. A person with healthy ambitions strives for self-improvement, for each day to be better than the previous one.

It is always pleasant and interesting to communicate with such a person. A person will not behave arrogantly, on the contrary, by his example, by his successes, he knows how to inspire other people. In addition, such a person is able to correlate the complexity of the task with the timing of its implementation, will not set for himself too complex goals that need to be achieved in a short time.

That's what ambition is in the positive sense of the word.

Good or bad?

Undoubtedly, a healthy ambition is a useful quality of character. She helps him move forward and improve his life. The main thing is that in his striving for success, a person does not go too far and does not turn into a victim of his own claims.

If people with unhealthy ambitions work in a team, this can lead to conflict situations, which, of course, will worsen not only relations, but also affect the quality of work. An overly ambitious person will never turn to another, more competent person for help, because this will deal a blow to his morbid pride. Therefore, the work may generally remain unfulfilled or its result will be unsatisfactory.

Thus ambition is good quality only if the claims are not overstated, and a person can realistically assess his capabilities.

What professions are suitable for such people?

Personalities with healthy ambitions are suitable for almost any profession, since everywhere they will be able to achieve some success.

They feel best in leadership positions - they can be excellent middle and top management. Also great success they can achieve in sales, where the end result of the work matters. Ambitious people are suitable for professions in which there is an element of competition - this constantly spurs their interest and makes them strive for more.

Professions for people with low ambitions

If, after reading this article, you ranked yourself among the low people, you should not be upset. For such a person, there are also many good professions. Since he values, above all, professional stability and does not career at the forefront, he can try himself as an engineer, clerk, economist or accountant.

In addition, people with low ambitions can work in the administrative field, where there is a high one. There is always a shortage in the labor market in the field of administrative personnel, because employees who have ambitions usually do not stay long in such positions, for them it is just a springboard for further promotion.

So what is ambition? In a broad sense, it is a person's desire for success. If he sets high goals for himself and strives to achieve them, if he tries to improve the quality of his life and is engaged in self-improvement and self-development, then he can be called ambitious. This quality of character can be both good and bad, depending on whether the person has healthy or inflated ambitions.

We hope that after reading this article, it became clear to you what ambition means.