The two faces of Ambition

By most measures, I'm considered an ambitious person. My definition of ambition is: an innate and often unstoppable desire to achieve. The current edition of Times magazine has an article on ambition and how it often dictates a person's level of success. I agree that ambition has played a significant role in the things I've accomplished (however modest).

But there is another side of ambition that isn't often discussed.
After the dot-com collapse in 2001, the high-flying, take chances, innovate-innovate-innovate days most high tech companies were used to were over (at least for the next couple of years). Things changed at work for me. It wasn't so easy to achieve anymore (for a variety of reasons). If a highly ambitious person is not in a position to feed the ambition monster, the monster can bite back. This can make for some difficult times. Unfortunately, ambition doesn't give way to the current market happenings or fluctuations in society. At times I've thought of ambition as a disease that gone untreated can result in depression. Even so, if I could zap that characteristic from my make-up, I wouldn't do it. It is who I am. I'd be a completely different person without it.

Here is a quote included in the Times article that sums up ambition nicely:

"Ambition is so powerful a passion in the human breast that however high we reach, we are never satisfied." -Machiavelli