> Ambition is about the magnitude of your end goals, not about your mental state on the way there.
The problem is that once you tie your self-image to your end goals, no matter the magnitude, how can your mental state _not_ suffer if you're not achieving them? If I want to be a millionaire by 30, and I am still working a low-paying job at 29, I either concede that my goal is unattainable, or I suffer.
Fundamentally, I think internal peace and ambition are at odds. The worlds is either good enough as it is (then why kill yourself over achieving your goals?), or it isn't = mental suffering. This is why I think extreme ambition can only come from/with unhappiness, which sucks for the individual, but seems to work well for the species.
The problem is that once you tie your self-image to your end goals, no matter the magnitude, how can your mental state _not_ suffer if you're not achieving them? If I want to be a millionaire by 30, and I am still working a low-paying job at 29, I either concede that my goal is unattainable, or I suffer.
Fundamentally, I think internal peace and ambition are at odds. The worlds is either good enough as it is (then why kill yourself over achieving your goals?), or it isn't = mental suffering. This is why I think extreme ambition can only come from/with unhappiness, which sucks for the individual, but seems to work well for the species.