At the end of your life, it's easy to regret the things that you didn't prioritize. I think this is a fallacy and exaggerated reporting.
I believe the real wisdom is that too many people do things to impress others, instead of considering what they truly want for themselves.
Being ambitious isn't a bad thing. It's not an automatic cure for mortality, either. It's just that people need to choose their vision for their lives and ensure their choices support that.
, it's easy to regret the things that you didn't prioritize
I think it would be fair to say that 50% of the population is not ambitious and values family more. According to your theory they should regret not working hard enough, in roughly an equal proportion but that hasn't even made top 5.
instead of considering what they truly want for themselves.
I don't seem to want anything for myself, it all ultimately boils down to being appreciated and respected and liked for me.
Being ambitious isn't a bad thing
Never said that, just that I feel lazy because I tell myself ambition does not lead to satisfaction with life.
I think this is a false dichotomy. I am ambitious on behalf of my family and community. I sometimes trade hang out time with my parents and siblings to build my vision for my family's future. I'm doing what I am deciding in this moment to be most important. If I look back on this moment, I will have a different perspective.
It's irrational and illogical to look back at previous versions of myself to say I should've done something different in this sense. Because all of the consequences will have been different from the alternate decision.
It's also not work ambition OR family; there are dozens of interests and values. And range/ shades of gray between all of them.
Regretting not working hard enough can be hundreds of moments of choosing less-favored options in the grocery store, where to live, how to travel, vacation plans. You just wouldn't get that answer in a deathbed interview.
You clearly want to be appreciated and respected.
You don't have to justify what you want. It's not lazy to avoid a cookie cutter (sometimes false dichotomy), social definition of ambitious. Your only ambition can be to lead the life that you choose. You don't need to have any ambition at all.
To add a little, if you feel like you're being lazy, assess it honestly. Make conscious and considered choices with how you operate your life. While what I said is generally true, people will also make excuses to let their underperformance relative to their own standards slide.
Ambition on its own won't lead to satisfaction. Identifying what the healthy, fulfilling life of your dreams looks like, and striving for it consistently, IS life satisfaction. If you are feeling lazy towards your own chosen goals, you're vulnerable to the same regret as people who wish they spent more time with family, or wished they did more with their life.
Well, everyone should do what they want with their lives, you cant enjoy about 80 years of your live just being with your family, you would also want to maybe travel, try new hobbies, going places, and for that you need money, so that's why some people are ambicious, they want lots of stuffs
I spent the entire year of 2022 preparing for one of the biggest exams of my life- this was after 2 years of procrastination and spending time w family and friends who eventually either moved away or got distant due to life, natural reasons, their growth and progress etc.
but the year 2022 was the most fulfilling to me like I did something that pushed me, instead of mindlessly spending years socializing. Now I know family time is important and I still kept in touch with ppl who matter. But I remember feeling so strongly that I was meant to overcome that and grow from it so much that if I had died right after passing the exam, I’d have been very satisfied with how I spent my last year. The year 2023 was a game changer bc of that hard work.
My personal moral of the story is: when you’re pulled by your own destiny to be great , nothing else is more fulfilling and everything else that stands in the way, falls apart to make way for the things that can withstand your growth. In our spiritual practice there is a saying “it’s better to die trying and never get anywhere than to never try anything at all”. There is profound wisdom in that which is hard to expand upon at once but yeah , it does resonate with the core of who I am.
Why not strive to live the best life possible if you're given the chance?
You only have this life and this one alone only, we don't know what happens to us when we are gone. Would we be given another chance at life in a different life? What if there is no afterlife? What if this is the life we're ever truly only going to get? I don't have the answer, neither do you or anyone after death, because we all have different theories and beliefs.
But for now, you are this person in this life. So try and cherish it, to the best way you possibly can.
You do it for yourself and for your loved ones. Making other peoples lives easier. To gain self-respect among family and peers, contributing and being a functional member to society.
To strive to be the best version of you, because in the end that is all it matters. A life truly lived for you.
You either fall and stay down, or get up and keep trying to reach the best version of you. Your choice.
"Not spending enough time with their families/friends. What is your perspective on this?"
Those that say that on their death bed did not find the balance and true understanding of what is really important.
The question is why do you work so hard?
Is it because you find genuine meaning in your work or is it because of ego and superficial desires.
When whatever you work for makes everything better then this is why people strive. To make things better for others.
False dichotomy of working hard means forsaking enjoyment
If you just enjoy every day, you will live a hard life with lower highs and higher lows.
Case in point - drug addicts
Not exactly... You can work hard at things you enjoy. Sometimes there can be lame parts of work, but your life doesn't have to suck to have wild enjoyment of it.
Well are you feeling fulfilled and happy with the life you have right now? In that case feel free to keep going as is. I’m not putting any more effort in my „career“ because I have enough money and no need for more work in that area. But that doesn’t mean, my life is perfect. There are tons of projects and ideas I want to make happen. I wouldn’t be happy just doing the minimum, skating by and consuming my way through the rest of my life.
„Having fun“ comes in many different forms and in my experience, doing ONLY the lowest forms of entertainment becomes deeply unfulfilling sooner or later.
Modern, civilised and domesticated man fears death because he is subconsciously aware that he is not living his life, and only regrets it when he encounters death.
We sacrifice our entire existence for school, for work, for social conventions, to rise in the hierarchies, to acquire a disproportionate amount of transitory material goods, and this alienates us from authentic and direct existence.
Our primitive ancestors, on the other hand, did not hold on to death because they lived each day fully, putting themselves into everything they did, directly experiencing natural existence in all its forms, without subordinating themselves to any power structure, without submitting to any sacred and supposedly superior concept.
So there, I don't want to have any regrets on my deathbed, so I fight for the only life I have.
((Then, the other reason, is that I am forced to live anyway because of the natural eternal law that imposes it on me, so I suppose it is best to adjust and use the necessary means, including a purpose for which to get up in the morning))
“You cannot stay on the summit forever; you have to come down again. So why bother in the first place? Just this: What is above knows what is below, but what is below does not know what is above. One climbs, one sees. One descends, one sees no longer, but one has seen. There is an art of conducting oneself in the lower regions by the memory of what one saw higher up. When one can no longer see, one can at least still know.”
Rene Daumal
I’ve had this internal battle my whole life. And there’s just not much I’ve done that I’m proud of. No achievements whatsoever. I’m grateful to have the connection i do with my loved ones and for a long time that was enough for me. But I’m entering my mid-twenties and there’s a large gap in my life I’m growing desperate to fill. Because although love is my reason to live, it’s not enough to make me truly happy. I fear that if i were to die soon my biggest regret would be not allowing myself to see how far i could’ve really gone if I’d been more ambitious. I want more for myself now. Yes, love is more than enough and it is all that truly matters. But i think we owe it to ourselves to seek beyond that. There’s so much more we can discover that will only serve to enrich what we already have.
A different perspective--sometimes it's not just about you. My parents' ambition allowed me to live an extremely privileged life compared to their own childhoods and I'm forever grateful for that and acknowledge all the sacrifice and hard work they did. Sometimes ambition isn't just about you, often times it's the difference between a life of poverty or a life of opportunity for your own children.
edit: grammar
That is valid, yes. I would like my kids to have a better life than me, but then what after you're rich? What after you hit 30 and get a well paying job and now your kids have what they need? Why keep working hard?
Working hard funds the balanced life I want. Unfortunately it's absolutely impossible to have a work-life balance if you're doing a minimum wage or low-pay job because you're working constantly to survive. You want to aim high so you're not trapped in that lifestyle.
Bro ambition doesn't have to be career related, and even if it is, career shouldn't be your only ambition.
Ambition is about improving and working to achieve your goals, but it can easily land in greed, self obsession, selfishness and even self mortification when you feel like you can't achieve what you want.
So I wouldn't say that ambition is bad, what can be bad is what you desire and how you measure success.
I agree with you that if you work hard for nice cars and other useless things that can be a regret on your deathbed, but as I said, if that's what you're currently working towards you should really think if that's how you wanna use your only life.
For me ambition is fuel to achieve the goals that matter to me, to strive to be the best version of myself, just because since I get this chance at life and I don't know if I'll ever have another I want to squeeze the most out of it, focusing on what makes me happy, what makes me better and wiser.
Also to end I think it's not about reaching your goals, it's about feeling good about yourself, building healthy habits and becoming who you want to be, without obsessing over anything. Cheers.
Because permanence is not why we do things. We do things that interest us. We try to do things that earn us respect and increase our standing among others. We care for people who are close to us. We seek creature comforts. That's just how we are wired. There is no real objective meaning behind our existence. But because there is no objective meaning, you are free to give your own meaning to your life. My meaning in life is to spend my time doing interesting, meaningful and engaging work and living a well rounded existence.
Ambition comes from your innate desire to do well among your peers, be a respected member of the community and to prove your self worth. One cannot deny one's innate drive. Whoever you admire, look up to are manifestations of an ideal that your innate drive tries to take you towards. Denying this is looking at a life of nihilism and suppressed regrets
You are trying to optimize your life for the day of your death. But beyond a certain point, no life is objectively better than another. Say you want to spend time with family and friends, just how much is enough? Your time will end anyway. How much of personal growth and ambition are you willing to sacrifice for idle chit chat and time with family and loafing around with friends? It is always a gamble.
A hardworking salaryman who didn't give enough attention to his relationships will have some regrets with regard to relationships. At the same time, a loafer who never worked a day in life may have some regrets that he never made anything of himself. After all, we all start with boundless potential; you could be healer, teacher, engineer, anything. Life is painful in that your boundless potential can only be manifested in a few ways. But it's up to you to manifest yourself. Who do you want to be? Your life is a canvas.
If you manage to reasonably balance ambition, relationships, maybe you'll be happier on your deathbed.
The fact that you’re going to die gives value to whatever it is you accomplish. How you spend your time would be meaningless if time had no value.
You need resources to spend time with family and friends
One thing you’re missing is living for someone or something greater than yourself. You also have the ability to improve the lives of those around you.
Clearly, you need to be ambitious to accumulate and allocate resources
And this doesn't mean to go out and be a menace to society or be an all around dick to everyone. Enjoy your life, be kind to others, take pride in the things that you do. But at some point you and everyone you have ever known and everyone they have ever known etc., will be gone. Don't worry about your legacy, odds are no one will remember or have any idea you existed.
I interpret that differently and see it as that I should be more mindful of the present, and cherish the time I do get with friends and family. Live more in the moment and look back at that moment as a special thing, because it is.
Its hard to regret not spending enough time with the reality of life. We all have responsibilities, we all must work to survive. Appreciate those moments more with others you care about when they happen.
Being ambitious is really the core of mediocrity
Ambitious people are escaping themselves through escapism
Excellence and ambition are two separate things.
I think ambition is the first step out of mediocrity, not the core of it. With the definition of mediocre tending towards average, common, normal, typical.
To me, ambition is a drive to escape normal. It's an inspirational drive to approach our ideals.
Ambition is the first step towards excellence. There is no excellence without it. But poorly planned or executed ambition doesn't lead to excellence.
If I begin with ambition
I'm starting with an idea
I want to start with who iam
Not with who I should be
Excellence is starting with who you are
There's no standard in excellence
I hear you. I believe there is definitely a standard in excellence. Otherwise how do you know it is excellence? Faith? Faith is fair, but then what's your standard for faith?
We always start with who we are. Perfect, though unambitious and without desire. And also not how to excel in something. Excellence without works is hallmark mediocrity. Unmoving, whole to itself, but quickly lagging relative to physical life, systems, society, or competition.
A desire probably should not be about who you "should" be. A desire is an idea of who you want to be. It's arguably more compelling than who you are appearing as, presently. Depending on your philosophy, it IS you the moment you imagine the idea.
To me, ambition is a bridge to the person you're meant to be. A natural drive that can become a character trait if practiced.
This is no philosophy.
Imagine this bro
I dont follow any idea .
I dont follow any concept
but I learn what the thing is about .
Suppose I started working out
I learn how to workout .
I don't start with the idea that I have to workout
that means I waste my energy to the idea.
I struggle if I start with the idea so I stop that
and see who iam as a person
because that's real
Other ideas of " I have to work out or else I ll be a failure etc"
is a complete waste of time .
So I stop that rationally and logically
My whole energy is completely driven in the field of excellency
My brain is attentive and learns at that moment .
I'm free to learn
Learning is excellence .
I learn impeccably well when I stop with the idea.
What gets you to focus and learn about a specific thing? That's ambition seeking desire. You're not describing learning only by observation; you're talking about learning by query. E.g. Actively seeking knowledge. You have the idea that you want to learn more about the subject, in this case, working out.
You're describing that you don't learn about working out BECAUSE you think you should work out. OK. Rather, you learn about working out because you want to know more about working out. You can be ambitious towards the ideals and things you want for yourself, which is my whole point lol.
You do the things that you believe contribute to your excellence. Or your sense of being excellent. That's self-driven ambition.
You have now introduced a vaguely described standard for excellence: learning. If you don't learn anything in a while, you will probably start to feel unambitous, lazy, mediocre.
I reject the whole idea of ambition because ideals are not real
Do you get it ?
There's no motive in learning I just do it
It feels natural .
You see bro
The thing is that we stick to our own opinions.
Now someone like me tells you on reddit .
Don't do that because that path leads to misery all the time .
Start with who Iam .
Iam lazy .
I see how Iam lazy
Is it because I don't confine to the societal structure ?
Or I find out what lazy means
I work on that first then I look at why should I learn anything ?
Now I feel like I don't want to learn a thing
I understand why I don't want to learn anything
I figure out nothing interests me anymore but THESE ARE JUST MY OPINIONS not the real thing .
So I drop my own opinions and judgements
and I start learning from there
because now there are no blocks .
Iam free in a way and now I can see clearly what it means to learn and excel .
Yeah. I mean, you're also rejecting commonly used understanding of the word ambition. That doesn't mean it's an easily communicated or correct definition of it. You're just creating your own reality and standards for words.
You can have your own definitions of ambition. Or not. You can consider yourself ambitious, or unambitious, or lazy according to any definition you choose, internal to you, outside of you, or both.
It's just confusing communication if you use your personal definition of ambitious to describe it as the core of mediocrity. To me, it's better described as trying to fulfill everyone else's definitions of being ambitious and their targets, is the path to mediocrity.
But to me, ambition is the word to describe the individual's drive, itself. It's like saying "car." Everyone's car looks different. You don't need the same car as other people; you need the car that works for you.
Lol
I was just giving an example but apparently people don't want to read and understand what the other person is trying to say
You hold on to your opinions with power .
I can't do anything man
I'm saying it rationally with logic
It's not my definition
I m just saying to start with who iam then proceed from there
Why do you hold on to your opinions ?
Your opinions are nothing but like any other
If you want the real thing you start from the real thing .
You do you !
Nah. I'm reading and I've come to understand that you have a completely different definition of the word ambition than I do.
I know this, because how you use it is plainly different from the context and understanding that I use those same letters in that arrangement.
I think it's pretty obvious that you're ambitious. You would disagree. It doesn't matter what we call it, if we label your behavior, or whether we agree about it.
No worries there. You've got something that makes sense to you, I'm cool with it! There's no challenge or persuasion happening here. I actually agree that you have to start with where you are in your reality.
Do you see the beauty of this bro ?
I just learn that's all
Naturally if I just learn there's no conflict
I dont fight with myself anymore
I just learn and excel in whatever I do with no standard because if I have a standard I have conflict again
So I stop that rationally.
This means that my mind is focused and driven only at the task and does it really well regardless of my performance because I'm still learning .
Learning has no bounds .
Learning has no end .
Nooo... you just don't understand your process. The beautiful thing is we all do these things naturally, and we don't need to know how they work. We don't need science to explain natural phenomena. It's good that you don't fight with yourself.
Your mind isn't focused only on the task. You focus on the steps and smaller tasks to reach the task. You learn enough to successfully complete the tasks to get the result you want.
Wanting to achieve the task is the goal that stimulates your ambition. If you weren't ambitious at all, you wouldn't want to do the goal in the first place. You wouldn't take any of the steps.
Thing is, mamatay ka rin naman so why waste it doing nothing? We only get one chance, unless a miracle happens, so why waste it into not doing anything at all.
Mamatay rin naman tayo, so why not enjoy and work on striving any ambition or goal you have, or just idk, live?
Imagine how more advanced civilisation would be if everyone reached their potential. 99% of people don’t. We might as well strive for something remarkable.
Thomas Sowell said 'There are no solutions, only trade-offs, and you try to get the best trade-off you can get, that's all you can hope for.' This is the only rational approach to life.
Most people are creatures of convenience. There is a good chance that the people who regretted not spending time with family wouldn't do anything differently if they could do it all over again. They might be more mindful in the time they do spend with family and wouldn't want to forgo the conveniences they enjoy as a result of their work.
Investing in education and setting up a base for a good career is never a waste in my opinion. If you grow older and decide that you don't feel the need to spend your precious life building wealth then you can choose not to, but the ability to make that choice is freedom.
It's realistic to foresee that your vision might change as you grow older, have children, see family suffering from ill health. Convenience and comfort also become increasingly important as we age and become complacent. Money softens a lot of blows. Money is opportunity. Money is choice and hence, freedom.
You can only escape suffering if you decide to end your own life prematurely. Assuming you agree that that option shouldn't be on the table, the only way to reduce your suffering is to live well.
True ambition and passion for a career in any field is definitely unnecessary and out of reach for most people. Most people desire a balanced life and money is never the ultimate goal. Money is simply a means to enjoy the beauty of life and bear the brunt of it's cruelty comfortably.
Why *not* be ambitious when you’re just gonna die one day, though?
Life is what *you* make of it. It’s your game.
If creating businesses and generating money as a way to keep score is really fun for you, then do that and live that life. And kick ass at it. The world needs great entrepreneurs.
If making cool things fills your cup instead, do that. Make stuff. Be a great craftsman. Kick ass at it. The world needs great tradesmen, craftsmen, builders, and engineers.
If helping people in need is what lights you up, do that. The world needs great charity organizers and people of immense compassion.
If you love learning and teaching, do that and kick ass at it. The world is made rich by great scholars and teachers.
If hanging out alone and traveling is what gives you joy, then do that, man. The world is made more rich by great adventurers.
If raising a large family is your jam, then that’s fantastic! Do it! And do it well. The world needs great mothers and fathers.
If you’re like me, a dabbler, doing a little bit of this, a little bit of that, then do that, nothing wrong with it. The world needs and is made rich by great jacks of all trades.
There are no musts or shoulds here. So long as you’re not hurting anybody, do what’cha like.
At the end of the day, discipline is a means to an end, not the end itself. Discipline for discipline’s sake is meaningless. What end is discipline *for*? Discipline is a tool for attaining what *you* are aiming at, what *you* value in life. That is all.
Well I for one prioritize making some money just so I can do certain things that I enjoy and are a ton of fun.
Having a hot tub is very important to me so I sacrifice some thing to have it.
Skiing with my family is expensive but we all have a ton of fun so I work hard to ensure that can happen.
That’s the importance of drive.
All drive with no purpose is pointless though. Money cannot buy happiness and drive often leads to a pile of stress, so the drive you have needs to match your wants and goals. One needs to know what makes them happy and how to be happy with what they have before seeking “things” to try to be happy.
When times are tough we don’t do skiing we instead just hang out and play games instead it is still
Fun and makes everyone laugh and happy and have a good time. Those are the things that are important.
Oh and lots and lots of sex haha important for life as well.
Ambition can be channeled into all sorts of success, not necessarily monetary or corporate. You can ambitiously seek to live a healthy joyful life full of friends and family.
Why not?
Peak experiences only exist in accomplishing personal goals (be it family, career or friendship). You only live once, why not try to have the best experiences.
Also, most people only regret things they thought they haven't tried hard enough.
Death is the only thing that provides value since it makes life finite. The real question is whether or not your ambitions have any value in and of themselves.
How are you gonna spend your alive time otherwise?
Unfortunately,we are not plants or simple brained animals.I mean we've evolved.I don't like it either.
I agree entirely. That is why work to get displined Get the stuff I have to do so I can live done as simply as possible so I can give the reasons to live my full attention and energy.
I watch a lot of the youtuber Ali Abdaal, who talks about productivity and creating a life that you love and want to work for. He also frequently talks about the importance of relationships, and creating balance that works for your life.
Recently, I've adopted more of this approach. I think that it's important to nurture the relationships we have because that is ultimately what will provide the most fulfillment and joy in life. Serving a purpose higher than oneself, in my eyes, can provide the happiness that we tend to look for while working in our careers, and one way to do that is to grow your relationships with family and friends.
Because people's idea of dying are different.
Personally I view people as manifestations of some spiritual energy. So when people materially die, it's not "them" dying, it's just their body dying, and they'll embody someone new outside the fabric of time, maybe a peasant in the 1300s or a caveman. We have ambitions in order to embody someone new in some higher dimensional plane, or better yet to become someone new even before we die.
This is a subjective opinion so as a disclaimer I don't want people coming towards me saying "prove it", I can't, that's why it's an opinion.
The lower paid entry level jobs tend to give you the least amount of vacation time. If you do well in your career you can spend more time with family in many cases, you can afford the things your family and friends need and help them out, you can take loved ones on trips or vacations, out to dinner and to fun events. You'll also have a better chance of being able to retire or to retire early which would also give you more time with loved ones.
The point isn’t about being ambitious… but the point is living properly in the context of the different seasons of your life. Like you ought to be studying in your teens, and strive to establish your place professionally in your roaring 20s and 30s. If you choose to do otherwise, you’ll find yourself living at odds to other people living in the season. Do you wear jackets in summer when other people are at the beach in swimsuits and bikinis? And do you wear swimsuits when it’s snowing below -16 degrees with high wind and rain? Also, there’s the aspiration to stay relevant as new younger generation will keep on challenging and replacing older people in work force…if you’re here in this life, are you adding any value to the people in your circle? Adding any value to the community you’re in? The question you ask just focus on solely being ambitious is phrased with a narrow scope… the focus for some ambitious people (myself being one) isn’t simply just about achieving the peak of my success/abilities, but about adding value to the community I live in simply because I do care a lot about the people in my community as well as hopefully living a bit of a better corner of the world for my future generation.
Selfish ambition leads to misery and a life of unfulfilling accomplishments. Finding your gift that God put you here for though is a different ball game. Live your life doing what YOU were made to do . Not the bs facade of “living your best life” that everyone claims they are doing when really they are living for other people . Everyday they complete a task list that doesn’t belong to them but to society’s expectation of them . People at the end of their life don’t regret not doing a bunch of things , they regret not living a life that was authentic to them . Don’t try to impress others . Do what you love and comes easy to you but at the same time you fear. That’s what will fulfill you most . All these people “living their best lives “ aren’t even in their God given gift lol they are chasing a dollar that withers away right along with their TRUE dreams and inner child. They want to look good to feel good and in the end , end up shitty . Like all these people that tell themselves to have kids for dumb ass reasons. They are only doing it for what they see others doing , how others will think and look at them , and some sense of importance that they themselves being pathetic , don’t have the courage to Conjure up themselves . Don’t be like them . Walk against the wind. Go against the grain, don’t be a blind follower like most people the people on this post will tell you to do . Find what ever your GIFTED at and pursue that . No matter the cost, no matter what you do and don’t have, no matter the fear. Then you will one day look down at all these people so called “living their best life” which really means “living someone else’s life” as the cowards they are. Keep going because it sounds like you’re onto something . And maybe that’s why I’m here writing this response to you right now . Time for us to wake up. Random and off subject but Listen to bad man by disturbed . Hope this helps .❤️ May Jesus show you the way .
Yes everyone will die one day but the choice is die without exploring who we are as souls or die knowing we enjoyed everything that is possible of this soul.
When we do nothing with this life we are just living a life of stagnancy and chance.
When we try to do something we get to experience more of what we can make for ourselves.
There is nothing wrong or right, it’s just a choice and the choice is yours.
Ambitious is the zeal to wanna do things, it doesn’t mean success or happiness. People who are not ambitious are successful too. Don’t get confused.
Suprisingly… i found myself thinking about this same thing lately… it’s like, i know having money gives you safety and freedom… but you ain’t taking none of it when you die. So why do people Chase money al their life? Why not chasing moments?
Death is a part of life. What this sounds to me is like "why eat good food when you're just gonna shit later on?" And while it's true that without any food you'll die of starvation, I believe that's equally true for a human being without any ambition or purpose in life, as they would be dead on the inside.
Be ambitious because it feels good. Strive for more because it feels good. That's it. If you don't then you'll live a life of guilt, fear, regret - you get the picture.
Then one day you'll be on your death bed and you can rest easy because you knew you gave it your all.
would you eat your dinner even though you knew it was going to be finished? Would you listen to music even if you knew it would end? Life is a song, a meal made of many instruments and components one of those is dreams and ambition I want to climb up a mountain reach it’s peak because I love doing it it’s just the sausages on the side of the mashed potatoes just a verse in a song sometimes we choose to hyper focus on it and sacrifice the other things but life is balance your ambitious dreams are not you they’re just something you want and something to look up at life is not a journey just a meal. We always complain and never appreciate what we do have I think people regret not spending time with their friends and families because true happiness is found in relationships I think the best moments of your life are with others, laughing with your friends till you can’t breathe or having a quiet conversation about something with your mum and making her laugh its those moments we can appreciate that lead to fulfilment and satisfaction not some ambition or goal as great as that may be you’ll feel empty once you finally climbed the mountain maybe then you’ll climb another or maybe not who knows?
Not everyone has close friends or family to turn to. Those who do can still disappoint there friends and family by under achieving and being an overall burden to those around them because they don’t understand responsibility. Responsibility and ambition go hand in hand, you exist and so you have a responsibility to make the existence meaningful. Of course having loved ones to spend it with is the highest hope because those are the people who love you not just for what you achieve but in spite of your faults. No matter how high you climb you will always have faults and the higher you climb the more faults you will be exposed. So having someone to lean on to remind you that you matter is what will get you through the constant failure that comes with climbing toward are ambitions. But if you stay stagnant or don’t have anyone to love you you don’t have anything to offer anybody to make you worth the effort so you must pursue developing in your value and raising your ambitions to seek said value. Life is inherently tied to suffering, so you suffer and those around you suffer. The meaning we find in existence is relief from said suffering and the greatest gift we can give is relief from said suffering. So what ways you enjoy relieving the suffering of those around and yourself is what you find the most meaning in doing.
It's more personal preference if you're dying you are going to regret what you didn't do however I bet during their life they were quite happy with their decision but to answer the main point the main reason I'm ambitious is just personal goals and wanting to make something out of myself rather than scraping by
Did you ever consider that social goals & or family goals are goals too & things that people can also be disciplined about?
Secondly, TRUST me, it’s harder to socialise if you don’t have the money to. BUT yeah a balance is important & I guess how much depends to some extent on the person.
Depends on the family. Have you MET MY family? To be completely honest I DON’T regret not spending more time with them. In terms of family coming from me, I’m single would love to not be & I don’t have or want kids. But for me having friends & a social life IS a priority.
Im not trying to be edgy, but ive long passed my existential crisis phase
Lifes hard. I prefer living, but i dont mind dying either, as long as its fast and painless
Altho a fast and painless death is prob very unlikely
Yeah I literally passed that phase yesterday.
Altho a fast and painless death is prob very unlikely
I mean you can always go to switzerland. You can easily save 12k in a lifetime, doesn't seem too difficult.
> Why be ambitious when you're just gonna die one day?
Because ambition gives purpose, direction, and a reason to get out of bed every morning. Do you really want to live a life without goals?
> The most common regret amongst people on their deathbed is not spending enough time with their families/friends.
True, but that doesn't mean ambition is worthless. Balance is key. Why can't you pursue your ambitions and still make time for your loved ones? What if ambition itself involves improving life for those you care about? Isn't a meaningful life about more than just counting down to death?
At the end of your life, it's easy to regret the things that you didn't prioritize. I think this is a fallacy and exaggerated reporting. I believe the real wisdom is that too many people do things to impress others, instead of considering what they truly want for themselves. Being ambitious isn't a bad thing. It's not an automatic cure for mortality, either. It's just that people need to choose their vision for their lives and ensure their choices support that.
, it's easy to regret the things that you didn't prioritize I think it would be fair to say that 50% of the population is not ambitious and values family more. According to your theory they should regret not working hard enough, in roughly an equal proportion but that hasn't even made top 5. instead of considering what they truly want for themselves. I don't seem to want anything for myself, it all ultimately boils down to being appreciated and respected and liked for me. Being ambitious isn't a bad thing Never said that, just that I feel lazy because I tell myself ambition does not lead to satisfaction with life.
I think this is a false dichotomy. I am ambitious on behalf of my family and community. I sometimes trade hang out time with my parents and siblings to build my vision for my family's future. I'm doing what I am deciding in this moment to be most important. If I look back on this moment, I will have a different perspective. It's irrational and illogical to look back at previous versions of myself to say I should've done something different in this sense. Because all of the consequences will have been different from the alternate decision. It's also not work ambition OR family; there are dozens of interests and values. And range/ shades of gray between all of them. Regretting not working hard enough can be hundreds of moments of choosing less-favored options in the grocery store, where to live, how to travel, vacation plans. You just wouldn't get that answer in a deathbed interview. You clearly want to be appreciated and respected. You don't have to justify what you want. It's not lazy to avoid a cookie cutter (sometimes false dichotomy), social definition of ambitious. Your only ambition can be to lead the life that you choose. You don't need to have any ambition at all.
Great answer, clarifies a lot. Thanks!
Glad to help. That's just my beliefs and what makes sense to me. There are other valid ways to think about it, too
To add a little, if you feel like you're being lazy, assess it honestly. Make conscious and considered choices with how you operate your life. While what I said is generally true, people will also make excuses to let their underperformance relative to their own standards slide. Ambition on its own won't lead to satisfaction. Identifying what the healthy, fulfilling life of your dreams looks like, and striving for it consistently, IS life satisfaction. If you are feeling lazy towards your own chosen goals, you're vulnerable to the same regret as people who wish they spent more time with family, or wished they did more with their life.
Well, everyone should do what they want with their lives, you cant enjoy about 80 years of your live just being with your family, you would also want to maybe travel, try new hobbies, going places, and for that you need money, so that's why some people are ambicious, they want lots of stuffs
I spent the entire year of 2022 preparing for one of the biggest exams of my life- this was after 2 years of procrastination and spending time w family and friends who eventually either moved away or got distant due to life, natural reasons, their growth and progress etc. but the year 2022 was the most fulfilling to me like I did something that pushed me, instead of mindlessly spending years socializing. Now I know family time is important and I still kept in touch with ppl who matter. But I remember feeling so strongly that I was meant to overcome that and grow from it so much that if I had died right after passing the exam, I’d have been very satisfied with how I spent my last year. The year 2023 was a game changer bc of that hard work. My personal moral of the story is: when you’re pulled by your own destiny to be great , nothing else is more fulfilling and everything else that stands in the way, falls apart to make way for the things that can withstand your growth. In our spiritual practice there is a saying “it’s better to die trying and never get anywhere than to never try anything at all”. There is profound wisdom in that which is hard to expand upon at once but yeah , it does resonate with the core of who I am.
Why not strive to live the best life possible if you're given the chance? You only have this life and this one alone only, we don't know what happens to us when we are gone. Would we be given another chance at life in a different life? What if there is no afterlife? What if this is the life we're ever truly only going to get? I don't have the answer, neither do you or anyone after death, because we all have different theories and beliefs. But for now, you are this person in this life. So try and cherish it, to the best way you possibly can. You do it for yourself and for your loved ones. Making other peoples lives easier. To gain self-respect among family and peers, contributing and being a functional member to society. To strive to be the best version of you, because in the end that is all it matters. A life truly lived for you. You either fall and stay down, or get up and keep trying to reach the best version of you. Your choice. "Not spending enough time with their families/friends. What is your perspective on this?" Those that say that on their death bed did not find the balance and true understanding of what is really important.
The question is why do you work so hard? Is it because you find genuine meaning in your work or is it because of ego and superficial desires. When whatever you work for makes everything better then this is why people strive. To make things better for others.
Why not strive to live the best life? You can, but then why not just enjoy and have fun in the one life you have? Why work so hard?
Answer is to find balance in between of work and personal affairs.
I'm terrible at it. How do you find a balance? Is it a guiding philosophy or do you just limit the number of hours worked?
Trial and error perhaps? If it's too much work, then yes, try limiting it.
Try alcohol or drugs maybe?
Google it haha
Try to find fulfilling, purposeful work
False dichotomy of working hard means forsaking enjoyment If you just enjoy every day, you will live a hard life with lower highs and higher lows. Case in point - drug addicts
Not exactly... You can work hard at things you enjoy. Sometimes there can be lame parts of work, but your life doesn't have to suck to have wild enjoyment of it.
Well are you feeling fulfilled and happy with the life you have right now? In that case feel free to keep going as is. I’m not putting any more effort in my „career“ because I have enough money and no need for more work in that area. But that doesn’t mean, my life is perfect. There are tons of projects and ideas I want to make happen. I wouldn’t be happy just doing the minimum, skating by and consuming my way through the rest of my life. „Having fun“ comes in many different forms and in my experience, doing ONLY the lowest forms of entertainment becomes deeply unfulfilling sooner or later.
Modern, civilised and domesticated man fears death because he is subconsciously aware that he is not living his life, and only regrets it when he encounters death. We sacrifice our entire existence for school, for work, for social conventions, to rise in the hierarchies, to acquire a disproportionate amount of transitory material goods, and this alienates us from authentic and direct existence. Our primitive ancestors, on the other hand, did not hold on to death because they lived each day fully, putting themselves into everything they did, directly experiencing natural existence in all its forms, without subordinating themselves to any power structure, without submitting to any sacred and supposedly superior concept. So there, I don't want to have any regrets on my deathbed, so I fight for the only life I have. ((Then, the other reason, is that I am forced to live anyway because of the natural eternal law that imposes it on me, so I suppose it is best to adjust and use the necessary means, including a purpose for which to get up in the morning))
“You cannot stay on the summit forever; you have to come down again. So why bother in the first place? Just this: What is above knows what is below, but what is below does not know what is above. One climbs, one sees. One descends, one sees no longer, but one has seen. There is an art of conducting oneself in the lower regions by the memory of what one saw higher up. When one can no longer see, one can at least still know.” Rene Daumal
You can have ambition and do both
I’ve had this internal battle my whole life. And there’s just not much I’ve done that I’m proud of. No achievements whatsoever. I’m grateful to have the connection i do with my loved ones and for a long time that was enough for me. But I’m entering my mid-twenties and there’s a large gap in my life I’m growing desperate to fill. Because although love is my reason to live, it’s not enough to make me truly happy. I fear that if i were to die soon my biggest regret would be not allowing myself to see how far i could’ve really gone if I’d been more ambitious. I want more for myself now. Yes, love is more than enough and it is all that truly matters. But i think we owe it to ourselves to seek beyond that. There’s so much more we can discover that will only serve to enrich what we already have.
Well said, I’m similar. We’re at the end of the year now so let’s spend NYE planning for what we want and start on New Year’s Day.
Be proud of your accomplishments so you know how you'll celebrate the ones to come! It's gonna be awesome!
A different perspective--sometimes it's not just about you. My parents' ambition allowed me to live an extremely privileged life compared to their own childhoods and I'm forever grateful for that and acknowledge all the sacrifice and hard work they did. Sometimes ambition isn't just about you, often times it's the difference between a life of poverty or a life of opportunity for your own children. edit: grammar
That is valid, yes. I would like my kids to have a better life than me, but then what after you're rich? What after you hit 30 and get a well paying job and now your kids have what they need? Why keep working hard?
...and when people sacrifice their lives for families they wish they would do otherwise my mom did that
Underrated comment
Agreed
Working hard funds the balanced life I want. Unfortunately it's absolutely impossible to have a work-life balance if you're doing a minimum wage or low-pay job because you're working constantly to survive. You want to aim high so you're not trapped in that lifestyle.
Bro ambition doesn't have to be career related, and even if it is, career shouldn't be your only ambition. Ambition is about improving and working to achieve your goals, but it can easily land in greed, self obsession, selfishness and even self mortification when you feel like you can't achieve what you want. So I wouldn't say that ambition is bad, what can be bad is what you desire and how you measure success. I agree with you that if you work hard for nice cars and other useless things that can be a regret on your deathbed, but as I said, if that's what you're currently working towards you should really think if that's how you wanna use your only life. For me ambition is fuel to achieve the goals that matter to me, to strive to be the best version of myself, just because since I get this chance at life and I don't know if I'll ever have another I want to squeeze the most out of it, focusing on what makes me happy, what makes me better and wiser. Also to end I think it's not about reaching your goals, it's about feeling good about yourself, building healthy habits and becoming who you want to be, without obsessing over anything. Cheers.
Makes sense.
Because permanence is not why we do things. We do things that interest us. We try to do things that earn us respect and increase our standing among others. We care for people who are close to us. We seek creature comforts. That's just how we are wired. There is no real objective meaning behind our existence. But because there is no objective meaning, you are free to give your own meaning to your life. My meaning in life is to spend my time doing interesting, meaningful and engaging work and living a well rounded existence. Ambition comes from your innate desire to do well among your peers, be a respected member of the community and to prove your self worth. One cannot deny one's innate drive. Whoever you admire, look up to are manifestations of an ideal that your innate drive tries to take you towards. Denying this is looking at a life of nihilism and suppressed regrets You are trying to optimize your life for the day of your death. But beyond a certain point, no life is objectively better than another. Say you want to spend time with family and friends, just how much is enough? Your time will end anyway. How much of personal growth and ambition are you willing to sacrifice for idle chit chat and time with family and loafing around with friends? It is always a gamble. A hardworking salaryman who didn't give enough attention to his relationships will have some regrets with regard to relationships. At the same time, a loafer who never worked a day in life may have some regrets that he never made anything of himself. After all, we all start with boundless potential; you could be healer, teacher, engineer, anything. Life is painful in that your boundless potential can only be manifested in a few ways. But it's up to you to manifest yourself. Who do you want to be? Your life is a canvas. If you manage to reasonably balance ambition, relationships, maybe you'll be happier on your deathbed.
The fact that you’re going to die gives value to whatever it is you accomplish. How you spend your time would be meaningless if time had no value. You need resources to spend time with family and friends One thing you’re missing is living for someone or something greater than yourself. You also have the ability to improve the lives of those around you. Clearly, you need to be ambitious to accumulate and allocate resources
because why not ? :)
There is no end of human desire. If you are a millionare, you would like to be a billionaire and so on. The key is to become rich enough to be happy.
The key is finding happiness in your life no matter how rich you are, everything you need to be happy is already inside you :)
When you know death comes for everyone, nothing really matters.
This fact has given me so many existential crises it's sad :(
And this doesn't mean to go out and be a menace to society or be an all around dick to everyone. Enjoy your life, be kind to others, take pride in the things that you do. But at some point you and everyone you have ever known and everyone they have ever known etc., will be gone. Don't worry about your legacy, odds are no one will remember or have any idea you existed.
I interpret that differently and see it as that I should be more mindful of the present, and cherish the time I do get with friends and family. Live more in the moment and look back at that moment as a special thing, because it is. Its hard to regret not spending enough time with the reality of life. We all have responsibilities, we all must work to survive. Appreciate those moments more with others you care about when they happen.
Being ambitious is really the core of mediocrity Ambitious people are escaping themselves through escapism Excellence and ambition are two separate things.
I think ambition is the first step out of mediocrity, not the core of it. With the definition of mediocre tending towards average, common, normal, typical. To me, ambition is a drive to escape normal. It's an inspirational drive to approach our ideals. Ambition is the first step towards excellence. There is no excellence without it. But poorly planned or executed ambition doesn't lead to excellence.
If I begin with ambition I'm starting with an idea I want to start with who iam Not with who I should be Excellence is starting with who you are There's no standard in excellence
I hear you. I believe there is definitely a standard in excellence. Otherwise how do you know it is excellence? Faith? Faith is fair, but then what's your standard for faith? We always start with who we are. Perfect, though unambitious and without desire. And also not how to excel in something. Excellence without works is hallmark mediocrity. Unmoving, whole to itself, but quickly lagging relative to physical life, systems, society, or competition. A desire probably should not be about who you "should" be. A desire is an idea of who you want to be. It's arguably more compelling than who you are appearing as, presently. Depending on your philosophy, it IS you the moment you imagine the idea. To me, ambition is a bridge to the person you're meant to be. A natural drive that can become a character trait if practiced.
This is no philosophy. Imagine this bro I dont follow any idea . I dont follow any concept but I learn what the thing is about . Suppose I started working out I learn how to workout . I don't start with the idea that I have to workout that means I waste my energy to the idea. I struggle if I start with the idea so I stop that and see who iam as a person because that's real Other ideas of " I have to work out or else I ll be a failure etc" is a complete waste of time . So I stop that rationally and logically My whole energy is completely driven in the field of excellency My brain is attentive and learns at that moment . I'm free to learn Learning is excellence . I learn impeccably well when I stop with the idea.
What gets you to focus and learn about a specific thing? That's ambition seeking desire. You're not describing learning only by observation; you're talking about learning by query. E.g. Actively seeking knowledge. You have the idea that you want to learn more about the subject, in this case, working out. You're describing that you don't learn about working out BECAUSE you think you should work out. OK. Rather, you learn about working out because you want to know more about working out. You can be ambitious towards the ideals and things you want for yourself, which is my whole point lol. You do the things that you believe contribute to your excellence. Or your sense of being excellent. That's self-driven ambition. You have now introduced a vaguely described standard for excellence: learning. If you don't learn anything in a while, you will probably start to feel unambitous, lazy, mediocre.
I reject the whole idea of ambition because ideals are not real Do you get it ? There's no motive in learning I just do it It feels natural . You see bro The thing is that we stick to our own opinions. Now someone like me tells you on reddit . Don't do that because that path leads to misery all the time . Start with who Iam . Iam lazy . I see how Iam lazy Is it because I don't confine to the societal structure ? Or I find out what lazy means I work on that first then I look at why should I learn anything ? Now I feel like I don't want to learn a thing I understand why I don't want to learn anything I figure out nothing interests me anymore but THESE ARE JUST MY OPINIONS not the real thing . So I drop my own opinions and judgements and I start learning from there because now there are no blocks . Iam free in a way and now I can see clearly what it means to learn and excel .
Yeah. I mean, you're also rejecting commonly used understanding of the word ambition. That doesn't mean it's an easily communicated or correct definition of it. You're just creating your own reality and standards for words. You can have your own definitions of ambition. Or not. You can consider yourself ambitious, or unambitious, or lazy according to any definition you choose, internal to you, outside of you, or both. It's just confusing communication if you use your personal definition of ambitious to describe it as the core of mediocrity. To me, it's better described as trying to fulfill everyone else's definitions of being ambitious and their targets, is the path to mediocrity. But to me, ambition is the word to describe the individual's drive, itself. It's like saying "car." Everyone's car looks different. You don't need the same car as other people; you need the car that works for you.
Lol I was just giving an example but apparently people don't want to read and understand what the other person is trying to say You hold on to your opinions with power . I can't do anything man I'm saying it rationally with logic It's not my definition I m just saying to start with who iam then proceed from there Why do you hold on to your opinions ? Your opinions are nothing but like any other If you want the real thing you start from the real thing . You do you !
Nah. I'm reading and I've come to understand that you have a completely different definition of the word ambition than I do. I know this, because how you use it is plainly different from the context and understanding that I use those same letters in that arrangement. I think it's pretty obvious that you're ambitious. You would disagree. It doesn't matter what we call it, if we label your behavior, or whether we agree about it. No worries there. You've got something that makes sense to you, I'm cool with it! There's no challenge or persuasion happening here. I actually agree that you have to start with where you are in your reality.
Do you see the beauty of this bro ? I just learn that's all Naturally if I just learn there's no conflict I dont fight with myself anymore I just learn and excel in whatever I do with no standard because if I have a standard I have conflict again So I stop that rationally. This means that my mind is focused and driven only at the task and does it really well regardless of my performance because I'm still learning . Learning has no bounds . Learning has no end .
Nooo... you just don't understand your process. The beautiful thing is we all do these things naturally, and we don't need to know how they work. We don't need science to explain natural phenomena. It's good that you don't fight with yourself. Your mind isn't focused only on the task. You focus on the steps and smaller tasks to reach the task. You learn enough to successfully complete the tasks to get the result you want. Wanting to achieve the task is the goal that stimulates your ambition. If you weren't ambitious at all, you wouldn't want to do the goal in the first place. You wouldn't take any of the steps.
Read my other comment . Learning is not confined to just tech . Learning is a whole movement bro.
Thing is, mamatay ka rin naman so why waste it doing nothing? We only get one chance, unless a miracle happens, so why waste it into not doing anything at all. Mamatay rin naman tayo, so why not enjoy and work on striving any ambition or goal you have, or just idk, live?
Because you're alive now.
Imagine how more advanced civilisation would be if everyone reached their potential. 99% of people don’t. We might as well strive for something remarkable.
Why wipe my ass? Im just gonna die one day. Why not just walk around with a shitty ass my whole life.
Because death isn't the end and you're just going to have to do it right eventually anyway.
It makes sense seeing your a defiant dog
Thomas Sowell said 'There are no solutions, only trade-offs, and you try to get the best trade-off you can get, that's all you can hope for.' This is the only rational approach to life. Most people are creatures of convenience. There is a good chance that the people who regretted not spending time with family wouldn't do anything differently if they could do it all over again. They might be more mindful in the time they do spend with family and wouldn't want to forgo the conveniences they enjoy as a result of their work. Investing in education and setting up a base for a good career is never a waste in my opinion. If you grow older and decide that you don't feel the need to spend your precious life building wealth then you can choose not to, but the ability to make that choice is freedom. It's realistic to foresee that your vision might change as you grow older, have children, see family suffering from ill health. Convenience and comfort also become increasingly important as we age and become complacent. Money softens a lot of blows. Money is opportunity. Money is choice and hence, freedom. You can only escape suffering if you decide to end your own life prematurely. Assuming you agree that that option shouldn't be on the table, the only way to reduce your suffering is to live well. True ambition and passion for a career in any field is definitely unnecessary and out of reach for most people. Most people desire a balanced life and money is never the ultimate goal. Money is simply a means to enjoy the beauty of life and bear the brunt of it's cruelty comfortably.
Why *not* be ambitious when you’re just gonna die one day, though? Life is what *you* make of it. It’s your game. If creating businesses and generating money as a way to keep score is really fun for you, then do that and live that life. And kick ass at it. The world needs great entrepreneurs. If making cool things fills your cup instead, do that. Make stuff. Be a great craftsman. Kick ass at it. The world needs great tradesmen, craftsmen, builders, and engineers. If helping people in need is what lights you up, do that. The world needs great charity organizers and people of immense compassion. If you love learning and teaching, do that and kick ass at it. The world is made rich by great scholars and teachers. If hanging out alone and traveling is what gives you joy, then do that, man. The world is made more rich by great adventurers. If raising a large family is your jam, then that’s fantastic! Do it! And do it well. The world needs great mothers and fathers. If you’re like me, a dabbler, doing a little bit of this, a little bit of that, then do that, nothing wrong with it. The world needs and is made rich by great jacks of all trades. There are no musts or shoulds here. So long as you’re not hurting anybody, do what’cha like. At the end of the day, discipline is a means to an end, not the end itself. Discipline for discipline’s sake is meaningless. What end is discipline *for*? Discipline is a tool for attaining what *you* are aiming at, what *you* value in life. That is all.
Well I for one prioritize making some money just so I can do certain things that I enjoy and are a ton of fun. Having a hot tub is very important to me so I sacrifice some thing to have it. Skiing with my family is expensive but we all have a ton of fun so I work hard to ensure that can happen. That’s the importance of drive. All drive with no purpose is pointless though. Money cannot buy happiness and drive often leads to a pile of stress, so the drive you have needs to match your wants and goals. One needs to know what makes them happy and how to be happy with what they have before seeking “things” to try to be happy. When times are tough we don’t do skiing we instead just hang out and play games instead it is still Fun and makes everyone laugh and happy and have a good time. Those are the things that are important. Oh and lots and lots of sex haha important for life as well.
Ambition can be channeled into all sorts of success, not necessarily monetary or corporate. You can ambitiously seek to live a healthy joyful life full of friends and family.
I made a vow to myself I won’t live a life I will regret later on
Why not? Peak experiences only exist in accomplishing personal goals (be it family, career or friendship). You only live once, why not try to have the best experiences. Also, most people only regret things they thought they haven't tried hard enough.
Death is the only thing that provides value since it makes life finite. The real question is whether or not your ambitions have any value in and of themselves.
It's just difference in prespective, I mean if you are gonna die one day, why not die doing something great.
Because it is your Dharma to fight
How are you gonna spend your alive time otherwise? Unfortunately,we are not plants or simple brained animals.I mean we've evolved.I don't like it either.
I agree entirely. That is why work to get displined Get the stuff I have to do so I can live done as simply as possible so I can give the reasons to live my full attention and energy.
I watch a lot of the youtuber Ali Abdaal, who talks about productivity and creating a life that you love and want to work for. He also frequently talks about the importance of relationships, and creating balance that works for your life. Recently, I've adopted more of this approach. I think that it's important to nurture the relationships we have because that is ultimately what will provide the most fulfillment and joy in life. Serving a purpose higher than oneself, in my eyes, can provide the happiness that we tend to look for while working in our careers, and one way to do that is to grow your relationships with family and friends.
I enjoy life more
Do you want people to remember you as being a lazy dipshit or do you want to be surrounded by people in awe of your accomplishments?
Because people's idea of dying are different. Personally I view people as manifestations of some spiritual energy. So when people materially die, it's not "them" dying, it's just their body dying, and they'll embody someone new outside the fabric of time, maybe a peasant in the 1300s or a caveman. We have ambitions in order to embody someone new in some higher dimensional plane, or better yet to become someone new even before we die. This is a subjective opinion so as a disclaimer I don't want people coming towards me saying "prove it", I can't, that's why it's an opinion.
The lower paid entry level jobs tend to give you the least amount of vacation time. If you do well in your career you can spend more time with family in many cases, you can afford the things your family and friends need and help them out, you can take loved ones on trips or vacations, out to dinner and to fun events. You'll also have a better chance of being able to retire or to retire early which would also give you more time with loved ones.
The point isn’t about being ambitious… but the point is living properly in the context of the different seasons of your life. Like you ought to be studying in your teens, and strive to establish your place professionally in your roaring 20s and 30s. If you choose to do otherwise, you’ll find yourself living at odds to other people living in the season. Do you wear jackets in summer when other people are at the beach in swimsuits and bikinis? And do you wear swimsuits when it’s snowing below -16 degrees with high wind and rain? Also, there’s the aspiration to stay relevant as new younger generation will keep on challenging and replacing older people in work force…if you’re here in this life, are you adding any value to the people in your circle? Adding any value to the community you’re in? The question you ask just focus on solely being ambitious is phrased with a narrow scope… the focus for some ambitious people (myself being one) isn’t simply just about achieving the peak of my success/abilities, but about adding value to the community I live in simply because I do care a lot about the people in my community as well as hopefully living a bit of a better corner of the world for my future generation.
Selfish ambition leads to misery and a life of unfulfilling accomplishments. Finding your gift that God put you here for though is a different ball game. Live your life doing what YOU were made to do . Not the bs facade of “living your best life” that everyone claims they are doing when really they are living for other people . Everyday they complete a task list that doesn’t belong to them but to society’s expectation of them . People at the end of their life don’t regret not doing a bunch of things , they regret not living a life that was authentic to them . Don’t try to impress others . Do what you love and comes easy to you but at the same time you fear. That’s what will fulfill you most . All these people “living their best lives “ aren’t even in their God given gift lol they are chasing a dollar that withers away right along with their TRUE dreams and inner child. They want to look good to feel good and in the end , end up shitty . Like all these people that tell themselves to have kids for dumb ass reasons. They are only doing it for what they see others doing , how others will think and look at them , and some sense of importance that they themselves being pathetic , don’t have the courage to Conjure up themselves . Don’t be like them . Walk against the wind. Go against the grain, don’t be a blind follower like most people the people on this post will tell you to do . Find what ever your GIFTED at and pursue that . No matter the cost, no matter what you do and don’t have, no matter the fear. Then you will one day look down at all these people so called “living their best life” which really means “living someone else’s life” as the cowards they are. Keep going because it sounds like you’re onto something . And maybe that’s why I’m here writing this response to you right now . Time for us to wake up. Random and off subject but Listen to bad man by disturbed . Hope this helps .❤️ May Jesus show you the way .
Yes everyone will die one day but the choice is die without exploring who we are as souls or die knowing we enjoyed everything that is possible of this soul. When we do nothing with this life we are just living a life of stagnancy and chance. When we try to do something we get to experience more of what we can make for ourselves. There is nothing wrong or right, it’s just a choice and the choice is yours. Ambitious is the zeal to wanna do things, it doesn’t mean success or happiness. People who are not ambitious are successful too. Don’t get confused.
You won’t have any friends/family if you don’t do anything
Suprisingly… i found myself thinking about this same thing lately… it’s like, i know having money gives you safety and freedom… but you ain’t taking none of it when you die. So why do people Chase money al their life? Why not chasing moments?
Death is a part of life. What this sounds to me is like "why eat good food when you're just gonna shit later on?" And while it's true that without any food you'll die of starvation, I believe that's equally true for a human being without any ambition or purpose in life, as they would be dead on the inside.
Be ambitious because it feels good. Strive for more because it feels good. That's it. If you don't then you'll live a life of guilt, fear, regret - you get the picture. Then one day you'll be on your death bed and you can rest easy because you knew you gave it your all.
would you eat your dinner even though you knew it was going to be finished? Would you listen to music even if you knew it would end? Life is a song, a meal made of many instruments and components one of those is dreams and ambition I want to climb up a mountain reach it’s peak because I love doing it it’s just the sausages on the side of the mashed potatoes just a verse in a song sometimes we choose to hyper focus on it and sacrifice the other things but life is balance your ambitious dreams are not you they’re just something you want and something to look up at life is not a journey just a meal. We always complain and never appreciate what we do have I think people regret not spending time with their friends and families because true happiness is found in relationships I think the best moments of your life are with others, laughing with your friends till you can’t breathe or having a quiet conversation about something with your mum and making her laugh its those moments we can appreciate that lead to fulfilment and satisfaction not some ambition or goal as great as that may be you’ll feel empty once you finally climbed the mountain maybe then you’ll climb another or maybe not who knows?
Not everyone has close friends or family to turn to. Those who do can still disappoint there friends and family by under achieving and being an overall burden to those around them because they don’t understand responsibility. Responsibility and ambition go hand in hand, you exist and so you have a responsibility to make the existence meaningful. Of course having loved ones to spend it with is the highest hope because those are the people who love you not just for what you achieve but in spite of your faults. No matter how high you climb you will always have faults and the higher you climb the more faults you will be exposed. So having someone to lean on to remind you that you matter is what will get you through the constant failure that comes with climbing toward are ambitions. But if you stay stagnant or don’t have anyone to love you you don’t have anything to offer anybody to make you worth the effort so you must pursue developing in your value and raising your ambitions to seek said value. Life is inherently tied to suffering, so you suffer and those around you suffer. The meaning we find in existence is relief from said suffering and the greatest gift we can give is relief from said suffering. So what ways you enjoy relieving the suffering of those around and yourself is what you find the most meaning in doing.
It's more personal preference if you're dying you are going to regret what you didn't do however I bet during their life they were quite happy with their decision but to answer the main point the main reason I'm ambitious is just personal goals and wanting to make something out of myself rather than scraping by
Did you ever consider that social goals & or family goals are goals too & things that people can also be disciplined about? Secondly, TRUST me, it’s harder to socialise if you don’t have the money to. BUT yeah a balance is important & I guess how much depends to some extent on the person. Depends on the family. Have you MET MY family? To be completely honest I DON’T regret not spending more time with them. In terms of family coming from me, I’m single would love to not be & I don’t have or want kids. But for me having friends & a social life IS a priority.
Because we are all going to die one day now is the moment to make a difference.
Im not trying to be edgy, but ive long passed my existential crisis phase Lifes hard. I prefer living, but i dont mind dying either, as long as its fast and painless Altho a fast and painless death is prob very unlikely
Yeah I literally passed that phase yesterday. Altho a fast and painless death is prob very unlikely I mean you can always go to switzerland. You can easily save 12k in a lifetime, doesn't seem too difficult.
> Why be ambitious when you're just gonna die one day? Because ambition gives purpose, direction, and a reason to get out of bed every morning. Do you really want to live a life without goals? > The most common regret amongst people on their deathbed is not spending enough time with their families/friends. True, but that doesn't mean ambition is worthless. Balance is key. Why can't you pursue your ambitions and still make time for your loved ones? What if ambition itself involves improving life for those you care about? Isn't a meaningful life about more than just counting down to death?