Why even ambitious people rarely become successful

Why even ambitious people rarely become successfulWhy even ambitious people rarely become successfulSuccess iselendextrinsic.Its bedrngnis measurable.Success can only truly occur internally, because it is based on emotion. At the most basic level, success is your relationship with yourself. Most people are living a lie. They purposefully ignore and distract themselves from what they deep down want for themselves.Many people want something mora for themselves. They have dreams and ambitions. Yet, few of unterstellung people ever get what they intended.Follow Ladders on FlipboardFollow Ladders magazines on Flipboard covering Happiness, Productivity, Job Satisfaction, Neuroscience, and moraBeing ambitious isnt enough. Far more important than ambition is commitment.When youre committed to something, you will be and dowhat is required for the attainment of that thing. Youll stop wondering and start building. Youll stop being distracted and start learning. Youll start connecting. Youll sta rt failing.Youll get what you want, rather than have a long list of ambitions. Youll have actual accomplishments that reflect your inner goals and values. Your external environment will reflect your deepest internal views and aims.If youre committed to a marriage, youll change in whatever ways are necessary for your marriage to thrive. Youll become what is required to make it work. If youre committed to your craft, youll change and become what is required to do work at the level of your desire. You wont point to your limitations with a victim mentality. Youll change your limitations so they stop stopping you.Only those who are truly committed will become a new and different person in order to live their commitment.If youre not willing to change, then you arent committed to anything beyond what you currently have. If you dont believe you can change, then you cant commit to anything beyond what life randomly throws at you.The Myth Of The Unchanging SelfBecome a millionaire not for the million dollars, but for what it will make of you to achieve it.Jim RohnYour life is a reflection of you. If you want to change your life, you have to change yourself. If you want to change the world, you have to be that change.If you want to become a millionaire, you need to become the kind of person that can do that. If you want healthy relationships, you need to become the kind of person that has healthy relationships.Interestingly, in our Western Culture, we falsely emphasize fixed traits and personality types. We believe very strongly in an unalterable nature which is uninfluenced and untouched by the environments in which we reside.We believe something about us is self-contained and exists outside of space and time. This is individualism at its finest, and it leads us to believe in some theoretical and true version of ourselves, which cannot and does not change.The truth is that you are always changing. Your brain and even biology are highly malleable. Your worldview is conti nually integrating new information. When you change a part of any system, you change the whole. Thus, overtime, as you have new experiences, surround yourself with new people, and learn new things, you emerge as a new person. Yet, these changes occur gradually and in real-time, and thus are almost impossible for you to notice.Yet, as you learn new things over time, your brain literally creates new connections and is reshaped. The brain you will have in a year from now will literally be a different brain than the one you have now. Especially if you consciously reshape how you see and live in the world.Consequently, when you become fully committed to something, you throw the individualistic myths away. You are part of a dynamic system that is constantly changing.When youre committed, you stop justifying mediocrity in the name of authenticity.You stop lying to yourself about what you want and what you believe in.You create an environment that facilitates your commitment because you kno w that as a person, you take on the form of your environment. The only agency you truly have is to choose the influences that shape you, both internally and externally.If youre not committed, you rely on willpower. You remain indecisive. You leave things up to chance.You leave yourself outs. You never fully decide.When youre not committed, you live in a continual state of self-hatred and internal conflict. Over and over and over, you watch yourself consciously behave in ways that oppose your highest ambitions.Only Those Who Are Committed SucceedBeing ambitious isnt honorable. Wanting more for your life is a common desire.But being completely committed to something is not common. Its rare. Its rare because commitment requires, in the words of T.S. Eliot, nothing short of everything.The hardest thing you will give up is the false idea of what you think you are. You have no clue what you are. More importantly, there is no you that is fixed and permanent, only the individualistic idea y ou have of yourself.This authentic self is your worst enemy. Its the excuse you have for not evolving. Its your justification for not committing to something bigger and better. Its the chain around your neck, stopping you from putting yourself into situations that will demand you become a better version of you.As researcher and professor, Adam Grant,has said, But if authenticity is the value you prize most in life, theres a danger that youll stunt your own development Be true to yourself, but not so much that your true self never evolves.ConclusionIf youre truly committed to something, you will shape the circumstances which support your commitment. Youll let go of even things you once loved, which contradict the ambitions you truly want.Unlike the many people who want more for themselves but never truly get it, youll evolve. Youll be and do more than you ever thought possible because your current self and worldview is extremely limited. And your views, as well as yourself, will chan ge.Will you succeed?Will you be honest enough with yourself to evolve?Or will you continue living a lie? Will you continue pointing to some imaginary version of yourself you must be authentic to?Ready toUpgrade?Ive created a cheat sheet for putting yourself into a PEAK-STATE, immediately. You follow this daily, your life will change very quickly.Get the cheat sheet hereThis article first appeared on Medium.You might also enjoyNew neuroscience reveals 4 rituals that will make you happyStrangers know your social class in the first seven words you say, study finds10 lessons from Benjamin Franklins daily schedule that will double your productivityThe worst mistakes you can make in an interview, according to 12 CEOs10 habits of mentally strong people