Who In Your Life Is Supporting Your Ambition?
To preface, I'm a 28 year old college dropout who was unhappy and looking for more out of life. So I went the self-help route. I read 'You are a badass at making money' by Jen Sincero, TWICE (Thanks Books-A-Million). After I was feeling extremely motivated to change my reality, view money as a tool to create the life I want and enjoy the ride along the way. I started by brainstorming how to transform my financial status (we'll save that for another post). But in the process I decided to ask the people closest to me, who know me outside of my career, what my brand was. Essentially asking them how they viewed me as a marketable product, and what skills I had to offer. Their answers were surprising.
First, out of the 10 people I asked, only 2 responded. I found this hurtful to my ego, but also very telling about my friends. The 2 friends who responded gave me RAVE reviews and really boosted my confidence. They told me how Driven, Generous, Adaptable and Eager I am to be challenged. They used words like Inclusive, Industrious, Self-Assured, Adventurous and Passionate.
But the 8 who left me on 'read' made me feel as though this wasn't a serious enough matter to require their effort to respond. The next correspondence I received from them was about a new spot for dinner or something they had seen on Instagram. I had previously considered these people to be completely supportive of me and my dreams, but this little exercise caused me to pivot.
I still love and admire those 8 friends, but the 2 who CHOSE to lift me up are coincidentally, the 2 who are the most ambitious in their own lives and careers. I think that says a lot about what we see as mundane and what we see as necessary when it comes to work and our relationships.
What to me felt like a simple ask of my closest friends to help narrow my niche, to some felt like me fishing for a compliment or asking for praise from the people who shouldn't have to try so hard to be in my life. I see it from both perspectives, but I decided right then and there to be sure I was giving my relationships the validation they needed in whatever way they were asking for it. And that the friends who had an opportunity to support me in the moment, did.
What moments have you had where you had to pivot or realize a relationship was on different terms than you had previously understood them to be?
Have you had this realization where you and a partner's ambitions were growing at different rates?
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Hi all - ok this is a first.
The new boss, promoted from within, and I are a bad fit, to put it mildly. I put in my two weeks’ notice, and she replied that I could leave tomorrow.
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