[Linkpost] “Calibrating Your Ambition: Knowing When to Dream Big and When to Zoom In” by SofiaBalderson

This is a link post. TL;DR Calibrating your ambition is a skill. Overshooting can lead to burnout; undershooting can mean missed opportunities. The sweet spot lies in setting goals that stretch you and suit your current context. Use tools like assessing your starting point, clarifying your “why,” zooming out on your timeline, and recalibrating with curiosity. You probably won’t get it exactly right—but that's the point. Calibration is practice, not a one-time decision. Acknowledgements: Thanks a lot to Kevin Xia for providing valuable structural feedback and my husband, Chris Balderson, for helping me review and publish this post. Why I wrote this post Have you or someone you know burnt out after spending a year chasing a dream impact-focused job? Or maybe you or your friend is someone brilliant—capable of so much—but who seems to be playing it small? Many of us swing between overambition and underambition. Neither is great. [...] ---Outline:(00:56) Why I wrote this post(02:03) My story(02:06) Overshooting(04:21) Undershooting(07:19) Why we get ambition wrong (in both directions)(08:57) Tool #1: The Where Am I Really? Inventory(12:01) Tool #2: The Why Do I Want This? Filter(12:46) Tool #3: Zooming Out on Your Timeline(14:19) Tool #4: Keep Calibrating with Curiosity(15:14) Tool #5: When In Doubt, Overshoot (Mindfully)(17:22) Putting It Together: An Example Using All 5 Tools(20:46) How to manage the day-to-day(22:02) Conclusion(22:44) Id love to hear from you--- First published: August 5th, 2025 Source: https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/n9qJZnH3JNCNCfHxb/calibrating-your-ambition-knowing-when-to-dream-big-and-when Linkpost URL:https://notingthemargin.substack.com/p/calibrating-your-ambition-knowing --- Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.