What Does Ambition Mean Later in Life?

Our friends at dictionary.com define ambition as “an earnest desire for some type of achievement or distinction, as power, honor, fame, or wealth, and the willingness to strive for its attainment.”

For many of us, especially women, the word ambition comes pre-loaded with significant cultural baggage, like the common belief that ambitious women are capital “B’s” who routinely step on colleagues for professional advancement. On the home front, ambitious women are said to helicopter and hyper-motivate their children to excel, exceed and elevate the family to the top of the competitive parent pyramid.

News Flash - Ambition is Not about Comparison

While these tropes and stereotypes are fine for movie scripts, they misrepresent the definition of ambition and its role in our lives. Ambition and competition are entirely different motivations. While competition is about comparing with others, ambition is focused on striving on behalf of oneself. A woman who strives to be her best and reach the top of her game is ambitious. A woman who wants to be superior to others is a brat.

So, what happens to all this ambition energy later in life when so many personal goals and achievements are in the rearview mirror?

Does ambition diminish when we age into our older selves?

Research tells us that rather than disappear, ambition in older adults often morphs into a more existential space. Instead of striving to get the car of her dreams, the sixty-plus woman is more interested in sharing a lifetime of wisdom and experience with others. It’s a different kind of ambition, shifting away from material evidence of achievement in favor of deepening relationships with friends and family or using a lifetime of accumulated skills and experience to bring success to others through volunteer or mentor work.

Recently, I caught up with a good friend of mine who has been using her heart, energy and talent to teach preschoolers for more than 25 years. For her, ambition is all about continuing to learn, most often through collaboration with younger teachers where she enjoys blending her skills and experience with their fresh ideas and enthusiasm.

Re-channeling the Energy of Ambition

Ambitious sixty-somethings are increasingly stepping away from high-profile professional accolades to pursue the personal satisfaction that comes from creative, personal or entrepreneurial pursuits. Whether its reading the Bible from cover to cover, launching a consulting gig to help small businesses, hiking the Camino de Santiago, tracing and recording family ancestry or building a vacation home that will host gatherings of friends and family for generations to come, ambitious elders are looking to the future with big, bold goals that go beyond personal acclaim.  

Letting Go of Dreams that No Longer Make Sense

Retiring from a fulfilling career, even if it’s well-planned and greatly anticipated, can create a surprising vacuum when striving for professional achievement is no longer an option. It can be difficult to shift from being in charge of everyone and everything in your professional life to being the CEO of You, Inc.

Instead of trying to resurrect an old storyline, get comfortable with being off script. This is where a growth mindset comes into play as we shift away from what we know how to do in favor of striving for who we want to become.

For a former colleague with a long line of successes as a luxury real estate broker, leaving behind the thrill of the deal left her feeling unmotivated and uninspired. Her ambition had not place to thrive, until she connected with a local nonprofit focused on finding and rehabbing housing for women and children in need. Now she gets the thrill of achievement each time she closes a contract that puts a family into a secure housing.

For women who’ve pursued personal goals throughout their lives, the key to successfully reframing ambition later in life is letting go of previous definitions of what it means to pursue personal bests. The wisdom and experience of this chapter tells us to look at ambition through an exciting new lens.

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HELL YEAH!

Are you interested in finding out where your ambitious energy comes from? Check out Ancestry.com and to learn how women (and men) from generations past have contributed to your unique personality

For 50 years, Road Scholar has been creating unique and exciting learning opportunities in over 100 countries around the globe. With more than 6 million participants aged 50+ and lots of choices for solo travels Road Scholar can open up a world of ideas and inspiration.

Have you heard of the Modern Elder Academy? Founder Chip Conley created the MEA to help people in midlife find the clarity, inspiration and fulfillment they crave, through workshops developed in collaboration with some of the world’s leading scholars and experts in midlife. Check out the incredible options in Santa Fe, Baja and online.

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LET’S TALK ABOUT IT:

How do you channel your ambition as you navigate your third-third of life?

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