How much ambition can it be?
There are a few sentences, with which my friend can drive me from one moment to the next tears in the eye. They are not "I'm leaving you" or "You fat quail, you!". The stimulus words sound much more positive. Honest, sympathetic, helpful. Sometimes, when I'm not at peace with myself and my job, he looks deep into my eyes: "Tell me what you want, and I'll make you a plan, or you have no target?"
There was this moment more often in my professional life. I wanted a change, maybe even a step further to climb the so-called career ladder - I needed something new. This feeling was always rather diffuse. An idea, which could make me more satisfied, I have never had in such a situation. Ambition is quite foreign to me. Where I am, it seems, I came by accident. By acute abdominal decisions or an autopilot. My friend is more ambitious than me, but men are almost always. Is it the testosterone that makes her more aggressive and competitive? Or the lack of breeding ability, which does not drive her away from the professional goal to child rearing? No matter. The ambition is there. And is accepted by all as a matter of course. And the women? Get vaccinated as little girls: always nice, everything else is unsexy.
No wonder, then, that career women are often considered unfeminine. And when I lie around on the sofa again so unpowered and cryptic, I quickly, to strengthen myself, I paint my enemy image: the ambitious narrow-minded, dogged, insensible woman in a dark blue costume. One that wrestles upwards under permanent elbow use. Which makes unpopular with colleagues and with those up there like a snail with a turbocharger.
Stop it now! That's the voice of my friend. He says I ought to give me a positive example. The Michaela for example. The is successful in the profession, but still remained human and not mutated into a killer snail. It can be tough when the competition requires it, but also cooperatively because it is a social person. She can delegate tasks and motivate people to create a good climate around them. Is she ambitious? Clear. But she's so relaxed about it, as if ambition were as obvious as table manners.
For the right dose of ambition, but unfortunately there is no magic recipe. "If you're looking for a new challenge," says work psychologist Eva Bamberg, "you have to understand, for example, what your professional life looks like now and how it might look." Whether we like what awaits us in our job has a lot to do with our own self-image. With the personal strengths and weaknesses. "They are not aware of most people," says Bamberg. A good team worker may not feel comfortable on the executive chair, and those who love to invent new things on the PC are by no means a sales genius for hardware and software. A coach could help you get to know yourself better. And then define what you really want. That may sound banal, but, honestly, who can say that about themselves? Michaela. She knows that she enjoys developing new office concepts and convincing others. She always wanted to prevail with unusual ideas. The woman has a goal - and that makes a lot easier. With the necessary drive you can make it on. You earn more money and can make decisions. You have power. And me?
In my sofa state I have the feeling that I could not do anything - or just useless stuff like tasty crust roast or other people laughing. If I really knew what I could do, then I would know where to go. Because with one goal in mind, the ambition comes by itself. And precisely fitting. Without putting you under so much pressure that you become dogged and tight-lipped.
Recently, my friend said: "Imagine: you in five years - what are you doing there anyway?" Well, think about it, maybe ... "Ha, I got it: I'll be on the bestseller list with my book: 'How the quail got to its turbocharger' In five years, dear, you'll be surprised."
