Can Your Desire to Succeed Also Make You Depressed?
Spend enough time on Instagram these days and you’ll certainly feel like you’re doing life wrong. Watching the lives of influencers, who only post perfection, can make anyone question why they get up and go to work every day if life can really be as easy as those influencers make it look.
Even though most of us know that what gets posted on social media is likely far from reality, we still like to gawk and stare at it because we dream of having that life someday — a life of perfect angles and only the highest quality natural lighting. We all have high hopes for ourselves; everyone wants to make it.
Being ambitious, or having a strong desire to achieve something and the determination to do the work to get it, is a great quality to have. I guess we’re all ambitious to some degree, but obviously some of us are more ambitious than others.
Being laser focused on achieving a goal is what I talk about a lot here, so I think it’s only right to ask this question. At what point can ambition become dangerous to your mental health? Can your desire to succeed actually cause depression?
In my research on this topic, I found a wonderfully written article by Martha McLaughlin on The Canyon’s website. In it, she explains that ambition can cause depression when your goals are unreasonable, when you neglect loved ones, when your ambition causes stress, or when the body builds up a tolerance for dopamine.
She gives 5 questions you should ask yourself if you’re finding that your ambition is causing you to be depressed.
- Is the ambition tinged with perfectionism?
- Has ambition become competition?
- Do your goals reflect your values?
- Are you trying to achieve objectives outside your control?
- Are you balancing your drive to achieve with self-care practices?
I know first hand that misplaced ambition can cause depression, because I’ve experienced it myself. Perfectionism and trying to achieve objectives that were outside of my control were the main contributors for me. And old habits die hard, because I still have to be careful about the standards I set for myself.
I have to make sure that the goals I set are realistic in time and in scope. That’s one reason I believe so strongly in the practice of SMART goal setting. If you haven’t heard me talk about that in my podcast, shame on you — go listen to it below.
Following SMART criteria forces you to be realistic and set goals that you have the real ability to achieve. Thinking through whether or not they fit the SMART criteria also gives you the chance to consider whether they align with your values.
Perfectionism is a different beast altogether. It’s dangerous and can be so debilitating that it keeps you stuck in your own head, unable to get out of the loop of self criticism that tells you you have to present your life or your achievements in a certain light. Kinda like those Instagram influencers. One way to counter this mindset is to accept imperfection as part of your process.
When it comes to your ambition becoming competition, it’s always important to keep your focus on what you do. Competing with others, especially the fake perfection you see online, is a lose lose situation. You’re your only competition, and in that, I mean that you should only be focused on being better today than you were yesterday. And even if you aren’t, there’s always tomorrow. Just do your best.
Around here, we consider self-care part of our success, right? Taking care of ourselves — mind, body, and soul — is the real success. That’s why being self aware is so important. Knowing when you need to give yourself rest, carving out time to stay physically healthy, and doing what brings you joy can help you avoid letting your ambition make you neglectful of that self-care.
Keeping your ambition in check can be hard when you have a lot of it, but it’s really important to avoid allowing your desire to succeed to be a catalyst for depression. You’ll most certainly get yourself off course from achieving your goals if you’re not mentally healthy and able to focus your energy in a meaningful and productive way.
Has your desire to succeed ever caused depression? Find me on Instagram or Facebook and let me know.
Also, if you know someone who might enjoy this article, please share it with them. And listen to my podcast, Master Your Mission, for daily motivation and inspiration to pursue your dreams.