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.