How often do you compare yourself to others? With Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, and more, it’s easier than ever to keep tabs on what your friends are up to in the professional world. While the motivation gained from seeing the success of others can act as a driving force for you, it also causes you to needlessly create goals that are never ending and constantly changing. Your ambition is stronger than ever, but you’re never satisfied.
As odd as it sounds, your ambition needs to be managed—otherwise you’ll end up getting lost in a sea of career milestones, always comparing yourself to others along the way. Andrew Dumont discussed the concept of this nagging voice in the back of your mind, constantly telling you to do more, in his article Is Your Ambition Holding You Back?. Here are three ways he mentioned that you could control your ambition by either quelling or satisfying that nagging voice:
Don’t let yourself be in constant awe of what others are doing—you’re capable of doing anything you want, but it seems impossible when you’re always comparing yourself to others.
Stop Comparing Yourself to Others
The headlines announcing the latest and greatest company, founded by someone a few years younger than you, expected to rake in millions (or billions) will cause the, “What am I doing with my life?” questions to pop-up in your mind. If you keep these comparisons up, all you’re doing is chasing others and creating impossible benchmarks to hit, rather than focusing on realistic goals of your own. The success of others, and what they’re doing with their lives, should not dictate (or block) your path to happiness.
The best way to stop this cycle (comparison > new goals > constant nagging > comparison) is to put the comparison in perspective: acknowledge what others are doing, see if there are any key takeaways that will help you learn and grow, and then simply file the news away. Don’t let yourself be in constant awe of what others are doing—you’re capable of doing anything you want, but it seems impossible when you’re always comparing yourself to others.
Don’t Forget About the “Outside Wins”
Not everything should be about your career. If all your ambition is focused onto your career, you’ll suffer from what Andrew describes as a lack of diversification. You need to find alternate avenues where you can please your ambition. By doing so, you’ll be able to celebrate the “outside wins”.
These “outside wins” can be anything: writing in your journal for a week straight, completing a free course on Codecademy, or starting and finishing a book you’ve always wanted to read. These side-outlets quell the nagging voice of ambition in the back of your mind, and satisfy your curiosity in an environment that you have complete control over.
Hold Board Meetings with Yourself
Businesses hold boardroom meetings to check-up on the status of their roadmap and to ensure all their goals are on-track to being met. Taking this exact concept, you need to hold meetings with… yourself.
Holding board meetings with yourself lets you review and re-prioritize your goals, make changes to your roadmap, and analyze your performance up to that point. The meetings also give you a bigger appreciation for all that you’ve accomplished, something that isn’t as obvious if you’re only examining your progress on a day-to-day basis.
“Breaking yearly goals into quarters allows you to adapt and execute with a clearer mind on the tasks at hand,” says Andrew. “It also allows you to appreciate the progress you’ve made since the last check-in.”