Everyone wants to live their life to the fullest, achieve remarkable goals, and be the best they can be. There is especially a lot of pressure on men to stand out and be goal-oriented. With this comes the widespread belief that you have to choose one: ambition or happiness.
An ambitious man is expected to set everything aside and focus only on achieving his goals. The things that make him happy will be considered frivolous if they don’t contribute to achieving his goals.
On the other hand, someone seeking happiness alone appears to be a person without direction. When people see this man, they think his decisions are wrong since he’s making them for his pleasure, not for a particular goal.
But with the right mindset, you will see that ambition is not the opposite of happiness. You can be ambitious and happy; we shouldn’t forget to take time and smell the roses on the way to where we are going.
Top Tips to Make Happiness Part of your Ambition
If you’re having trouble balancing your search for happiness with your ambitions, here are some tips to help you with your everyday life.
Don’t Let Others Dictate Your Decisions.
We are constantly searching for permission or validation from those around us, even when trying to make decisions about our lives. This is because of the fear of trying something new or different from what others expect you to do.
These people don’t walk in your shoes, so they shouldn’t dictate your decisions. Don’t allow your partner or friends to control your choices because you’re the only one that knows what’s truly best for you. This way, you can create your version of a happy and ambitious life.
Evaluate Your Relationships
It’s a good idea to evaluate your relationships and adjust your relationship role, whether platonic or romantic. If you’re in a relationship where you feel stuck and unhappy, it’s better to change it because this isn’t serving you. As a human being, you should grow and not fade in your relationships.
So ensure that the people around you know that you are focused on growth. Sometimes, rather than walking away from a relationship, you should change your role and be more assertive about what you need. Relationships are meant to push you closer to your goals and make you feel happy.
Remove Your Focus from Attention
Shift your focus from wanting attention and admiration from others to defining what happiness is for you. If you are driven by the attention that others give you when you do something instead of your plans and what makes you happy, it will be hard to remain healthily ambitious.
When people stop praising you, you start feeling depressed and worried that you’re not doing well. You start focusing more on pleasing people, shifting focus away from happiness. But, when you define your version of happiness and connect it to your ambitions without worrying about others, it will be easier to achieve the two.
Be In Charge of Your Work
Although we all want to be good at what we do and use our profession to pay the bills, our job shouldn’t be the boss. If you’re getting very stressed due to your responsibilities, you need to reassess your working lifestyle and take charge of it.
For one, you can reduce your hours. You should also downgrade your lifestyle if it’s too expensive to keep up. At the end of the day, you always have a choice to adjust your lifestyle so that you can chase your ambitions without sacrificing your physical and mental health.
Put Your Phone Down
We are adversely affected by what we see on social media networks most of the time. We scroll through our timeline and see people living their best life while achieving their goals. This puts a lot of pressure on us, especially when we forget about the sacrifice, hard work, and discipline these people put in to achieve their goals and happiness.
So, you should put your phone down and stop comparing yourself to other people. Instead, stay focused on your goals and do what makes you happy, whether it is Instagram-worthy or not.
Be Process-Driven
Rather than focusing on the results, you should shift your focus to the process. We are so obsessed with what we are trying to achieve that we forget to enjoy where we are now. The process is more important than anything else, and it’s a life lived when you compare yourself to yourself.
We are all going through a growth process, and when we focus on the gradual improvements we make daily, it becomes easier to be ambitious and happy. As a process-driven person, you understand that your character and relationships will lead to results, not just your performance.
Diversify Your Identity
Go beyond your work and relationships, and start working on diversifying yourself. Don’t only identify as a businessperson or a boyfriend, but start expanding yourself. You can learn a new language, pick up new hobbies, connect with old friends, make new friends, get competitive in something, and more.
When you diversify your identity, you have one to fall on when the other one fails. When you’re stressed from work, you can put down your professional identity and bring out the social one. We are all diverse people and can unlock this to enjoy life on the way to our goals.
You Are Allowed to be Ambitious and Happy
Regardless of what anyone says, you can focus on the grind and still be happy. Many people don’t realize that happiness is a journey, not a fixed societal state. So, happiness should be a part of your journey to achieve your goals. By redefining success to include happiness in your metrics, you can live a more satisfying life. And by the time you get to where you’re going, you don’t have to think that you gave up your happiness for your achievements.
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