Ambition & Hustle
Can you have one without the other?
In 2007, I decided to write a novel while working full-time and attending graduate school part-time. I carved out Tuesday evenings as my writing time and bit by bit, wrote that novel. Fast forward to 2012 when I decided to publish the novel on my own and get serious about the business part of selling and marketing. I wrote weekly newsletters, joined the board of a local writers organization, co-hosted a podcast, presented at conferences, and regularly participated in social media.
Looking back at that period of my life now, I feel tired just thinking about all the things I was juggling. I'm sure I was tired at the time, but my memory of that part of it all has faded, and so all I see is how much I produced (there was a whole other novel and two novellas written somewhere in there, too). It makes me wonder what shifted. Am I less ambitious now? Or is it that I'm more focused on my well-being and not pushing so hard?
Which begs the question— is ambition so tied to hustle culture that to give up one is to give up both?
It's a sticky one that I'm not really sure about. I don't want the answer to be "yes" because I don't like the idea of admitting that I am unambitious. I also don't love the idea that it's impossible to accomplish anything big without pushing myself to the outer edges of my capacity and energy because if that is the case, then I've set up a false premise in the title of this publication.
In grappling with this question, I googled ambition. Here are the first two definitions that came up:
(1) a strong desire to do or to achieve something, typically requiring determination and hard work
(2) desire and determination to achieve success
Determination shows up in both definitions. Perhaps there is a clue here. The first definition that comes up for determination is: firmness of purpose; resoluteness. Some of its synonyms are persistence, tenacity, and perseverance.
Determination and its synonyms point to the idea of sticking to something, but they don't mention speed. This image of ambition as running hard and fast toward the thing that we want may very well be an image I've crafted in my own head— no doubt fed by our western, individualistic, more is better, capitalistic culture.
Is it possible then that the simple act of continuously taking steps, even tiny ones, toward the thing we want to create in the world is, in fact, ambitious?
The other word that stands out to me in the definition of ambition is success. The definition of which is: the accomplishment of an aim or purpose. Again, there is no mention of speed. We might set a time frame for a particular goal (which, by the way, is a synonym for aim), but when we're talking about creative projects we take on ourselves, many times that time frame is within our control. If we are choosing how we define success, then we can choose a slower pace toward our goal, as a part of that. Conversely, maybe we choose to push hard to a deadline that feels important and then build in time for rest and reset after reaching that. The point being, we can include well-being in how we set our definition of success.
So unpacking this little semantic journey: if ambition at its root is about determination and success, then continuous steps toward your purpose, no matter how slow or fast, mean you are, in fact, displaying ambition.
Hustle not required.
Beautiful Thing of the Week
Just one little something I found interesting this week (read last week’s longer list here):
Substack rolled out a new feature last week. Notes is a new space to share links, short posts, quotes, photos, etc. I'm still playing around with it, but it's likely I'll use it to post photos, highlight other writing I love here, or bounce around ideas. Right now, it feels like a quieter, more curated version of Twitter (think early days when it had more of a cocktail party vibe).
If you're curious about it, head to substack.com/notes or find the "Notes" tab in the Substack app.
Here's where Notes lives in the Substack app!
As a subscriber to The Healthier Hustle, you'll automatically see my notes. Feel free to like, reply, or share them around! You can also share notes of your own. No pressure at all, though. I'm still evaluating whether I need yet another social feed in my life or not and certainly understand if you're in the same boat.
I would love to hear your thoughts on ambition and hustle— can they exist without each other? Are they codependent? Maybe something entirely different in the middle of it all? Let me know— in notes or in the good 'ole fashioned comments!
Be well and find tiny joy-
Mary Chris