The Economics of Ambition

The Economics Of Ambition

Come to think of it, you may not "make it" in the way you are thinking it in your head.

And that is unsettling because so much of our motivation is built on an imagined future version of our lives.

"One day, I'll become this, earn this much, build this thing, be known for this, reach this level, blablabla"

But, suppose you don't..

What does that leave you with?

I'll help you with the answer.

It leaves you with the question underneath your ambition.

If the outcome of the life you imagined is not guaranteed, is the life you are living on the way there still worth living?

Because perhaps one of the great dangers of ambition is that we can turn the present into nothing more than a waiting room for the future.

Today becomes valuable only because of what we believe it will eventually produce.

We endure Monday because of the company we desire to build someday.

We tolerate obscurity because of the recognition we expect someday.

We sacrifice relationships because we imagine there will be time someday.

We postpone joy because we believe arrival will justify the journey.

And quietly, life becomes instrumental.

Everything we do is for something else.

But, and it's a BIG but..

What if the “something else” never comes?

And it's not necessarily because you were lazy.

I hope you know that you can work hard and still encounter circumstances you cannot control.

I mean markets change, bodies fail, opportunities disappear, people make decisions that affect you, stuff happens, timing matters, luck exists..

..and sometimes you can make many good decisions and still arrive somewhere different from where you imagined.

Perhaps, what you should be asking yourselves should be "Who am I becoming while trying to make it?"

Because that is one outcome you are already receiving.

You may never build the company you imagined, but you are becoming someone while building.

You may never reach the audience you imagined, but you are becoming someone while creating.

You may never acquire the wealth you pictured, but you are becoming someone while working.

You may never arrive at the exact future currently living inside your head, but you are spending your life either way.

And that changes the economics of ambition.

The journey cannot merely be the price you pay for the destination, because the journey is made out of your actual life.

In fact, I dare say that the journey is the PRIZE.

These are your actual days.

Your actual twenties, thirties, forties.

Your actual mornings.

Your actual evenings.

Your actual relationships.

Your actual body.

Your actual time.

You are spending your life on the way to wherever you are trying to go.

So the journey cannot merely be the price you pay for the destination.

Which means perhaps success needs two definitions.

The achievement success, which answers did I get what I wanted?

And the existential success, which answers did I live well while pursuing what I wanted?

The first is partly outside your control.

The second is much more deeply yours.

So yes, dream.

Build.

Take the risk.

Work ridiculously hard.

Want something enormous from your life.

But build a life whose meaning does not depend entirely on whether your dream comes true or not.

Find something valuable in the work itself.

Become someone you respect in the process.

Love people while you still have them.

Enjoy ordinary Tuesdays.

Pay attention to your life while it is happening.

Because you may not “make it” exactly the way you currently see it in your head.

And strangely, accepting that doesn't have to make you less ambitious.

Instead, you'll have a healthy relationship with your ambitions.

Which means your disposition to your ambitions will be;

I deeply hope I make it. I am going to give everything I reasonably can to the attempt. But I refuse to make the meaning of my life dependent on an outcome life never promised me. I want to arrive there. But even on my way there, I intend to live.

So, Live.

I hope you truly live.

Live now.

Don't watch your life slip away because of a future you're trying to build.

So, Live.

Yours,
Iyanuoluwa Ilesanmi