Mike Taylor

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Category: Work

  • Can I Be Ambitious and Still Follow God’s Will?

    We all have things we want to accomplish. We all have ambition.

    Ambition is simply the tension between where we want to get and where we’re currently at.

    Whether we realize it or not, our worldviews, our beliefs, and our actions all flow from our ambitions. 

    And God is okay with that.

    In fact, he ordains and blesses ambition.

    From the beginning of time, God created an ideal for mankind.

    He said he put mankind on the earth to watch over it and to keep it – to serve it and protect it. 

    Being in God’s presence drove ambition in its purest form.

    It was only when our ambition drifted away from God’s ambition for us that things got out of order.

    There are essentially two types of ambition: 

    • Selfish ambition
    • Selfless ambition

    Selfish ambition primarily helps us but can also benefit others.

    Selfless ambition primarily helps others but can also benefit us.

    The determining factor between selfish and selfless ambition is submission.

    Submission is what keeps ambition in check.

    God desires for his people to prosper.

    Deuteronomy 30:8-9 says, “You will again obey the Lord and follow all his commands […] Then the Lord your God will make you most prosperous in all the work of your hands”. 

    This promise of prosperity is repeated over and over again throughout Scripture. 

    One of my favorite examples of the promise of prosperity is in Leviticus chapter 26. 

    God is telling the Israelites that if they will obey Him then He will make them exceedingly and abundantly comfortable and successful. 

    He says things like, “you will eat all the food you want” and “I will look on you with favor and make you fruitful and increase your numbers”. 

    It’s very difficult to read through the entire Bible and maintain the belief that God is not on a very direct mission to fulfill our ambitions and bless others through us.

    But the beautiful thing is, every good thing God gives to us is only available through submission to Him. 

    And therein lies the great dichotomy of submission and ambition. 

    Our truest and purest ambitions are only fulfilled when we give them up and trust them to God. 

    Submission to God is trusting Him, rather than ourselves, to fulfill our desires.

    Submission, then, isn’t choosing something less than what we want because someone else said so; it’s choosing to allow God to fulfill our God-centered ambitions for both ourselves and for others.

    Ambition is not something to be feared. 

    Ambition in submission to God is an expression of faith. 

    Whenever we shy away from ambition, we’re playing it safe.

    We either don’t believe we have what it takes or we can’t trust God for it.

    So we put on a mask of fear and call it contentment.

    Fighting the fight of faith involves pressing into ambition while maintaining submission to God. 

    This is the call on all our lives, not just some. 

    Many people live in fear because they misunderstand contentment. 

    When Paul writes, “godliness with contentment is great gain” (1 Timothy 6:6), he’s teaching Timothy to find all he needs in God alone regardless of circumstances.

    He’s teaching him to lack nothing (Psalm 23).

    When you lack nothing, ambition becomes a way for your blessings to become other people’s blessings. (Genesis 12:2)

    Paul repeatedly encouraged Timothy to use his gifts while also not getting caught up in needing acceptance or worldly wealth.

    This is a perfect picture of ambition under submission.

    Just before the verse where Paul talks about contentment, he says this to Timothy:

    “…devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to preaching and to teaching. Do not neglect your gift, which was given you…” (1 Timothy 4:13-14). 

    He’s telling him to step into his gifts instead of shying away from them.

    In the first chapter of Paul’s second letter to Timothy, Paul tells him, “…fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline” (2 Timothy 1:6-7). 

    We love quoting that verse, but the fear that Paul was specifically targeting was the fear of using ambition for God’s glory.

    Fear leads us to shrink into the shadows and call it contentment.

    God calls us to step out of our comfort zone to use the gifts and talents as an expression of faith. 

    And in that process we grow closer to God. Because it requires cultivating ambition and giving it to God through submission.

  • Is Personal Ambition Dangerous?

    Our culture puts a hyperfocus on ambition and individual success. 

    We’re becoming more and more okay with sacrificing on the altar of self-improvement.

    Personal growth and achievement aren’t inherently unhealthy. But as a society, we’ve taken ambition entirely too far.

    True progress always requires yielding for others, not advancing past them.

    When you’re driving down the road and you approach a red light, you stop. 

    You do that so people coming from other directions can get ahead of you on the road you’re on.

    Even though you’re allowing those people to go in front of you, you’ve decided that it’s best for society for us to yield to them. 

    To stop our progress for theirs.

    Is it frustrating? Absolutely. Especially when you have to be somewhere. 

    But imagine if every driver prioritized their progress over others. 

    Imagine the chaos that would ensue if everyone started doing what seemed best to them to get to their destination the quickest.

    There would be people driving in the grass, driving off the road, and crashing at red lights.

    Now compare that to the current state of society:

    Does it seem as if maybe we started adopting that mindset a bit too much in our culture? 

    We’re in a chaotic environment that’s largely caused by an unhealthy amount of selfish ambition.

    Ambition has always been, and is still today, best utilized with a healthy amount of submission to others. 

    We were created to serve, and we’re most fulfilled when we’re serving. 

    An 80-year Harvard study found that the number one key to happiness is found in giving your time and energy to others through relationships. 

    Deep down we all know it. That’s why we’re drawn to help one another even when we have nothing to gain.

    If service is where you’ll be most fulfilled, then serving others is what will keep your ambition in check.

    This service-first mindset is what keeps relationships healthy and families whole. 

    When you put aside what you want in order to do what’s best for the whole, you actually end up getting what you want – fulfillment and happiness.

    It’s another one of those weird Jesus paradoxes. 

    But we’ve lost sight of that truth in our culture. 

    It should come as no surprise that both self-centeredness and mental health issues have been on the rise at the same time. 

    We’ve lost our sense of community.

    And we’ve found that the lack of connection leaves us empty, no matter how much we achieve or attain.

    So here’s my bet:

    If we filter ambition through the lens of submission to others through service, I’m willing to bet that mental and emotional traffic jams will start to clear up.

  • What to Do If You Hate Your Job

    “I hate my job.”

    Okay. Fair. We’ve all been there.

    But let’s clear something up:

    You’re not stuck. You’re building.

    Every meeting, every task, every moment you grit your teeth—you’re laying the foundation for the house you’ll live in tomorrow.

    The question is: will you be proud of it?

    There’s an old story about a carpenter who wanted to retire.

    His boss asked him to build one last house.

    He was ready to leave, so he rushed it. He cut corners. He stopped caring.

    When he finished, the boss handed him the keys:

    “This is your house – a final gift from me to you.”

    He was crushed.

    If he had known he was building for himself, he would’ve done it differently. Now he was stuck with a shoddy house he built for himself.

    Spoiler: The carpenter is you.

    You’re building your future habits, reputation, relationships, and mindset.

    Not someday. Now.

    Hating your job doesn’t make you stuck. Checking out does.

    So show up. Listen, learn, grow, build well. Even here – especially here.

    Because one day, the keys are handed back.

    And you’ll have to live in what you built.

  • Why Resting Is the Hidden Productivity Hack

    Somewhere along the way, we started wearing burnout like it’s a badge of honor.

    Letting someone know that we’re busy feels validating.

    Busyness feels like progress.

    Take parenting for example. It’s very easy to sign yourself up for everything you think you’re “supposed” to be doing, because saying no to the cultural norms feels like rejection.

    Maybe that’s why a survey found that 60% of parents feel overwhelmed by the mental load of parenting.

    I think most of that is self-inflicted…being unwilling to sit in the emptiness of boredom.

    Busy has become our baseline. And without it, we feel unproductive and unimportant.

    Doing things you deem productive can cause your brain to release dopamine. Which is potentially part of the reason busyness feels like a drug.

    It can be addicting, but overwhelm isn’t a sign of importance. It’s a sign that something needs to change.

    A burned-out person is an ineffective person.

    You can’t pour out if you’re empty. And you can’t fake being present for long.

    Rest isn’t indulgent. Rest is essential.

    One study found that regular leisure activities like quiet time, time in nature, hobbies, even just unwinding are linked to lower stress, lower blood pressure, better health, and better mood.

    This isn’t just about having a hobby or taking a vacation. It’s about fostering a lifestyle that includes being comfortable with boredom.

    But most of us ignore the invitation. We call it lazy or selfish or just plain impossible.

    But what if your health and peace was part of the job?

    What if letting go is what helps you show up better?

  • Is the American Dream Dead?

    The American Dream as we know it is going away.

    It’s making way for new opportunity.

    For generations, the formula was simple: work hard, follow the rules, climb the ladder. Show up, do your job, and you’ll be fine.

    But now the ladder is gone.

    The jobs are being outsourced, automated, or eliminated altogether.

    And the dream we were promised is slipping through our fingers.

    Not because people stopped working hard, but because the reward for average is dwindling.

    And it’s not a glitch in capitalism. Capitalism is working exactly how it should.

    It rewards efficiency. It rewards speed. It rewards cheap.

    And robots are really good at all three.

    You can’t praise capitalism when it lifts someone up, then curse it when it replaces you. It’s just doing what it’s designed to do – to optimize.

    Which means you have to change what you bring to the table.

    Seth Godin calls this the end of the industrial economy. The death of “just showing up.”

    In his book Linchpin, he says the future belongs to people who bring something human – creativity, generosity, insight, care.

    Cogs, button-pushers, and box-checkers won’t excel in this model.

    Linchpins are not the cheapest or the fastest. They’re the ones you’d miss if they disappeared.

    • They’re the barista who remembers your name and your story.
    • The employee who solves problems before they escalate.
    • The designer who hears what you meant, not just what you said.
    • The teacher who turns information into transformation.

    Being a Linchpin means showing up with intention, solving real problems, and offering something no one else can replicate.

    We’re not being replaced because we’re lazy. We’re being replaced because we became predictable.

    And predictable is easy to automate.

    So now we face a choice:

    Mourn the loss of stability, or step into the risk of becoming irreplaceable.

    The American Dream isn’t dead. It’s just evolving.

    It’s no longer about climbing the ladder.

    It’s more about becoming a ladder that people would miss if it were gone.

    That, I believe, is an evolution that we desperately need.

  • Why Half of College Students Don’t Graduate, and Half of Graduates Don’t Use Their Degree

    College used to be marketed as being “for everyone”.

    It still is today to some degree (see what I did there 😉).

    That “mistruth” is more false now than it’s ever been.

    College can be one of the best experiences a young person has, especially if they go in with a plan.

    I’m very glad that doctors, engineers, lawyers, and scientists go to college.

    But having a plan and using college as a springboard to a successful career is not the norm.

    One survey found that a third of American adults had no plan after graduation.

    Another study found that about half of all bachelor’s degree graduates end up in a job that doesn’t require a college degree.

    Meanwhile, college graduates, on average, leave school with $38,000 in student loan debt.

    Most kids sign up for college, agree to pay the massive bill, then try to figure it out while they’re there. And sadly, almost half of them don’t (40% don’t graduate).

    College has become this place to extend high school and delay adulthood. And it’s not hard to understand why.

    We ask 18-year-olds to pick a major, choose a career path, and invest thousands upon thousands of dollars in a decision they don’t fully understand yet.

    And even if they do it right, there’s still one major skillset they probably won’t learn in college:

    How to solve real-world problems without a rulebook or a manual to follow.

    College teaches you how to research, write, show up on time, and follow instructions. 

    All of that has value, of course. 

    But real success – especially today – demands more. You have to know how to step into unclear situations and figure out what to do next.

    That’s rare today, and it’s because of how we teach our kids.

    It’s almost impossible to teach that in a classroom.

    Most college programs don’t regularly ask students to solve problems without a clear process. Students are taught to give the right answer, not find one on their own.

    But the people who build careers and lead teams and make things better are the ones who create solutions when there wasn’t a roadmap, not the ones who follow all the steps correctly.

    That doesn’t mean college is a waste. It has immense value for certain career paths. It just means there are huge gaps between what’s efficient for grading and what’s effective in the real world.

    And the truth is, we desperately need more problem solvers than we need rule followers.