✳flâneur — a map of the web's best reading

The Breaking Point of Ambition

adammaj.com · 516 words · saved by 1 readers

Because you haven't gone down any specific path, you have the freedom to explore any path that interests you. More importantly, you're free to set your ambitions and goals and shoot for the stars - as many ambitious kids do. This ambition is exactly what leads to incredible creation - amazing products, beautiful art, impactful research. Clearly, it takes great ambition to opt to take the path of uncertainty, to pursue dreams like building self-landing rockets, creating the internet, or assembling the first computer. But as you get older, that ambition often gets replaced with very different emotions - like fear, risk avoidance, and pragmatism. These often push people away from their ambitions, toward more certain paths that may lead to less satisfaction and contentment. But why do we stray toward certainty as we get older? What causes people to give up on their dreams and start optimizing for "practicality"? I've noticed that when we're young, we're protected by the fact that our dream

When you're young, the world is your oyster. Every door is open for you to explore, every opportunity seems to be knocking at your doorstep. And best of all, you have the power to be anything. Because you haven't gone down any specific path, you have the freedom to explore any path that interests you. More importantly, you're free to set your goals and shoot for the stars, as many ambitious kids do. This ambition is exactly what leads to incredible creation; amazing products, beautiful art, impactful research. But as you get older, that ambition often gets replaced with very different emotions

Explore this link on the map →

related reading