What I’m seeing more of now is people realising they need to work out what ambition means to them and them alone. Your own definition will be different from your colleague, your friend, your partner, and it takes a bit of soul-searching to find – but when you do, it will change the way you work forever.

Start by noting down what your values are: these are the things that drive you in life, that make you feel happiest and most fulfilled. For example, mine are achievement, ideas, learning and variety – I know when I’m not getting enough of these four things in my life; I can feel stagnant. There have been moments where I’ve over-prioritised work and stopped doing something like playing sport because I’ve been so busy, but then I missed the achievement kick I got from playing netball matches at the weekend and ended up feeling worse in myself and worse at work. It was a bad decision for me, personally and professionally, but it reminded me that my ambition is only healthy when I’m tending to all four of my key values.

Think about what is really important to you, and use that to redraw your ambitions. If autonomy is really important to you, maybe your ambition is to be self-employed one day. If helping others gives you energy, maybe your ambition is to dedicate a day a week to volunteering. If being around your family fills you up, maybe your ambition is to get to a place, financially, where you can spend most of your time with them. These ambitions are all just as valid and just as inspiring as “becoming the CEO” – and if they’re conjured up with your own specific values in mind, working towards them is far more likely to make you happy.

How to have ambition: 3 important lessons we can all use in our careers