As a project manager, you are ambitious, there's no getting around it. Project management training, exams, APM qualifications and the job role itself all require some level of passion and ambition to pull you through because let's be honest, it's tough.

When ambition is a core part of your being, it can eat away at you, making you feel like no matter how well you do or how much effort you put into your career, it is never enough. There are always improvements to be made, others are always doing better. It is a continual battle and it's like your ambition begins to turn on you and becomes less of a drive, and more of a drag.

Many PM's can fall into this trap and live feeling like under-achievers, not realising that their ambition as taken over and turned into a truly negative force. Seeing all the certifications, milestones, project successes and lost opportunities growing, wishing you had them all as successes. The list of missed opportunities growing and becoming ever more unreachable as you put more and more pressure on yourself to achieve. Under the passion to achieve lies fear  although you're scared of not reaching your full potential, not failing.

Most project managers have tons of ambition. You simply have to be ambitious to be in this job. It is a competitive world which is getting ever more competitive with graduates competing for jobs with the latest skills and certifications against experienced professional with on-the-job skills and project management courses under their belts. Remote working and social media have also added a much sharper edge of competition to the industry, again adding to the pressure and pushing PM wannabes to froth at the mouth, hungry to get the best jobs. There's no room for unambitious individuals. In this industry, it doesn't take long to be forgotten.

However, realistically, there is only so much one person can do. There are only so many hours in a day, so much information our brain can take, so much project management training we can do at any one time. If we don't learn to keep tabs on our ambition, our mind can become overwhelmed and in effect, our ability to do well is reduced. In essence, ambition should push you so far, but not over the edge.

Here are some tips to help you keep your ambition under control:

Schedule In Regular Meetings With Yourself

Make sure you allow plenty of time for introspection. You can use these meetings to think about your goals, how to achieve them, how they might have changed, and how your priorities might have changed.

Your wants and needs will change throughout the year. You could be happy in your job in January and find yourself wanting to be a PM in a completely different industry working remotely from a different country by April - your job is inherently flexible so it makes sense your goals, ambitions and abilities will be fluid as well. Hold regular personal meetings with yourself to maintain clarity on your feelings and thoughts, and in turn, keep control of your ambition.

Stop Comparing Yourself

In project management you will constantly be compared to others. It is good to see how or why others are doing well and use that as a springboard to improve yourself. However, comparing yourself constantly and feeling like you're never as successful as others will only get you down. You will never congratulate yourself on your own achievements if you carry on this way. You will be forever living in the future rather than in your life as it is right now. Only use others more successful than you as sources of learning and of inspiration.

Celebrate Successes Outside Of Work

You need to provide yourself with other challenges outside of work, so that your ambition is not solely focused on one thing. Perhaps you want to do some project management training or teamwork training to help you at work. That is great but it is still work related. You need to give yourself other challenges to enjoy and celebrate such as:

●     Fitness goals

●     Health goals

●     Creative goals

●     Personal relationship goals

●     Travel goals

Surrender

You need to learn how to surrender to your environment, situation or anything else that means you have no control over what happens right now. Perhaps the project you are working on means you will be in the same job position for the next 6 months. Don't freak out thinking that you won't be moving forward and it will stop you achieving anything more. Embrace the fact you can relax and make a success of this project and you can only prepare for the next step after this time. A lot of people who suffer with ambition holding them back struggle to let go of this continual need to control their environment or situation. Once you learn to surrender to your situation and apply your passion and ambition within that situation, you will find the efforts you put in will become a lot more fruitful and you will learn to enjoy life as it is right now.

You Can Beat Your Ambition

If you ever feel your ambition is holding you back, rather than pushing you forward, it is important you take stock and relinquish control. Project management training can teach you a lot, but it cannot teach you how to control your ambition, that is something that has to come from you. Embrace it, recognise it and control it to make the most of it.