--- topic: [[Peak performance]] people: #people/calnewport Lon Setnik created: 2023-02-06 *Appreciate the drive that helps us give direction to our life.* Cal Newport proposes two typical forms of ambition and a third approach: - **Grand ambition** - the continuous drive to always do more, to be the very best - _pros_: this continuous drive leads to becoming your greatest potential - Without grand ambition Tom Brady wouldn't have become the GOAT - _cons_: overload and disappointment - This continuous drive puts you on the [[hedonic treadmill]], you will never achieve your potential if your potential is the best - You will take on more and more in the effort to have the most, make the most, be the best. Hard to have gratitude - **No ambition** - _pros_: avoid the exploitative system - _cons_: leads to an unfulfilled and directionless life **pragmatic ambition** where you make an effort, and move on if needed. This is a pragmatic approach to an emotional question, I think it might fall victim to the [[Don't Answer Feelings With Facts]] conundrum. **Grateful Ambition** I am going to propose instead something more positive values driven for me, [[grateful ambition]]. In my proposed approach you work hard at [[Identifying Reality]], try to get better at getting better with [[sharpen the saw]], and try to try with the [[right effort]]. You are grateful not for the outcome which you do not control, but for the opportunity to try and to always be [[Learning]]. Don't compare yourself to your neighbors, compare yourself to your living with your [[Developing Values]] like the [[Principles Based Program Evaluation]] you can. There is a challenge here, like in [[🐓 Idea Farm/Deadfall/For myself only/Readwise/Books/Trying Not to Try]], the goal is paradoxical to the effort. This matters because one of the keys to avoiding [[Cognitive Dissonance]] is trying to live with your values. If your values are gratefulness and ambition, how do these get combined in a way that is sensical? In my mind the answer is to hold and appreciate the paradox for what it is. Additionally, ensure your ambition is in the correct direction, the direction of your values. Ask yourself: When did I embrace my opportunities? When did I struggle to embrace my opportunities? What gets in the way of being grateful? What [[Blind Spot]] might I have to my reality? If the goal is for reflection on reality, effort and not outcome, striving to be _your_ best instead of _the_ best, you can always work towards that end. Since this is [[2023 Year of "embrace"]] for me, I feel I can always try to embrace, and can always ask why it's hard to embrace. ##### What would the opposite argument be? Go for it! Shoot for the stars. Be the best in the world. If you don't try, how will you know what you can achieve? If you don't compare yourself, how will you know where you stand? tags: #note/idea | #on/performance | #on/goals | #on/values | ##### Sources: https://www.calnewport.com/podcast/ episode 234: Ambition and Burnout