Ambition, Burnout, and Finding Your Purpose | A Conversation with Sebastien Chabot

What happens when you hit every goal you set and still feel like something is missing?

In this episode of Petal Perspectives, the Purple Lotus Mental Health Podcast, we sit down with Sebastien Chabot, Managing Partner and Founder of Tartigrade, a Calgary-based hedge fund, and founder of the Collective Energy Foundation (FEC), a charity that supports students across Canada. Sebastien has spent over 20 years as a crude oil and derivatives trader, working his way from refineries in Canada to trading desks in the US and Europe.

He has built real things in some of the most demanding industries out there, and he still asks the harder questions. We talk about why successful people struggle, what pressure does to us over time, how ambition can quietly turn against you, and what it takes to build a life with meaning beyond the next deal.

This conversation is honest, grounded, and made for anyone who has chased achievement and wondered if there is something more to it.

Why Reaching Your Goals Can Still Feel Empty

Sebastien's take is blunt: if you feel unfulfilled after reaching a goal, the goal was too small. When the goal lives outside of you, like a car, a title, or a bigger salary, getting it only resets the target. There is always a bigger car and a bigger job.

The shift is to treat those external things as context for growth. The car is not the point. The skills, discipline, and character you build on the way there are. When growth is the goal, fulfillment shows up every day, not just at the finish line.

Pressure Isn't the Problem. How We Handle It Is.

Many men in high-pressure careers feel they always need to be strong, successful, and in control. Sebastien points out that pressure is not unique to men or to finance. A parent raising kids carries enormous pressure too. The real question is whether we have built the internal tools to carry it.

Numbing it with drinking might work for a night. It does not work long term. And if the pressure feels like too much, it may be a sign the goal does not fit who you are right now. Sometimes that means grieving a dream and adjusting it. That is not failure. That is honesty.

When Ambition Quietly Becomes Self-Destruction

Everyone has ambition. Sebastien shares a few signs that it is starting to work against you:

• The ambition is borrowed from parents, friends, or social media instead of truly your own
• The goal is to be the best, rather than to do your best
• The target is something outside of you, so reaching it never feels like enough
• You feel far more pain than pleasure on the way there

When ambition is pointed inward, toward becoming a better version of yourself for you and the people around you, he argues it has nowhere to self-destruct.

Burnout Is Not a Badge of Honour

Why do entrepreneurs wear burnout like a trophy? Sebastien jokes that if you cannot be number one at your business, you can at least be number one at burnout. His real point: burnout often comes from friction, and friction comes from not taking care of the whole person. He breaks it into four parts:

• Body: a healthy physical foundation, including the food you eat
• Emotions: if you are angry all the time, every step costs more energy
• Mind: a sharp mind helps you see what to do and what to skip
• Energy: the people you surround yourself with and the choices you make shape it

Keep your ambitions high, he says. Just build yourself and your environment so you can hold them without breaking.

Chase the Skills, Not the Title

Through the Collective Energy Foundation, Sebastien worked with over 400 students this year alone. His biggest advice for ambitious young people: stop chasing the role. If you land a title without the skills to hold it, anxiety follows, because part of you is always waiting to be found out.

Instead, build the qualities the role demands. People notice. Whether or not the official title follows, you become that person.

Success Is More Emotional Than People Think

Trading looks like pure logic. But Sebastien describes how swinging between joy on a winning day and despair on a losing day quietly drains your energy. The goal is a steadier view: today I made money, today I lost money, and I am still moving in the right direction.

He also talks about self-sabotage. Some people cap their own success to stay close to people they love. Growth sometimes means making peace with leaving some things behind, and giving yourself time to grieve that.

If You Feel Successful on Paper but Empty Inside

Sebastien's answer is simple and not easy: be honest with the emptiness. External goals can be a distraction from the bigger questions. Dare to ask them, and be willing to start with "I don't know." For people used to being in control, that is the hardest part, and the most freeing.

Talking those questions through with a therapist can be one way to start.

Watch the Full Episode

Watch the full conversation with Sebastien Chabot on YouTube or listen on Spotify to hear more about purpose, pressure, and building a life that feels as good as it looks.

Learn more about Tartigrade and the Collective Energy Foundation.

Explore more conversations and mental health resources at Purple Lotus Mental Health.

About Purple Lotus Mental Health

Purple Lotus Mental Health is a Canadian mental health platform focused on making therapy and mental wellness resources more accessible. Through therapist directories, educational content, and conversations like these, Purple Lotus aims to create more open and supportive discussions around mental health.