In this motivational talk Brendon Burchard frames ambition as the essential fire that ignites desire and drives all purposeful action. He argues that contemporary culture has unfairly linked ambition with greed, a confusion that undermines personal growth. Drawing on Les Brown’s “hungry” mantra, Burchard explains that ambition is the unconscious mind’s liberator, providing the internal charge needed to break routine and pursue meaning. He urges listeners to clarify their own ambitions, warning against limiting them based on current skills or external expectations. Instead, he promotes a three‑fold ambition model—creative expression, contribution, and connection—and challenges the audience to amplify their vision tenfold, emphasizing that true fulfillment comes from daring to think bigger and aligning ambition with a love that knows no bounds.
Chapters
You know, ambition is the great fire. It's the liberator of the unconscious person. You know, it's like the first requirement of all action is desire. It's ambition. And ambition has gotten such a bad rap lately. You know, a lot of sort of New age spirituality, folks, which I would count myself sort of part of, started bemoaning the idea of having ambition. You know, it's like, oh, ambition. They started equating with greed, which is really unfortunate, because there is no action without first ambition. To do something, we have to set an intention to make an action. And that intention is to do something often more right. That's ambition. And so we have to think in our lives. What is it that I am ambitious about? What do I want to accomplish? What things need to change. You know, I remember the first time I sort of started in this motivational space. I got to hear Les Brown, and he has a famous saying. You know, he says, you gotta be hungry. You gotta be hungry to change your life. And he just goes on and on about having hunger and des. I think that's so true. And when I say it's the liberator of the unconscious person, I literally mean that the person who's wandering around half awake, who can't change their life, who can't break through, who's just going through the rhythms and the routine of life without any spice or zest or passion or enthusiasm. They're usually lacking ambition. You know, they're lacking that bigger picture for themselves, that deep desire, that hunger for something that is more satisfactory, more meaningful, more engaging in their lives. They're lacking what I call charge. You know, so much of our internal charge, our excitement for life, our excitement for tomorrow, comes from our ambition to do something meaningful with ourselves. And so we have to separate our belief in this current culture that ambition is tied to greed. Because it's two completely different things. Look it up in the dictionary. I tell people, you know, they're two very different things. Somebody had to have the ambition to make everything that you see, everything around you, was built by a man or a woman who had the ambition to create it. The cosmos, the universe, nature was built by the ambition of a God or a creator. I mean, somebody had the ambition to make this ugly ass shirt I'm wearing. Everything starts with ambition. And if we don't have clarity about what it is that we want, we can't change. No goals, no growth, no clarity, no change. So what is it you're really after? And I don't like to just stop with that question I like to ask, to go one more level, what is it you're really after? And is it after what you. Are you after enough for yourself? Are you limiting yourself based on your current competencies? A lot of people do that. They narrow their vision or their ambition for tomorrow based on what they can do today or who they are today. Without realizing, they can develop their mastery, their skills, their competency, their knowledge, their experience. Without realizing they can become a better person. They can live into their highest self. They can live into the type of person who could accomplish those goals, who could have those things. So never limit your ambitions based on your current competencies. Never limit yourself today based on your current inadequacies, because those can be irrelevant tomorrow. The main thing is to have aim in life, to have your own aim, to have your own ambitions. Not the ambitions somebody told you you should have or someone told you you're supposed to be after. Because that's how we all get on sort of, you know, sometimes a corporate treadmill, or we get on those things where we just start trying to live a life that's not even our own because we're just going with everybody. But ambition liberates that. Your individual ambition, who you want to become, what you want to do, what you want to contribute. And the highest forms of all ambition usually come down to your creative expression, your contribution and your connection with others. That creative expression. What is it you want to create in this world? And I mean get your hands dirty doing, you know, not just create some PowerPoint once in a while for some corporate thing, but something real and meaningful that you consider art for yourself, whatever that is, even if it is a PowerPoint presentation, right? But to do something that you find artistic and meaningful, that's our human drive for creative expression. Then what about contribution? What's your ambition? To give and to serve greatly for others. What do you really want to give back or give to others? What is it? And what about connection? The ultimate ambition and aim to have, I think for a lot of people is their relationships. To operate and have a love that knows no bounds. I mean, a love that is extraordinary, that is amazing. You can't improve your relationship with your family or your spouse or those that you serve, unless you have in some sense about you that desire to love or give or connect more. So today, get clear. What is it you want and is it big enough for yourself? Not limiting yourself based off your inadequacies, your competencies, but based on what you truly desire. Last challenge. Take whatever that is that you come up with and 10x it, take it by 10 times. What would be 10 times that ambition? Not just because it's silly. I know, I know, it's kind of silly. But to take that ambition that you initially have, which is usually what we usually want, is an impulse based on who we are today. And I just challenge people? No. Think bigger for yourself, because you are immense, you are magnificent, you are powerful beyond your creature understandings. So break through that another level. Challenge your brain to think even bigger for yourself, even if it's just as an activity to break the bounds of your current beliefs and behaviors. You deserve something extraordinary in your life. But at first you have to want it.
