Success by osmosis.
The first line of Paul Graham's Cities and Ambition sums things up well:
Great cities attract ambitious people. You can sense it when you walk around one. In a hundred subtle ways, the city sends you a message: you could do more; you should try harder.
But the prerequisite is that the city must be the home of ambitious people first. My time in Bucharest elicited no such feelings, but my time in New York screamed it at all hours in all places in many languages; the few days I spent in Salt Lake City made me feel no different (except maybe that I wanted to mountain bike more), but every time I visit a specific part of my current city I want to do more in all aspects of my life: career, fitness, writing, knowledge. It whispers in the attractive people that walk by, in the cars that drive by, in the "coolness" and youth that exudes from the buildings, in knowing that this area is known for its density of ambitious people. And while some of it is unsustainable status games, most of these people maintain socially- and professionally-prestigious positions, and that's not nothing.
Some specific locations also ooze ambition: successful companies that employ smart, conscientious people; reputable, no-nonsense gyms that are dedicated to a sport; startup incubators that attract top talent hoping to make it big.
Can the ambition felt in these physical places be harnessed to increase one's own ambition? Of course. And that's why the best keep getting better.
(Note that the following has some gross generalizations.)
The famous quote fits well:
You're the average of the five people you spend the most time with
Living in an general environment of ambition (GEoA) offers continuous sources of motivation through (in)direct social pressure, comparison, and envy. Many traits probably correlate well with living in an GEoA: health and well-being (healthier eating through access to high-quality restaurants, more exercise opportunities due to convenient venue access, a general desire to be healthy); wealth (high-paying careers, career or alumni or family networks); personalities (agreeableness, conscientiousness). An individual's ambition gets pulled towards the average of those around them; in this case the direction is up, but can just as easily be down.
Imagine a community of these people. Healthy restaurants are the go-to choice for any meal, while unhealthy options get frowned upon. Exercise is often a social activity, whether it be through a gym or classroom session or just a simple walk in the park. Wealth is (c)overtly signaled through the clothes and accessories, cars, decorations, promotions, and travels. Everyone is incredibly friendly and works hard in everything they do, from career to exercise to hobbies to personal appearance to lawn care. Nobody is siloed; they see each other every day in the hallways, in the restaurants, on the streets; the designer tops and dresses, the luxury sports cars, the bulging muscles and skinny abs, the suitcases being rolled down the hall.
Now imagine living in a community of these people. The ambition is contagious, the desire to improve in any space increases as a function of proximity and time spent near these people. You want to be healthier, fitter, more successful, harder working, wealthier, nicer, more popular. Sometimes this may be adversarial in a keeping-up-with-the-Joneses way, but it need not be; success in a community like this is mostly a zero-sum game due to minimal overlap, allowing everyone to get better in their own way without negatively impacting others.
Now imagine a community of these people's unambitious twins. Fast food is readily available and socially accepted. Exercise options rarely offer social options and isn't considered fun by most. Display of wealth is unimportant, with people driving boring cars and wearing boring clothes and working boring jobs. Everyone just goes to work and comes home with little interaction with neighbors.
Now imagine living in a community of these unambitious twins. The lack of ambition is soul-sucking, dragging anyone who is trying to rise up downwards. Seeing others work hard for little reward does not inspire confidence in the journey nor destination, leading to less and less ambition over time. Ambition and success are not recognized by others nor does it mean nearly as much: being average in a community that's below average means little to nothing; being above average in a community that's well above average means a lot.
The first set of people are just better. They're healthy, fit, succeed in most things they do, are fun and enjoyable to be around, name it.
Comparison and the use of others' success can be a dangerous thing, producing envy and jealousy if wielded without experience. Comparison to gain motivation is a safe(r) option, and while there may be some initial personal dissatisfaction with one's status, it only manifests itself on a personal level and not outwardly. Learning to compare this way is important while operating in an EoA to maintain sanity and channel energy correctly and efficiently.
And thus the ambition treadmill reveals itself, where any gain in ambition is fleeting, and competition is fierce, where one person ups the speed in response to the other upping the speed in response to the first upping the speed. But is it fleeting? And is regularly upping the speed really that bad?
While ambition can be contagious and transferrable across domains, specificity is almost always better due to less loss/more transferability, making it much more effective to spend time with those who are ambition in a desired domain (e.g., if trying to improve climbing skills, spend time in a climbing gym instead of a powerlifting gym).
Environments are also not created equal within each category: more ambition is generally better, depending on how far one wants to go. A non-zero, but still small, amount of ambition exists in the average suburban box gym, but a substantial amount exists in a gym dedicated to a sport due to its competitiveness. These should be selected carefully and with caution to avoid environments lacking the desired amount of ambition.
General examples of major vs. minor (in terms of ambition amount) SEoAs include the following, along with select case studies:
The outcome of sports competition, actual combat and life itself is decided largely by one's attitude. Superior firepower, whether physical or technical is a contributing factor but "heart" governs the application of resources. Spirit is the most powerful force on the field.
Acquiring the spirit necessary to win, which includes a positive acceptance of pain, is difficult in a society where comfort is more highly regarded than capacity. When genuine physical fitness is the norm for so few it is hard to avoid being dragged into the morass. You become what you do. How and what you become depends on environmental influence so you become who you hang around. Raise the standard your peers must meet and you'll raise your expectations of yourself. If your environment is not making you better, change it. We did.
We surround ourselves with people like ourselves, and with those whom we admire and want to become. Instead of proscribing discomfort we prescribe it. When we exercise we also exorcise. We value horsepower ahead of appearance not vice-versa. We control our environment to produce the results we seek.
Gym Jones is private. Rules and standards separate it from the norm. Private implies control, which means Gym Jones is not open to everyone. However, private does not mean closed.
Getting to some of the good environments may require spending time in the bad to pay dues or as a stepping stone to be taken more seriously. There can also be steep barriers to entry in the form of wealth, genetics, or sheer luck. Unfortunately, some areas will continue to be outside the reaches of hard work and discipline.
Ambition is absolute. An individual in the 50th percentile who wants to achieve the 60th percentile is far less ambitious than their counterpart who wants to go from 90th to 99th because of the input (effort/time) vs. output (results) curve's logarithmic shape (smaller improvements in higher skill levels result when given the same input). The ambition vs. output curve is effectively the same, resulting in a key takeaway: the higher the level one is at or wants to achieve, the more ambitious the environment should be.
This means going back to older, less ambitious environments is a bad move due to the pulling down that is likely to occur. This is exemplified by the stereotype of the successful guy who made it out of the small town and goes back years later only to find it in the same state, the same people with the same job drinking the same beer in the same bar. Graduate from these areas and move on without forgetting those who helped you get out—someone has to stay behind to ensure others can get out later.
The following assume intra-city locations (i.e., choosing to live in area A vs. B in city C) and other factors are held constant (driving times to/from places of interest, etc).
Some personal notes on my moving to a GEoA from a place filled with unambitious twins.
Costs:
Benefits:
Identity ambitious environments, whether general (a place to live) or specific (a place to spend some amount of time at).
Identify the path and requirements needed to join said environment.
Follow the path, fulfill said requirements, and join the environment.
Actively contribute to the ambition.