No. 49 of the MaxLife Reflection Series · prints to one 8.5 × 11 page · 3-hole-punch ready
MAXLIFE
Reflection Series
49
No. of 75

Selective Ambition, Build a Life by Values, Not Vanity with Charlotte Grimmel

Companion to the MaxLife episode with Charlotte Grimmel

Charlotte Grimmel of The Mind Friend calls it selective ambition: you don't really want the goal, you want the feeling under it, so you get to choose what's worth being ambitious about.

▶ Watch the full episode with Charlotte Grimmel for deeper context on how to approach these questions
01

The Goal On Top

Write down the goal you've been chasing hardest lately. Now answer honestly: what feeling do you think you'll finally get the day you reach it?

02

Vanity Or Values

Grimmel splits ambition two ways. Vanity is what looks good to other people. Values are what you'd choose even if nobody ever saw it. Sort a few things you're chasing into the two columns, then circle the one value you'd keep no matter what. Which column is your week actually built around?

Vanity (for the look)
Values (for me)
03

The Rule You Never Picked

What's an unwritten rule about success you've been living by, like 'I have to grind' or 'I'm only good if it's perfect,' that you never actually chose and just inherited? Where did it come from?

04

What People Say At The End

Grimmel's test: picture people talking about you at the very end of your life, after a life well lived. What do you most want them to say you were like, and is that what your week is actually built around?

05

Aim Your Ambition Here

A goal gets checked off and disappears. The value you named in prompt 02 you get to live today and never finish. What's one ordinary thing this week you'll do differently to live that value on purpose?

Grimmel's whole shift is from vanity to values. A goal can be hit and then it's gone, but a value is something you live every single day and never finish. Look at what you named in prompt 02. That's the thing worth being ambitious about, no medal required.
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