Be Humble While Ambitious by Michael Carroll from Awake at Work from Shambhala Publications.
It's natural to be determined and motivated at work.
We all want to achieve our goals no matter how modest or grand they may be.
Maybe we stay late with our colleagues to put the finishing touches on an important presentation.
Or maybe we want to make salesperson of the year and we rehearse our sales strategy thoroughly to make sure every detail is managed properly.
Such an approach to work can be quite satisfying.
Our ambition to excel and perform our jobs well feels fresh and rewarding.
We don't mind putting in extra effort to succeed.
Yet if our drive to be successful becomes out of balance,
We can find ourselves feeling confined and overpowered by our ambition,
Possibly even obsessed.
In such instances when our need for success becomes too intense,
We are said to be suffering from blind ambition.
Blind ambition is considered blind because in our rush to succeed,
We ignore our world.
We become so addicted to getting somewhere fast that actually living our lives becomes a constant problem.
We may be so wrapped up in our need to achieve that we forget to share success with others or recognize their contributions.
Our drive may be so intense that we ignore our own needs.
Maybe our health suffers because we focus on nothing but our work or our family becomes resentful because we're blind to them,
Superficially involved with their lives but not really available.
Or we can become so blinded by our ambition that we feel entitled to ignore rules such as accounting and ethics guidelines.
When we're blind to our world in this way,
We become profoundly out of touch with the results of our actions,
Creating enormous confusion for ourselves and others.
It's difficult to explore our heart and mind when we're blinded by our ambition.
Pausing a moment to feel the texture of our experience seems quite out of the question.
We therefore misunderstand most of the signals we are receiving.
We misread our colleagues irritation as just whining and our exhaustion as the result of a job well done.
Criticism is considered sour grapes.
Demanding questions from auditors,
Mere stop signs on our road to achievement.
Our blindness conceals the facts,
Including our own desperation.
For blind ambition's bottom line is that we are trapped in a distressing cycle of hope and fear.
We're driven by the arrogant desire to conquer our work and the poverty-stricken fear that we may be conquered by it.
Unspoken yet obvious,
Ignored yet fueling our every act,
Our arrogance and impoverishment hijack our sense of enthusiasm and blind us to being genuinely who we are,
Where we are.
In the end we become so out of balance,
So addicted to our hope of getting somewhere fast,
That we increasingly misinterpret our situation,
Becoming lost and confused in our search for success.
Ambition at work need not become blind however.
We can be awake at work and still strive to achieve our goals and do our work well.
We can be determined and enthusiastic without losing ourselves at work.
Such an approach requires however that we balance our ambition to get somewhere with being humble.
When we think of being humble we may imagine ourselves as shy and retiring or quiet when praised.
We would be modest and self-deprecating if we were asked to come to the stage and receive the employee of the century award.
Asked to say a few words we would do exactly that.
Saying very little other than we are not worthy.
Such an image of humbleness underestimates the toughness of truly being humble.
Being humble is not being a wet noodle.
Rather to be humble is to be willing to deal thoroughly with the details of work.
To be patient and careful when managing works demands.
Works details and messiness are not beneath us.
They're not intrusions,
Annoyances,
Malfunctions or inconveniences.
Works details are in fact how we live our lives at work.
Mindfully present and respectfully engaged.
When we're being humble we're not rushing past the present moment out of feelings of pride or greed.
We're willing to engage works uncertainties and surprises in the present moment.
By doing so we cultivate a quiet and profound understanding of how work influences our life.
Our job,
Our livelihood,
The colleagues we work with,
The projects we manage,
The paycheck we receive,
The boss we listen to.
All are perfectly arranged to teach us what we need to know in order to wake up and be authentic.
And because we appreciate such a thing we can be grateful,
Respecting and deeply valuing our circumstances.
Preparing properly for our business review,
Attending to detailed expense reports,
Patiently handling the customer service problems,
Carefully reviewing clinical trial results become our spiritual path.
To be humble is to quietly and thoroughly work with such things.
Taking the small practical steps that blind ambition often dismisses as mere annoyances.
In such discipline we find a wakeful and fluid ambition that is not hijacked by the arrogance of hope and the hesitation of fear.
Being humble while ambitious reminds us to balance the two efforts in our determination and enthusiasm at work,
To anchor our effort to get somewhere in being somewhere.
By being humble in such a manner we become grateful to our work setting because it is our opportunity to build a sane and decent world.
Be humble while ambitious reminds us quite simply it's good to know where you're going so you don't end up in the wrong place but if you're not humble enough to appreciate and respect where you are you're probably lost already.
