5 Subtle Traits of a person who is Overambitious, According to Psychology

Ambition is often celebrated as a driving force behind success and achievement. It motivates individuals to set high goals and work tirelessly towards them. Conditions arise when ambition becomes overambition when one pursues goals to the detriment of well-being relationships, and ethical standards. Features of overambitious people are apparent differences between people with healthy levels of ambition. These traits help one to identify overambition in self or others and take corrective measures to maintain the balance of individual or professional growth. 

1. Perfectionism  

The obsessive pursuit of perfectionism is one of the most vital distinguishing features of a hyper-ambitious person. Perfectionists want to excel in every aspect of their lives, and they usually set unreasonably high standards for themselves. Perfectionists are hardly ever satisfied with what they achieve; they always want to improve and better themselves, even after accomplishing something impressive. 

Why it matters: Perfectionism usually leads to excessive stress, and, ultimately,  burnout. A published in the Journal of Counseling Psychology (2006) states that perfectionists are more anxious and depressed because of fear of failed performance and criticism. 

Example: The hyper-ambitious employee burns the late-night candle and sacrifices personal time and health at the altar of having every project perfect, sometimes at the cost of his mental well-being. 

Countermeasure: The practice of self-compassion and setting realistic expectations will be helpful in terms of managing perfectionist tendencies; so that achievement can be sustainable and yet healthy on the mind. 

2. Overcommitted  

Overambitious persons tend to commit themselves to many tasks and responsibilities.  The mind thinks that taking on more will lead to faster progress and recognition. As a result of these things, they may spread themselves too thin, resulting in decreased effectiveness and quality of work. 

Why does this matter: Overcommitment usually means lower productivity with reduced work quality. Research done by the Harvard Business Review (2017) showed that multitasking and over-commitment can lower efficiency by as much as 40 per cent causing an increase in mistakes and missed deadlines.

Example: A manager working on more than one project at the same time may find himself with difficult deadlines, which soon ends up delaying the project and reduces morale in the team. 

Counteract: Learning how to prioritize work and delegate will help the overambitious hope with a big workload, so the different commitments will receive the attention and resources they deserve. 

3. Risk-taking Behaviour  

Overambitious individuals indulge in very high-risk tendencies because they think that every high need for rewards justifies very high risks. These are most likely to undertake bold things without considering the consequences leading to severe undoings in case the plan fails. 

Significance: While taking calculated risks can lead to innovation and success, reckless risk-taking often leads to failure and loss of wealth. According to a study in the Journal of Business Venturing in 2010, overambitious entrepreneurs are likely to fail in business because they underestimate risks. 

Example: An overambitious entrepreneur invests a lot of money into a new company and carries out little or no market research; if it fails, he loses that money. 

Counter measure: A systematic way of assessing risk and making decisions will help in balancing ambition and caution, thus avoiding the ill effects of such things. 

4. Neglect The Personal Relationship  

In obsessive zeal, too many ambitious people forget their families, as in spending too little time with friends and relatives toward goals they set for working and career milestones, at the same time breaking the norms of relationships.  

Reason: Friends do matter for an individual as far as the emotional state is concerned. That is, studies by the American Journal of Health Promotion in 2012 suggested that there is a close relationship between the availability of an individual and mental health and longevity. If they are completely neglected, then loneliness will arise and the stress level will rise.

Read More: Importance of Friendships and Their Impact on Mental Health 

For example, he may miss some important family events or forget to be in touch with friends, as a professional who is too overambitious in doing his work which leads to being isolated and unsatisfied with his personal life. 

Solution: Keeping work and personal matters separate with time, like saying, “This time is for friends and family; this is for work,” can create a way of establishing a balance and improvement of relations. 

5. Ethical Compromises  

According to people who are thus highly ambitious, they would compromise a lot of their morals in a bid to achieve their goals. After all, they might think that their illegal behaviours are achieved for the sole purpose of attaining their levels of success, leading such as decisions that eventually might cause harm to either another person’s reputation or theirs in the long run. 

Why it matters: Ethical compromises lead to legal consequences, loss of one’s trust, and reputational damage. Ethical leadership is thus seen as a core factor for success in staining business practice, wherein compromising ethics could be damaging to organisation and self-integrity, according to The Journal of Business Ethics (2015). 

Example: Over-ambitious leaders might sit lax or even downright dishonest in realizing targeted performance or succeeding in a competition, which has led to legal dilemmas and loss of faith by stakeholders. 

Countermeasure: A strong sense of ethics and responsibility and continuous meditation about the long-term effects of actions may aid ambition while walking the integrity path. 

Ambition brings one to the extreme of success while overambition becomes both a rise to life and work. Perfectionism, overcommitment, taking risks, neglecting personal relationships, and compromising ethics are often characteristics seen in overambitious people. It is important to look at and understand these traits to help realize an approach to mastering the balance between ambition and sustainability. Realistic goal setting and workload management along with ethical and fair standards would help in developing a balanced constructive use of ambition to drive success without the critical price of health or integrity.