Other peoples lack of ambition

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Does it ever confuse you when people lack ambition? What I mean by this is, do you ever not comprehend why someone would not want to better themselves, or live a better life? I'll give you an example. I was at a friend's house and his mother started asking me why I'm going to college. I told her I want a doctorate in physical therapy. She kept talking to me as if I were stupid to spend as much time in college as I'm going to, in order to receive my doctorate. She told me things such as "I don't know why you'd want to spend 8 years in college just to get paid a lot of money." I told her I want a nice house and a nice car and be well off. She didn't get it and it was if she was trying to talk me out of going to college, as if she was jealous. The whole time I was thinking "Well, you live in a closet of a house and get paid $8. I don't want to life like that." I didn't tell her that, but I was certainly thinking it.

I've received that kind of talk for each and every little piece of ambition I've ever had, and they've succeeded at making me feel a constant, pervasive and fuzzy guilt about trying to pursue them. As a consequence, I've wasted a lot of precious years and opportunities, because I can't stop hemming and hawing, looking for excuses to avoid doing what I really want to do. The fact that my parents defended this approach to everything which had to do with me probably helped a lot.

If you still have time, don't let them take away your dreams.

Yep, sounds like jealousy to me.

Be your best self.
Anyway.

As Seth Godin would say,
"Choose yourself."
and
"Go. Make. Something. Happen."

If you get a chance, read his blog.

Also, Chris Guillebeau:

http://chrisguillebeau.com/what-they-say-about-winners/

Chris makes some excellent points in his blog post above, as well.

...

What if the lack of ambition is because someone is already in that desired position though? Or at least something similar to the desired position. That's basically where I'm at... I dont work because there isnt actually a reason to, and as a rule, I can do whatever I feel like doing at any given time. Which includes buying things. I live with my parents, and my father controls my money technically (because I'd manage to screw up all sorts of numbers and such, because math) but I've yet to ever hit a point where he says "stop spending for awhile". I randomly buy things, and nobody A: notices for awhile, or B: cares.

But of course, in this position, ambition is murdered with a butcher knife. There's nothing to aspire to, really. Now granted to be fair I couldnt really get anywhere if I wanted to; discovered the hard way that I"m just NOT cut out for most jobs, particularly since I can only handle a very low number of hours a week without totally losing it (as in like, 10-15 hours at most). Learned it the hard way over and over and over and over again many years back... ugh. But pretending that that issue isnt there, there wouldnt be a point in seeking out a job or anything like that. The idea of ambition has no purpose, so as a rule, I have none.

To me, one issue that I have with ambition is if I see someone that's already in a great position... but they're STILL obsessed with going further. More and more, bigger and bigger! At what point does it start to get ridiculous and become a negative rather than a positive?

Though overall I have trouble understanding ambition to begin with. Even back when things were different and I did have to work, I STILL didnt exactly have much in the way of ambition.

Yaya, I don't really get this either.

I have goals, dreams, ambitions etc & am pursuing them. I don't really care what others' goals are, but it's just nice that they have them. Could be physical fitness, could be career, or educational, or financial, or _________ - whatever - just have some ambition to achieve something for yourself.

But rather than get frustrated or annoyed with others' lack of ambition anymore, I just accept it for what it is and carry on with my own life doing what I do. If I ever inspire someone with a lack of ambition to set a goal and work towards it, wonderful. If not, whatever - it doesn't affect me or my life or my pursuit of my goals.

A prime example is right here on WP. I've managed to figure out how to successfully treat my AS symptoms & have shared that with the forum. Most others aren't interested in treating themselves. At first it was a bit frustrating/annoying, but over the last couple of years I've just carried on doing what I'm doing for myself and just accepting that others aren't interested in doing these things for themselves for whatever their reasons are. Like any situation in life, it is what it is and others decisions for themselves do not affect me so there's no sense in expending any energy even thinking about them when I have my own goals to focus on.

In time you may come to a similar conclusion for yourself and just focus on your goals better despite the ambition-less masses around you. Also, in a way, the lack of ambition that so many people have these days almost makes it easier for the ambitious to achieve greatness. Despite there being 7Billion+ people on the planet, not very many are what I would consider "worthy competition" & thus those that focus and work hard can rise above with relative ease compared to if the vast majority were hard working ambitious types. Count your blessings as an ambitious person and carry on working towards bigger, better, things in life.

no it doesn't confuse me because a better life is subjective. personally i don't like to work or

study because that is exhausting, stress and no fun . so to me a better life is a life without work or studying.
i don't care about so called success. i don't care what people say and if they think i am ignorant, negative, etc actually it

confuses me why people take everything so seriously when we are going to die anyway.

i am not really very poor, so i don't see why i'd study/work hard until i become old and then i die. what is so fun about that. i just don't get it .

It doesn't confuse me at all. Maybe their ambition is to have no ambition. Seriously. Just like some people aren't bothered by mess or chaos, while others must have everything in order. They are simply comfortable the way they are. So they can't comprehend if you want more, because they wouldn't if they were in your shoes.

Some people's greatest ambition is to be able to sit at home in their underwear, smoke weed, eat junk food, and play video games all day long. Other people want to essentially rule the world, have as much money and power as possible, and have everyone else fear and envy them. Then some people want to know everything there is to know about a particular subject or field of interest and pursue that endlessly.

To each his own.

To some degree I think some people do it entirely because it's "the thing you're supposed to do" as defined by society in general.

This, to me, is all sorts of lame, which is what I usually think of such things.

I have lots of disabilities that limit me with school & employment. I worked over 55 hours a week when I had a job & was allowed to make overtime but I was pretty unhappy with life at the time. Now that I'm in a better environment & don't have the pressure to be working; I don't really see much of a reason too sense I'm on disability & have good insurance. Working would take time away from my girlfriend & make me stressed. The conservatives think I'm a lazy leach sucking on the teat of the hard-working American taxpayer but I paid into SSDI by working hard & the program is supposed to be there for me so I don't feel bad about being on it. I try not to compare myself to others & focus on what's important to me.

Well, count me as the sit around in my underwear, smoke weed and play video games ambition type (if I ever came into alot of money this is quite literally how I'd live until I died). To me, life is about trying to enjoy it the best you can. Constantly working doesn't accomplish this for me at all and I have a hard time understanding how it does for others. I just can't relate to it. But we're all different in that way. "Bettering" yourself for some doesn't mean degrees or money. Sure, I'd like those things, but only to put me in a position where I can not have to work and do other things I care about like playing video games, getting drunk and stoned and overall gratifying myself as much as I can.

Which brings me to another point. Some people just don't have interest in anything academic, like me. In school (regular school I never went to college- couldn't see the point) there were no subjects that interested me. I have always been very into sports but wasn't that athletic nor very big. So that didn't work out. Probably should have learned to play music, but wasn't really exposed to people who played it until later in life. But I can't do things I'm not interested in, I just can't. It's like torture to me. And if those things involve just sitting around killing time (like work) I can endure it, but if it requires my intellectual attention, it's not going very far.

Everyone's different. This is a lesson I've been hammering into my skull lately so I'll spout it off here too. What seems so right to you is so wrong to someone else, and a third person has little opinion. Jus the nature of humanity I guess.