Ambition - Great or Grotesque?

Ambitions drive our actions. They are geared towards achieving a goal which we have in our mind. If we delve deeper into the psychology of ambition, we find that it emerges out of relative scarcity and - less marks, less money, subordinate job etc. We try to fill the scarcity from our actions and we deem it even necessary. In the same time, we acquire stress, have the urge to work 24x7 and just to improve our current position or achieve something greater in future. The strategy seems to validate the stress,  physical and mental resources being employed to achieve what we want. So, is ambition a virtue? That's the question I attempt to answer in this post.

I would like to start from diving deeper into human's mind. We all need some meaning in life. A meaningless life easily succumbs to depression and even suicidal tendencies. Hence, to uphold the meaning in our lives, we create ambitions so that we live through the life with a meaning. This is why we hold our ambitions dear and legitimate. The idea is about a better individual which we seek to become in future. This desire is called ambition. The problem is when we are not aware of our ambitions. This can happen in ways like for example, if we think that our grades are insufficient, then we need to work for better grades or if our physique is unattractive then, it is necessary to work for a better one etc. The crux of the matter is that ambition intrinsically has two elements - (a) relative scarcity and (b) desire for an end result. An ambition always has a desirable end and this is what gives direction to our actions.
Hence, there are problems associated with the ambitious life which leads to a sense of inferiority and discontentment with the present and a zeal for an end reward. If ambitions are not towed to 'normality' then it might pronounce decline of mental health. It is sometimes necessary to accept some limitations of various aspects of our life.
Other issue faced is that lofty ambitions discount the focused actions needed to achieve them. The issue is that if a student wants to top the class, then he should not always think about topping the class but rather to study hard. Ambitions are good signals to channelize our actions but they aren't sufficient. Instead, if the ambition is about acing the studies or 'studying the best possible way', then it increases the chances of success which is to top the class. Hence, it's not ambitions but the actions which lead us to the reality we want.