There is a classic story attributed to the German writer Heinrich Böell about a Mexican fisherman who tells a visitor that he fishes for a few hours each day to support his family, and then rests, spends time with his family, and plays guitar with his friends. The visitor turns out to be an American MBA who regales him with a plan to spend more time fishing in order to buy bigger boats and after 20 years could control the fishing along the whole coast. The fisherman asks why he should do this, and the MBA replies that in the end he could sell his company, make millions, buy a small fishing boat, fish a few hours each day, rest, spend time with his family, and play guitar with his friends.

This story demonstrates the tension between being happy with what you have now and the desire to have more, be more, and acquire more. The assumption is that when you have ambitions, you mortgage your present happiness for your future happiness—when you might just have everything you need right now.

So, can you be ambitious and happy at the same time?

As research suggests, dissatisfaction lies at the root of motivational energy. Unless there is a mental gap between where you are in life and where you desire to be, you do not have energy to do something. Indeed, focusing on what is going well in your life can lead to a sense of complacency and drive down your motivation to act.

The question is whether dissatisfaction with your current situation has to lead to unhappiness. And that is a more complex question.

When you want to take on another role, it’s natural to focus on the desirable aspects of the new role and the undesirable elements of your current job. The more that you focus on what you do not like about your current job, the more frustration you may feel, which can lead you to be unhappy with your work and your progress.

In addition, your ambitions can lead to social comparisons in which you compare yourself to other people. When your comparisons focus on other people who already have the role you want, then that can also increase your unhappiness with your current life circumstance.

If you are mindful of these sources of unhappiness, though, you can thread the needle between ambition and happiness.

Do your work well and enjoy the successes that you and your team have. Remember that those successes are not only fun, but they increase your chances of getting the next role you would like to take.

Develop good relationships with other people at work. Having colleagues you enjoy is an important source of workplace happiness. In addition, those relationships will help you to get your current work done. They will also increase the chances that someone you know will think of you when there are opportunities for advancement. In addition, the further you advance in an organization, the more those trusted relationships will make you a good candidate for further promotion.

Finally, beware of the hedonic treadmill. If you make yourself unhappy about not getting the promotion you want, then you will come to believe that your happiness depends on getting that promotion. And if you do get it, then (chances are) you actually will be happy for only a few months; because soon, that promotion will just be part of who you are, and you’ll start pining to climb the next rung of the ladder. And you’ll find yourself unhappy all over again. That’s the treadmill.

Instead, remember that the best predictor of how happy you will be six months after getting a promotion is how happy you were six months before getting that promotion. The more you find ways to enjoy the work you’re doing each day, the more joy and satisfaction you will get from your work. Those habits are the ones that will sustain your happiness after you get a promotion.