Painful vs Purposeful Ambition and Core Wounds

Amina AlTai, executive coach and author of The Ambition Trap, joins John R. Miles to expose why top achievers burn out despite “having it all.”

They dismantle hustle culture’s grip, swap wound-driven ambition for gift-aligned purpose, and unpack Amina’s 3 E’s (Excellence, Enjoyment, Ease) plus the Resentment Line to end self-abandonment.

From her near-death wake-up to systemic ambition penalties, they prove rest is resistance and wholeness at work heals teams and organizations.

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Full shownotes here: https://passionstruck.com/amina-altai-the-ambition-trap/

All episode resources—including guest links, John’s books You Matter, Luma and Passion Struck, The Ignited Life Substack, and the Start Mattering Store—are gathered here:

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To learn more about Amina AlTai, visit aminaaltai.com.

🧠 About the Episode

• The Wake-Up Call: How Amina’s workaholism and toxic relationship to success nearly cost her life—and what it took to rebuild both her health and her definition of success.
• Painful vs. Purposeful Ambition: The crucial difference between ambition driven by wounds and ambition driven by purpose—and how to know which one is guiding you.
• The 3 E’s Framework: How identifying what brings Excellence, Enjoyment, and Ease helps you uncover your inner genius and design a life aligned with it.
• The Resentment Line: Why burnout begins when we live below our “resentment line”—and how to set boundaries that honor your worth.
• The Ambition Penalty: How gender, race, and identity shape the way ambition is judged—and why historically excluded groups face a double bind when they strive.
• Rewriting Hustle Culture: Why “working more” doesn’t make you more valuable, and how leaders can redefine productivity through presence and permission.
• Collective Wholeness: What it means to move from individual achievement to collective ambition—a model of success where we rise by being more ourselves, together.

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