Ambition as attachment - by Eli Qian - Nonlinear

eliqian.substack.com · 725 words · saved by 1 readers

I have a confession. I'm not sure what ambition really means. I know a popular definition has to do with goals: pursuing high status goals is ambitious. I don't like this definition. Most people would consider wanting to be good at chess more ambitious than wanting to be good at video games, even though both are just made-up games. The distinction of what is high status is arbitrary. Another definition has to do with difficultly. Someone is ambitious if they want to do a difficult thing. This is a little better. But would you say someone is ambitious solely for wanting to do a difficult thing? There is a difference between having an ambition and being ambitious. Instead of first trying to define ambition, let’s see what qualities are prevalent across people we would consider to be ambitious. A common quality I see is a sense of discontent. Ambitious people aren’t satisfied until they get what they want. I like this definition the best. It has less to do with the goal, and more to do wi

if you’re so smart, why aren’t you happy? I have a confession. I'm not sure what ambition really means. I know a popular definition has to do with goals: pursuing high status goals is ambitious. I don't like this definition. Most people would consider wanting to be good at chess more ambitious than wanting to be good at video games, even though both are just made-up games. The distinction of what is high status is arbitrary. Another definition has to do with difficultly. Someone is ambitious if they want to do a difficult thing. This is a little better. But would you say someone is…

Ambition as attachment - by Eli Qian - Nonlinear

related reading