More than three years since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in the US, Jessica Kim’s life looks very different than it used to be.
Kim is a mother of three children and founder of Ianacare, a care platform; she also takes care of her elderly father. She works hard all the time.
But the tenor of her hard work has changed since 2020. Before that, her norm was to work late into the night and describe herself by her job title and what she produced. Now she’s no longer interested in hitting one career milestone after another, of “always up and right.”
She still wants to “go after something,” to be passionate. But that something no longer needs to be her career. Watching her mother die and witnessing the death and illness of the past three years made it clear how important it was for her to change her priorities.
“My ambition now is that I want to live a meaningful life, rather than achieve the highest level of success in X,Y,Z things,” says Kim. “I want to rest. I want to take care of myself. I want to drop everything and show up for my boyfriend.
Thanks to Jessica Kim
Since the launch of our series about ambition, dozens of people have reached out to tell their story. Yes, they say Fortune, they still work hard, still have ambitions. But after weathering a global pandemic, weathering social and political turmoil, and dealing with rampant inflation, job losses and a possible recession, they’ve reassessed what really matters to them. Although the headlines call for a ‘return to normal’, there is no return to their old selves.
Simply working hard for a company’s profit does not appeal to them. But working on a long-held dream or for personal fulfillment does. When confronted with constant illness, death and an increasingly difficult standard of living, it is not surprising that many people’s view of the world and their place in it has changed.
As a result, some lean out of the rut and into what Austin Kleon calls quiet ambition. “I don’t know what stopping quietly is, but I like the idea of quiet ambition,” the author and artist tells Fortune. “I am not so good at being fooled anymore. What I would say I’m really good at is sticking around and sticking with things that I’ve set up in my own creative career.
It’s just one of many ways some Americans have reconsidered their relationship to labor since the start of the pandemic. Some people find themselves prioritizing their family, personal health, and free time instead of being logged into work for a few more hours for appearances. And others still are trying to find the right balance, lead a gentle life as they figure out what their quiet ambition looks like.
‘I’m not just a man’
For Kleon, quiet ambition takes the form of showing up in his studio day in and day out and making art – “it’s not hard work, it’s not a mammoth task,” he says. For Kim, whose faith also plays a big role in her life, quiet ambition puts love at the center of every decision she makes. And for Cristina Goyanes, it’s about looking beyond ‘chasing performance for performance’s sake’.
In 2020, Goyanes was able to catch his breath for the first time in more than a decade. Formerly a freelance reporter and editor, she used the “pause” as an opportunity to pursue her long-held dream of entrepreneurship.
The 42-year-old co-founder Revel Digital Collective, a brand editor, with two other women, and the decision is life-changing. Her focus is now on nurturing long-term relationships and contracts, not necessarily at the breakneck pace inherent in media, her old industry.
At the same time, pursuing her dream also allows her ambition to blossom as she takes on the new role of the leader of a successful company. She discovers that grinding is not synonymous with success.
“I did the work. Now I’m not going to stop working, but I can’t do it with the same intensity,” she says. “The drive is still there, [but] it’s a bit quieter than before.”
When her father was diagnosed with cancer in 2022, Goyanes found herself in a caretaker role and was grateful to have the flexibility to attend his doctor appointments and chemo treatments without being professionally punished. She may have been more concerned about meeting deadlines in the past; now she could put her father first.
For Goyanes, the changes she has made in recent years are the beginning of a new chapter in her life. She is excited to write the story day by day. In a culture that values the constant grind, get rich when you’re young, and short-term results over long-term success, quiet ambition can be quietly revolutionary.
“The pandemic allowed us to be seen as human beings,” she says. “Before the pandemic, it was clear that we were just a workforce. Now that has changed. I’m not just a workforce, I’m a human being, I’m a whole person.
FortuneThe CFO Daily newsletter is the must-have analysis every finance professional needs to move forward. Register today.