Kate's Nuggets

Dealing with Big Ambitions without Getting Discouraged
Bonus Episode 2

Podcast Opening over Theme Music:
Hello and welcome. This is Kate's Nuggets, the podcast where I share bite-size nuggets of wisdom about self-leadership. I am your host, Kate Arms. I invite you to listen lightly, let these ideas wash over you. Take what you take and let the rest go. You can always come back and listen again.

Kate Arms:
Today I want to talk about ambition and drive.

So drive is a form of intensity.

There are people who are just intensely driven to accomplish stuff, to get stuff done, to be moving and going and making things happen. And this can be problematic.

For one thing, it can exhaust the people around us, but for another, it can exhaust ourselves.

And for a third, if we've got big dreams and big ambitions, it can be really easy to spend a lot of time being really frustrated at how far we are from having achieved our goals.

If we've got big dreams and big ambitions, what do we do? How do we manage that?

Now, when I was in high school and I was frustrated about not meeting my goals, I did something that I've seen other people try, which is I tried to lower my ambitions. I tried to lower my goals and my expectations because I knew at some level that my disappointment was in the gap between what I was capable of achieving at the moment and what I wanted to do.

The problem is if we lower our expectations and we lower our standards, we actually are giving up on a really important part of ourselves, and it actually is a form of admitting that we're helpless and it actually feeds depression.

So I do not suggest lowering your ambitions as a way of managing the gap between what you're accomplishing now and what you dream of accomplishing.

What do I recommend?

I recommend savoring the milestones, savoring the accomplishment of everything that is a step towards that goal.

Because what you need is that sense of accomplishment, that sense of I've done a thing, that sense of pride in what you have done.

So what I highly recommend is notice what is the next step towards a goal. And then when you complete the next step, metaphorically or literally pat yourself on the back.

I actually pat myself on the back more often than you might imagine, because honestly, it feels good to have a tangible, embodied reminder that I'm getting stuff done and that I'm doing well. And it makes me laugh.

And then we can congratulate ourselves on the sticktoitiveness of staying in the process of a long, great, big project and we can congratulate ourselves on our courage for keeping showing up for the work, even though it's not done yet and we don't know when it's going to be done.

The more that we can commit to being in the process and enjoying the process and savoring the milestones, the more it balances out that sense of frustration that we haven't achieved our goals.

We can't get rid of that gap.

It's going to exist, but we can balance it with appreciation for the things that we have accomplished.

It sounds foolish, maybe, but it works. And that's what matters. It works.

It works to bring more joy and a greater sense of fulfillment to today while that energy and drive is pushing you forward into tomorrow.

And that's what enjoying this journey we call life is all about, being alive in the process as you are moving forward.

So don't give up your ambitions, just take them one step at a time and celebrate each step as a success.

End Theme and Credits:
If you're enjoying Kate's Nuggets, please share it with your friends, and please write a review on iTunes so other people know what they would get if they listened too. Thank you.
To dig deeper into the topics I cover on the podcast, follow me at instagram.com/SignalFireKate or at facebook.com/katearmscoach.
To take this work deeper and learn how I can support you personally as your coach, email me at kate@signalfirecoaching.com to schedule a free consultation.
Here's to Thriving! Catch you next time.
Kate's Nuggets is a Signal Fire Coaching production. The music is adapted under license from Heroic Age by Kevin McLeod.