Ambition gets a bad rap. The trait that pushes someone toward success can sometimes turn into a game where winning isn’t about achieving; it’s about beating the other person. Channel it correctly, however, and ambition can bring great results.
"On average, ambitious people attain higher levels of education and income, build more prestigious careers, and report higher overall levels of life satisfaction," says Neel Burton, psychiatrist and author of Heaven and Hell: The Psychology of the Emotions. "Many of man's greatest achievements are the products, or accidents, of their ambition."
