Six Traits of Ambitious People

I don’t yet know how to teach you how to be ambitious. But describing it might help you find it within yourself. Once I do figure out how to teach it, I’ll let you know.

Let’s start with a definition.

Am·bi·tion (noun)

• a strong desire to do or to achieve something, typically requiring determination and hard work
• desire and determination to achieve success

Defining “success” could be a whole other blog post, so we won’t get into that here.

Maybe you already know you’re ambitious. Great! Have you ever thought about what it actually means?

…or…

Maybe you don’t feel ambitious, but want to welcome a bit more ambition into your life.

This is a list of six traits of ambitious people. Read them. Understand them.

Then see if you recognize these traits within yourself. If not, see if you can start bringing them into your life.

1. Compete With Yourself

This is a core trait of ambitious people.

They do things to be better, but not better than other people, they do things to be better than themselves. To beat their own personal records. To become greater than they used to be.

Ambitious people enjoy this. It’s what fuels them. Ambition is what keeps hikers taking step after step up the ice-covered face of a 10,000 foot mountain.

The joy in climbing a mountain is to reach the top, take in the view from up there, and look down thinking “Wow, I climbed THAT!”. (Yes, Miley Cyrus, it’s also about the climb.)

But they don’t stop there. They already know which mountain they’re going to climb next.

Do you want to hear a tear-jerking story about ambition? Google Ben Comen.

He has cerebral palsy and ran cross country on his high school team. His arms are stiff. His legs are stiff. The other runners beat him every time.

He doesn’t run to beat them, but to beat his own records. He runs for himself.

This is not competition. I really want to drill this point into you, so here is another example.

In his book, “Breaking The Habit Of Being Yourself” Dr. Joe Dispenza talks about the energy levels of different emotions.

At the top, the highest energy, is love.

In the middle is hate, fear, and guilt, among others.

At the bottom, the lowest energy, is lust and competition.

Competition is a survival emotion, very easily caused by the feelings of stress. And operating from a place of stress is unhealthy.

The difference between competition and ambition is who you’re up against and your mental attitude.

Competition comes from a place of lack, and the feeling of needing to beat the other guy. And that somehow beating the other guy will make you feel better about yourself….probably from the recognition you’ll get from other people.

Ambition comes from a place of abundance, not lack. It comes from the feeling of wanting to better yourself, and the belief that achieving something will make you feel better about yourself for the sole reason of accomplishment.

None of that can come from others. It can, and must, come from within you.

2 – Focus On Doing

Ambitious people focus on doing.

They focus on taking step after step to reach the top of the mountain. They don’t stop and stare in awe of the mountain, they get after it. Knowing that if they don’t, they’ll never reach the top.

This can be the hard part for many. What’s the kryptonite to doing? Procrastination.

I used to procrastinate. I believe procrastination comes from involving yourself in things you don’t want or enjoy. It’s important to know what you want.

If you really wanted something, you would work for it. If you knew you wanted it more than anything, and were willing to sacrifice things to get it, you wouldn’t procrastinate.

Ambition fuels motivation.

3. Assess Risk And Prioritize

We can’t do everything.

Even the most ambitious won’t accomplish all the things they may hope to in life. Ambitious people have a lot of ideas.

So how do you choose?

Don’t do things that bring harm, and do do things that will have a positive impact.

That’s very vague, I know. Let’s see how to apply it.

Skydiving might kill you. It can also have a huge positive impact on a person’s sense of adventure or thrill.

Depending on how you weigh those things, you’ll decide for yourself whether or not skydiving is a thing you want to do.

Meditating can’t harm you, and for some it brings high sense of self-awareness and spirituality.

Working a 9-5 job is a very stable and secure. For some, it drains the life out of them.

Your ambitions are driven by how you weigh these two aspects of all things.

Pain vs pleasure. That’s all it is.

4. Look For Fulfilling Opportunities

…meaning, you’re always looking for what will fulfill you. This must be combined with #3. You cannot just look for and take on all opportunities.

You must be looking for them, then filter them by assessing and prioritize.

How will you ever achieve anything fulfilling if you don’t try anything? How will you ever try anything fulfilling if you’re not looking for things to try?

As Henry David Thoreau said:

It is not enough to be busy. So are the ants. The question is: What are we busy about?

Don’t live simply saying “yes” to things that come your way. Say “no” to most of those, and look for the select few you’re excited to say “yes” to.

5. Have An Open Mind

But what does that even mean?!

Having an open mind means being ready, willing, and able to trying new things. Things that you would normally reject without thinking.

Tie this in with #4, and you can see how you might be fulfilled by things you didn’t think would fulfill you.

As a personal example, I never thought I would be a dancer. After one salsa class I was hooked. Years later, I ran the Salsa Club on my college campus and even taught professionally for a little.

How many times have you heard: “You never know until you try!”?

Its true. But also know its important to “fail fast”, and if something isn’t fulfilling you, you can stop and move on to the next thing.

6. Be Productive

Ambitious people get sh*t done. Otherwise you’re living in a world of all wanting (if that) but no doing.

This is very similar to #2, but its different.

You could have an open mind, find the best opportunities, decide a project is a priority, and start doing it to prove to yourself how awesome you truly are.

But if you take one step today then go out for coffee with friends, then take another one tomorrow before going out bar hopping for hours, you’re not being productive.

It will take MUCH longer to get things done, to accomplish your ambitious dreams, if you’re not productive.

Ambitious people are driven. Driven to produc-e produc-tively. (See what I did there?)

There is no right or wrong, just realize that if you’re not productively working on something, you’re likely not that driven about it.

If that’s you, then start looking for something to be driven about 🙂

Let’s Wrap It Up

I hope you either: 1) took good notes which you will put into practice daily,

…or…

2) stopped reading halfway through to get to work on whatever your goal / dream / current project is.

Ambition must come from within you.

If you enjoyed this article, or even it you have some objections, please drop a comment below or shoot me an email

Questions to Consider

• What did you think of these traits?
• Do you see yourself as ambitious and relate to these six?
• Do you not relate to these, but would like to have them as part of your personality?