LONDON (Parliament Politics Magazine): Ambition, competition, urge to prove. If a noun had degrees of comparison, it would be these for ambition. Unfortunately, these words don’t necessarily evolve for the better. Of course we all strive for recognition in our job, but that should not be at the expense of others and ourselves.
Ambition does not necessarily mean that you want to climb the career ladder. You can also aspire to goals for your personal development. It is important that you avoid the trap of comparing yourself to people around you. Social media plays a major and often dirty role there. You subconsciously compare yourself to others who do look picture perfect. This inevitably leads to stress.
This can create competitiveness. Which in itself is not wrong. Originally it was a survival mechanism of our body and brain. Today, competitiveness takes on greater proportions. As a result, it loses productivity and is more likely to be a source of stress caused by low self-confidence and low self-esteem.
The grass isn’t greener
We all seem to think that other people’s lives, work, relationships are better. That makes us insecure and so we want to prove that we can do it too. While our urge to prove should only be there to prove that we are good at something and that we can be part of a group. But today in society, everyone seems to want to be better than the other and thus uncertainty and threat lurk around the corner.
Many people in top positions have an urge to prove and there is nothing wrong with that. Note that this property does not get the upper hand. In such a situation win-win no longer exists, then it is all or nothing. That’s where things often go wrong. Your body interprets this literally, perceives such a situation as a threat and revolts by producing stress hormones.
This is how you recognise the signals
It is important to recognise and deal with those signs:
- Inner turmoil: poor sleep, difficulty functioning
- Inner Criticism: telling yourself you’re not good enough
- Not self-determining your life: need to hear from others that you are good enough
- Fear of failure: thinking you can’t do something
- Less learning ability: not processing new information because you are anxious
So: think about what is really important to you and what you want to achieve. Be aware that the grass is not necessarily greener for others, let alone on the other side. Dare to listen to the signals of your body and keep in mind that there is more than just working.