{"id":64628,"date":"2019-04-22T07:37:59","date_gmt":"2019-04-22T15:37:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/being-overambitious-is-making-you-less-fun-to-be-around\/"},"modified":"2019-04-23T06:33:46","modified_gmt":"2019-04-23T14:33:46","slug":"being-overambitious-is-making-you-less-fun-to-be-around","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/being-overambitious-is-making-you-less-fun-to-be-around\/","title":{"rendered":"Being Overambitious is Making You Less Fun to Be Around"},"content":{"rendered":"
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In the pursuit of ambition, you can end up sacrificing more than you may care to admit.<\/p>\n

You can end up losing your inherent sense of curiosity and gratitude for life.<\/p>\n

As you wear yourself down, a perpetual angst can begin to slowly eat away at your core. You still haven\u2019t quite made the mark yet, it\u2019s never enough. You continue to push yourself, both mentally and emotionally\u200a\u2014\u200aperhaps even beyond the breaking point.<\/p>\n

This is a pattern that\u2019s playing itself out more than ever in the world today. Greed and narcissism are being sold as noble ambition\u200a\u2014\u200aand many of us have taken the bait.<\/p>\n

The Story of the\u00a0Frog<\/h3>\n

In our overambitious strive to better our lives, we slowly raise the temperature\u200a\u2014\u200alike a frog who gets boiled in a pot of water so slowly he doesn\u2019t end up realizing things are getting steamy.<\/p>\n

Unlike the frog, if we\u2019re lucky, we might realize something\u2019s wrong before it\u2019s too late.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ll notice we no longer enjoy our own company, and that we live with chronic tension and anxiety.<\/p>\n

We\u2019re not as fun to be around. How could we be fun to be around? We\u2019ve made our ambition our god. Counter-intuitively we\u2019ve boxed ourselves into a strict role in our lives.<\/p>\n

\u201cA great destiny is a great slavery\u201d\u200a\u2014\u200aSeneca.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

We may tell ourselves: \u201cthings will get better when I reach my ultimate aim.\u201d We continue to promise ourselves a future carrot when all we\u2019re really doing is distancing ourselves from a truer connection with life.<\/p>\n

How can we temper our ambition so that it adds meaning to our life instead of psychological torment? How can we prevent our ambition from debasing our gratitude for the present?<\/p>\n

\u201cThe road to hell is paved with good intentions\u201d\u200a\u2014\u200aSaint Bernard of Clairvaux (1091\u20131153).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Overambition is the Thief of the Love For The Moment and Life\u00a0Itself<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Definition of Overambition:<\/strong>\u00a0a state of self-induced attachment to an aim that serves to turn the present moment into nothing more than a cheap stepping stone.<\/p>\n

Definition of Healthy Ambition:<\/strong>\u00a0Approaching life with intentions that elevate both your present and future.<\/p>\n

We have to be more suspicious of our ambitious desires, for they can quite literally end up harming our only link to life (the present moment).<\/p>\n

In medical terms, there\u2019s a word that I\u2019ve been thinking about for months on end because of its implications. The word is: ‘iatrogenic’\u200a\u2014\u200a<\/em>an adjective that refers to giving a patient medicine even when he\u2019s healed, and as a result of doing so, causing harm and even death.<\/p>\n

As the healers of our own lives, where are we pursuing good, but creating harm?<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Result of Becoming Overambitious?<\/h3>\n

Since you live on a narrow path you become narrow-minded. You may stop:<\/p>\n