What Comes After Ambition?

Ambition is the drive to play games that others have created. Climb the corporate ladder. Play politics. Work long hours. Lean in—to corporate feminism.

The desire for fulfilling work — a job that provides a deep sense of purpose, and reflects our values, passions and personality — is a modern invention. … For centuries, most inhabitants of the Western world were too busy struggling to meet their subsistence needs to worry about whether they had an exciting career that used their talents and nurtur... See more

helping someone achieve their dreams is not the same thing as achieving your own.  Or put another way, making someone else the focus of your ambition is not the same as having a self-centered, work-centered ambition. The two are different. One is selfish, the other is selfless. And lately I’ve been thinking: why is it so difficult—maybe impos

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And I think that’s one of our enduring understandings of what ambition has to be something massive, something that rules your life and every decision you make, something that never stops burning, and crucially, something that somehow lands people in this mystical land of perfect contentment. If you’ve ever known someone whose primary attribute is a

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I’ve spent a lot of time with intelligent and determined women.

What have I noticed? Achieving the vision of ease is ironically arduous. It’s diligence and conscientiousness behind the scenes. Behind glamor is effort . I absorbed early that beauty and competence aren’t heaven-sent but goals to continuously chip away at. Many of us silently believe t... See more

Many have taken to declaring how they don't have dream jobs since they "don't dream of labor." This buzzy phrase, popularized on social media in the pandemic, rejects work as a basis for identity, framing it instead as an act to pursue out of financial necessity. To quote the billionaire Kim Kardashian, it does seem like nobody wants to work these ... See more