{"id":119961,"date":"2018-11-29T16:38:53","date_gmt":"2018-11-30T00:38:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/?p=119961"},"modified":"2018-11-29T16:40:01","modified_gmt":"2018-11-30T00:40:01","slug":"how-to-become-more-ambitious","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/2018\/11\/29\/how-to-become-more-ambitious\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Become More Ambitious"},"content":{"rendered":"

In Praise of Ambition:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Why were the ancients anti-ambition?<\/h2>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

In reading a lot of Roman philosophy (Seneca, Cicero, etc), I was always puzzled:<\/p>\n

\n Why was ambition seen as a vice?\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I’ve always believed that ambition is one of the ultimate virtues, especially in modern times!<\/p>\n

\n

My definition of ambition<\/h2>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The etymology of the word “ambition” came from Roman times, in which to have “ambition” literally meant to go around and ask other people to vote for you. (“ambio<\/a>” in Latin)<\/p>\n

I prefer the more practical concept of ambition as,<\/p>\n

\n Striving towards greatness.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\n

Always strive and prosper<\/h2>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Is a life without ambition a life worth living?<\/p>\n

This is why I love the rapper ethos:<\/p>\n

\n The harder you hustle and work, the more you prosper and thrive.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This is why I love the rap of JAY Z, Rick Ross, A$AP crew, Kendrick Lamar, Eminem, Dr. Dre.<\/p>\n

The idea is simple:<\/p>\n

\n You have control over your own fate.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The actions, risks, and ambitions you have in life dictate how your life will turn out!<\/p>\n

\n

No ceilings<\/h2>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\n “I took the top off my Maybach!”\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

With ambition, you want to keep flying higher.<\/p>\n

You disdain the ground. You love to soar and fly!<\/p>\n

You’re always curious of,<\/p>\n

\n How much more am I capable of?\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

You’re curious to test your own limits<\/a> and strength<\/a>, and to go beyond<\/em> yourself.<\/p>\n

\n

How to become more ambitious<\/h2>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

I’m fortunate enough that my mom was my ultimate “hype man”; she empowered me and always believed in me. She pushed me forward, and never doubted my abilities.<\/p>\n

Yet not everyone is so fortunate.<\/p>\n

To have supreme confidence in yourself, you need to install a new operating system in your mind.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

This means “reformat” your brain; erase all that bullshit from your past (Zen and Taoist philosophy), and start to study empowering philosophy (Stoicism<\/a>, Nassim Taleb, Nietzsche).<\/p>\n

Avoid what weakens you, and ruthlessly prune “nay sayers” and leeches from your life.<\/p>\n

And also perhaps watch more superhero movies; you can become a superhero!<\/p>\n

\n

Physiological strength<\/h2>\n

\"ghost<\/p>\n

I also believe to become more ambitious, you need to have enough physical strength. Simple things:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. More muscle mass, less body fat<\/li>\n
  2. Sleep enough (wake up without an alarm clock) <\/li>\n
  3. Powerlifting<\/li>\n
  4. Follow a no sugar, mostly “ketogenic” diet<\/li>\n
  5. More fasting during the day, more feasting at the night<\/li>\n
  6. Walk more, and stand more (I believe in standing desks, and going on walks to clear your mind).<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Don’t be humble<\/h2>\n

    \"\"<\/p>\n

    Don’t be humble. Know you’re dope. You have lots of great things to contribute to society.<\/p>\n

    Remember:<\/p>\n

    \n You’re doper and more ill than you think!\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

    GO HARD!
    \nERIC<\/p>\n

    ENTREPRENEURSHIP 101 ><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    In Praise of Ambition:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":119900,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-119961","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-posts"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/eric-kim-photography-kyoto-cindy-project-13.jpg?fit=4928%2C3264&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119961","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=119961"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119961\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":119963,"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119961\/revisions\/119963"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/119900"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=119961"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=119961"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=119961"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}