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Sobra na ambisyon… It is good to dream. You see, in there we could be anyone. We could even fly. But when we are wide awake, we can draw the line between what is true and what is not. When our eyes are open, we see the truths around us. But there are some of us who keep seeing things differently even if their eyes are open.

One of the most inspiring lines in cinema history had to be "My ambition far exceeds my talents," said by Johnny Depp's character George Chung (Blow). This could be seen in a different way but, really, ambition sometimes overpowers a person’s capacity in doing things.

Ambition derives from the Latin ambitio, ‘a going around (to solicit votes)’, and, by extension, ‘a striving for honor, recognition, and preferment’. It can be defined as a striving for some kind of achievement or distinction, and involves, first, the desire for achievement, and, second, the motivation and determination to strive for its attainment even in the face of adversity and failure (Burton, 2014).

To have such mindset could be good since we will be pushed to a certain direction if we have some sort of a driving force. Even with the encounters of failure and difficulties along the way, one can continue to stand when fallen and strive to reach the desired destination.

But ambitions must be attained for the benefit of self-development which could then be translated to service and for the good of the family and the majority. When the ambition to become better for the benefit of the self alone (or only for the immediate family), we must be alarmed of selfishness and being clannish to overpower our capacity to be ONE with others – the majority.

There’s another way to see ambition: when someone is overly ambitious or not ambitious enough. If you aren’t ambitious enough, you’re simply settling with your current reality. It’ll be difficult for you to evolve or grow. If you’re overly ambitious, you might do unscrupulous things. You might decide to go for what you want no matter the cost (exploringthemind.com, 2018).

The article continued that at the other end of the spectrum is greed. Greed is all about boundless desire and coveting success and fame. Greed is like a bottomless pit because what the ambitious ones have never seems to be enough. They always want more and more. If they’re greedy, they’ll never be satisfied. Greed is a toxic feeling. It drags one to hell and takes down those around him/her as well. Greed won’t stop for anything. Greedy people believe that the ends justify the means. The most important thing is to get more and more. It doesn’t matter what they have to do to get it.

That’s the reason why in the workplace, you often feel “used” by these overly-ambitious people who are only good when they need your talents and resources. They are not actually befriending you for the sole purpose of friendliness. They just come to you because they can benefit from you. Once, you are NOT useful, they do not even acknowledge your presence. For them, you are now a non-entity.

For a study published in 2014 in Psychology and Psychotherapy: Theory, Research and Practice, researchers at the University of California in Berkeley evaluated feelings of self-worth — inflated and deflated — as well as the motivation to pursue power in more than 600 young men and women. What they found was a link between those feelings and motivations and mental illnesses, including depression, bipolar disorder, anxiety, and narcissistic personality disorder. Sheri Johnson, PhD, a professor of psychology at UC Berkeley and a senior author of the study, wrote that “people prone to depression or anxiety reported feeling little sense of pride in their accomplishments and little sense of power.”

That is why those who are overly-ambitious often create a lot of trouble among their companions since they have a defect in the mental state.

The treatment of mental illness has long been held back by the sense that disorders of emotion, thinking, and behavior somehow lack legitimacy and instead reflect individual weakness or poor life choices (Campo, 2017).

There is indeed a need for the Mental Health Law take effect as soon as possible. The organizations must also be aware of a great loss in resources if unhealthy people (especially those who are overly ambitious) thrive inside the offices.

Training and development won’t even have an impact to the sick mind. Whoever and whatever will train the sick mind, symptoms continue to be present and a vicious cycle of trouble with them happens.