Make your ambition about construction rather than conquest.

Conquest measures itself against other people and needs opponents to make sense. Construction measures itself against what does not exist yet and needs collaborators. The two produce different lives even when they produce similar results, because one leaves you surrounded by rivals and the other leaves you surrounded by people who helped build the thing.

Describe what you are working toward without mentioning anyone you would beat. If the description collapses, the ambition is more about the contest than the thing. Rebuilding it around what you want to make usually costs nothing in drive and changes almost everything else.