How Your Ambition is Killing Your Creativity

To become a successful creator: Forget ambition and instead focus on creativity.

The profanity of ambition: I chose the word the profanity many years ago because ambition was sacred to me and it slowly became my greatest profanity.

My ambition slowly transformed into profanity when I realized, it is against humanity, nature, and myself.

A true ambition keeps on scoring, competing, and hustling. This includes collecting titles, certifications, and useless degrees in the name of ambition which kills creativity removes you from reality and yourself.

You forget your sense of belonging and who you really are. Ambition is a killer of all your creative dreams.

I want you to think of ambition for a moment. If you can remember. When you focus on ambition you lose time and space for creativity.

According to the Cambridge English Dictionary:

Ambition is a strong desire to drive to achieve something.

Creativity is the use of imagination or ideas to create something.

It means ambition is about you and your ego, but creativity is about you want to share something with others.

I know you may think that creativity and ambition go hand-in-hand but in reality, they don’t.

As I mentioned above, creativity needs space and time. Without it, you cannot create. Simple.

Let me examine this further.

For more than 20 years, I was always dreaming about being creative, but I couldn’t because I focused only on my ambitions.

How to grow in my career, or accomplish something, get a skill, or degree. All these ambitious desires were external motivation driven to get from place A to B.

I just followed the steps and played the game of hustling. I got my grades, graduated from the university “Suma cum Laude”, got certified in different fields of medicine, and climbed the corporate ladder.

I was growing rapidly in my field and my income was growing as well. You may say, I was on the right track. My ambitions paid off.

Yet, I was not creative. Getting my boxes of success checked off had little to do with creativity.

Some may argue that a healthy dose of ambition is good for you and inspires you to be more creative, perhaps innovative. I do not agree with the argument.

The problem here is, how do you know you if you have a healthy dose of ambition? Can you have a balanced level of ambition? I could not sustain a healthy level of ambition.

Also, I do not know anyone with a balanced amount of ambition. It is extremely difficult to foster a healthy dose of ambition.

The ambitious people that I know of are achievers, type A personalities, hustlers. On the contrary, creative people I know, have freer spirits.

They worry less and go with the flow more. Yes, it may sound like a cliché but just pause and think about it for a minute.

Artists are individuals who were generally poor but more fulfilled. I have read a recent research study that answers the question: “Why are artists poor?”

The study analyzed the brain activity of artists and non-artists by giving them a choice of colors. If they choose a green color, they would get money reward if not, they would get nothing. Then scientists studied their brain under the MRI and discovered:

“…those artists showed a greater response in another dopamine-related part of the brain (the anterior prefrontal cortex) when they were told to reject the green squares. In other words, artists get less worked up about receiving money and more worked up when they know they can’t have it.

“Collectively, our results indicate the existence of distinct neural traits in the dopaminergic reward system of artists, who are less inclined to react to the acceptance of monetary rewards.”

On the other hand, people with ambitions usually become entrepreneurs, businessmen/tycoons, or investors.

Even from my own experience, I enjoy writing for Medium instead of blogging because I don’t like to promote myself. The Medium does it for me. I just create: Write. That is why the Medium platform is amazing for writers.

I understand some people are born to be creators and some are go-getters. I thought I was the go-getter, but I wasn’t. I only followed what society was dictating.

When I was living in the flow of my own ambition, I felt something was missing: Creativity.

All my ambitious goals were failing to fill a big void that had opened up inside of me. The missing piece of being creative. It did not feel alright.

Since I started to be creative every day this year. I have changed. I feel more content, and happy.

Through self-expression and creativity, I am discovering who I am.

I am learning to trust myself again.

I am learning to know myself.

And this is the definition of success to me.

I am starting to love being with myself again.

During childhood, we lose the ability to trust ourselves, and often we need to re-learn that when we are adults.

In Conclusion:

Creativity allowed me to discover that love again. Ambition killed my true self because ambition is ego-driven, creativity comes from inside, from a deep knowledge of yourself.

The most vital part of creativity is not ambition but perseverance. If you show up every day and you keep showing up daily with your new art or writing piece is all that matters.

“If you look to artists who’ve managed to achieve lifelong careers, you detect the same pattern: They all have been able to persevere, regardless of success or failure.” AUSTEN KLEON

I will continue my creative journey. Are you ready to embark on yours? Are you ready to follow me?