Restless Ambition

We all have that work colleague or professional connection who never seems satisfied with where they are in their life. They've got a good job, achieved above average, but seem to keep wanting more. They seem to be posting their new ventures, certifications, board positions, and educational credentials just to make us feel less-than. Why can't they just be grateful for what they already have?

Maybe for some of you, I'm that restlessly ambitious person who never seems satisfied. But for me, this person is my dad. I've heard comments made about and to him about this trait - my family refers to it as "Shamil Speed." He is always looking for what's next, always growing, never content to sit still, despite successes he's accomplished. Because I'm a partner on a good amount of the businesses my dad is a part of, I've been exposed to Shamil Speed since the onset of my career. The second every cog in the business seems to be running optimally, he's in my office, asking what we are going to go after next.

It used to annoy me. Honestly, some days it still does. I want to take a break, rest, reset before going full force, Shamil Speed, to the next goal on our list to tackle.

Last week, we hosted our annual Birmingham Title Agency Appreciation Event. We've put this on in some form since the beginning of the agency, but it's really grown the last few years. The concept is simple: we invite every person that has brought business to our agency that year and thank them for working with us. There would be no title agency without our clients.

Additionally, it serves as an appreciation party for all our team members. Especially the ones that aren't client-facing, so they can see first-hand the impact all their hard work has on our clients, and how appreciated they are by the people they do work for. Their bosses can tell them all the time they're doing a great job, but it's quite another thing to hear it directly from the benefactors of their hard work and expertise.

After another successful, really fun event, I started questioning whether it was apparent to my professional network that I am a deeply grateful person more than once out of the year. Whether my restless ambition gives a different impression.

I don't know who to give credit (or blame) for being as career-driven as I am, except perhaps my genetics. But I do know that I become incredibly motivated to grow and continue pushing towards new goals when something just works the way it should.

When we had signed the purchase agreement for American Title Agency of Lenawee , I was allowed to come in two weeks before and observe the operation to better prepare for the takeover of the agency and transition to our processes and procedures. I could not help literally laughing in delight learning the ways they were currently doing things and knowing that I would be shaving hours of labor off their days. I wasn't being mean or condescending, it was thrilling to discover that I had solutions to problems they didn't even realize were problems. It wasn't even that I had some secret formula or process, just that I was much newer to the industry and didn't have the burden of the way title agencies operated over the last forty years and how to reconcile the two.

I was so geeked every time I implemented or changed a process that saved time, made the team members' lives simpler, and they agreed to adopt to their daily work tasks. It was like hitting the lottery. Or finding the perfect puzzle piece sliding into place. It made me want to do more, find more efficiencies, keep improving. My restless ambition has always been rooted in that light that goes on in their faces when they find that one tool they didn't even know they needed. And everything I've done since is chasing that light.

It's not because I'm not grateful for what I have, or what I've accomplished. It because I was lucky (and worked very hard) to discover early in my career what I was good at, and I've wanted to keep doing more of that with more people ever since.

The holiday season as an adult is just exhausting. Be so thankful/grateful/appreciative of everything you have in your life! Now send me a list of what you want for Christmas! Be grateful for what you have! Now what don't you have that you really want!? Be so thankful for all people in your life, don't take them for granted! But this holiday season make sure to prioritize your mental health and don't get burnt out!

This is the time of year I really evaluate how I spend the majority of my life - working. Am I grateful to be employed? Of course. But more than that, am I grateful for the work I'm doing? Does it make me want to do more of it? The people in my network that are restlessly ambitious always make me curious - what are they doing that's so motivating? They must really love the work they do if they want to do MORE of it. In my experience, it's not the job title providing that motivation - software engineer, sales rep, attorney, title insurance agent - it's that fuzzy, ambiguous definition of their work - problem solver, innovator, advocate - that really generates ambition and growth.

My humble suggestion on this Black Friday (while our emails and phones are screaming at us to buy more, do more, want more) is to reframe the way we think of ambition. Not as a personal edification or drive for financial success. Instead think of ambition for yourself and others as a way to show appreciation for your past accomplishments by doing more for others within your organization. Finding ways to make your success positively impact the most amount of people. If you're in a position that does not fuel your ambition, doesn't make you want to do more of it, now's the perfect time do something about it.