Ambition is not hunger. It is not the craving for more or the need to be seen. It is also not about power, applause or arrival. At least, not always.

Ambition is a direction.

It is a quiet, inner ache that you should be moving, becoming, making something matter. It is not content with comfort, but it is also not about conquest. It sits somewhere between restlessness and resolve.

And we often misunderstand it.

We think it is competition, greed or arrogance, but ambition does not need to be loud for it to be real. It does not require spectacle to have substance.

It can appear as patience, discipline or the courage to start again.

Often it is found in late nights, slow work, unrewarded effort or the decision to speak when silence would be safer. For this reason, it can isolate, unsettle and push us to move when the world would have us stay still.

This is especially true if you do not fit the preferred image of what ambition, or an ambitious person, should be like.

Ambition has long been associated with a range of masculine characteristics, including aggression, dominance, and being unapologetic. When women show it, they are called cold, ruthless or unnatural. As if wanting to lead means someone forgets, or must brush off, the qualities of being caring and compassionate.

But ambition is not gendered. Men do not own it, and it is not unbecoming of women. It is not a threat, unless you fear change. It is not selfish, unless you forget its purpose.

Because ambition without purpose is just noise.

True ambition occurs in the service of something larger, such as justice or truth. It delivers progress through collective action and realising shared outcomes.

To want more is not immoral, but we must ask ourselves what it is we want more of, and who will benefit from more. Ambition that lifts only the self is brittle, but ambition that lifts others is something else entirely.

Ambition in the service of others is not grand. It can be simple. It is mentoring someone new, speaking truth in a room that prefers silence, or doing the work when it is easier to exit.

Ambition, like goodness, is not a performance, and it is not about being first. Instead, it is about being faithful to your abilities and responsibilities.

It is about continuing to imagine a different world and making the choice not to give up.