When I read the article “21 Unvarnished Truths About Retirement” by Jonathan Look, I thought immediately of some of my coaching clients even though they aren’t anywhere near retirement.

Two truths, in particular, triggered this reaction:

17. Stop searching for happiness. The only place you can be happy is in the present. Stop chasing tomorrow and fully experience happiness today.

7. Ambition can be a killer. I hate to break it to you, but you aren’t going to be Number One in everything you do. Breathe, and be satisfied, with the act of living today. Don’t let blind ambition cause you to lose sight of what is important. Savour all of life’s moments, even the bad ones, because you only get so many and you may wish you had paid more attention.

I could not agree more and some of the leaders I work with need to take these to heart. But first, I’d like to clarify a couple of points.

I am not a fan of “and be satisfied” because it sounds like settling for less. As a result, I think many of my clients would dismiss this advice. However, the real issue is blind ambition. Grand goals and plans are great. But when talking about your life, never forget that the journey is as important as the goal! The journey is for real. It is your life. And you only get one life. Don’t trade in your journey for blind ambition.

Another thing to keep in mind is that some goals sound grand, but are actually hollow. Empty. For example, goals related to status and job titles are in name only. You may very well attain them, but they won’t necessarily turn out to be all they were cracked up to be. There may be no there there. You may gain a job title, only to discover that you are still unhappy and unsatisfied. Perhaps all you’ve gained is longer hours, more stress, and the belief that the next rung up the career ladder is the real answer. Hollow, empty goals are not worth the personal sacrifice if you don’t enjoy the journey!

Another way to succumb to hollow goals is to subscribe to someone else’s goals. This typically happens in one of two ways. The first involves making someone else’s goals your goals. Becoming a doctor or a lawyer because your parents have always wanted you to when you would rather paint or write. Working for a pre-school because you believe early childhood education is important even though you have no patience for young children. These are recipes for disaster.

The second way you can be trapped by hollow goals occurs when you compare yourself to others. You look at other people’s accomplishments and chastise yourself for not measuring up or being ahead. This is particularly hazardous in the world of social media, especially Facebook where your friends post their promotions, new jobs, glamorous trips, happy parties splashing in the pool, and elegant personal photos. It is easy to read all of these posts, merge them in your mind, and create a cumulative image of fun and success that sets an impossibly high bar for achievement. The opportunity to feel inadequate is enormous. Don’t measure your success by comparing yourself to others.

As Look warns, even happiness is a flawed goal. Not because happiness isn’t good, but because happiness, if treated as a destination, is nebulous and transient. If you strive to reach happiness, you will always fall short. You will always be sure you are missing out and believe there is more to be had. You can never reach a destination defined as unclearly as happiness!

This is why so many rich and successful people are unhappy. They chase hollow, nebulous, and transient destinations. They accumulate titles, wealth, and material possessions. They never arrive because there is no there there. So they are always unsatisfied and left wanting more.

But if you treat happiness as a personal decision, you can have it today. Happiness involves accepting your current state and appreciating what you have. And I don’t mean ‘stuff.’ Look around you and be thankful.

You may doubt that happiness is a personal decision, as I once did, but I’ve met and read about too many happy people living in a multitude of unfortunate situations, including poverty, homelessness, and terminal illness, to doubt it now. Happiness is within our control. Happiness is a mindset. You can choose to be unhappy, but why would you want to do that? Choose to be happy instead.

Ambition need not be blind, nor in pursuit of hollow goals, of course. Ambition is good and really important! Where would the world be without ambition? Ambition is responsible for accomplishments that have improved the condition of people throughout the world and throughout history. From inventors to great leaders to dedicated social service volunteers to soldiers, there are more people than we could ever count to whose ambition we owe a tremendous debt gratitude. We need ambition. We need people who aren’t satisfied with the status quo!

Identifying meaningful goals and making them happen can be extremely rewarding, both for the end results and for the enjoyment provided by the journey If you love solving problems and use your skills to solve an important problem, it is a win-win for you and society. If you love helping people and use your skills to help people, it is also a win-win. If you raise respectful, capable children and love doing it, that’s another win-win.

If you want to be a CEO so you can experience the challenges and thrills of running a company, that’s a worthy goal. The journey, at the very least, will be interesting and educational. You will grow immensely, even if you fail abysmally. But if you want to be a CEO for the bragging rights, you might want to think again. You could hate the journey and achieve nothing that feels like success in your heart.

So let’s be clear here:

• Your journey is more important than your goal.
• Avoid blind ambition, especially if it leads you to pursue hollow goals like status, titles, and money.
• Don’t compare yourself to others or use someone else’s measures of success.
• Be grateful and choose happiness starting today.

My wish for you is that you chart a rewarding journey while using your talents in any of a million ways to contribute to the betterment of others and the world.

Ann Latham is an expert on strategic clarity and author of The Clarity Papers.

Take The Clarity Quiz! Actually, take them all! Download a free copy of The Clarity Quiz Collection.

This article first appeared on Forbes, May 6th, 2018