The Ant Philosophy

Ants, the barely noticeable creature crawling around our house busily going about their own business. In fact, we seem to ignore their existence and brush them off as of little importance to us. A gentle finger tab from us and we would have ended their life. What is so special about this little creature that God had created to live among us?

Quite special actually as it is even mentioned in the Holy Bible as God uses it to demonstrate some important characteristics that we, the bigger creature, can learn from.

Proverbs 6:6 "Take a lesson from the ants, you lazybones. Learn from their ways and become wise!"

Recently, I heard about the ant philosophy from the famous business philosopher, Jim Rohn, and I was intrigued by what we can learn from ants. So, below is a lists of qualities that we can certainly learn from such a simple creature and adopt its philosophy to improve our life.

1. Ants never quit.

If you ever observe the ant trail, your inner evil-self would probably scream to you to disturb the trail. You would put some obstacle to block their movement just for the fun of it. But guess what, the ant will continue their march. They will go over, go under or go around the obstacle to resume their mission. Nothing can stop them as they simply never quit. 

Lesson: Don't give up easily in your life pursuit. Find ways to go over, go under or even go around the challenges you face in the pursuit of something worthwhile in life. 

2. Ants think about winter all summer. 

When it is summer and the food are plenty, the ants work really hard to gather as much food as possible. Not because they eat a lot, but because they intend to store it to last them through the winter. They know that it won't be summer forever and they have to prepare for the future.

Lesson: Think and prepare for the future. When you're in good times, always save and plan for the future because to think it'll be summer forever is foolish.

3. Ants think about summer all winter.

During winter, ants survive with foods that they have stored and hibernate through the season. They will conserve their energy, effort and go through the tough time with less food while looking forward to summer again. And, at the first sign of summer, they will become active and go all out of their nests and resume their activity again.

Lesson: Have a positive attitude especially when you're in crisis and be more watchful of your resources. Always look forward to summer as winter too shall pass. And when it's summer again, be ready to head out with everything you've got.

4. Ants gather as much as they possibly can 

When it's summer, ants will gather as much food as possible. They don't have time to fool around, but instead, concentrate all their effort to gather as much as possible. They don't mind carrying heavy loads back and forth from their nest as long as they can gather all that they possibly can.

Lesson: Have a good work ethic and give 100% in whatever you are doing. Don't waste your time idling around and complaining. Give all that you possibly can and always contribute as much as you can. 

5. Ants work together as a team

When ants found a big portion of food (big insects, worms, etc.), they work together as a team to carry it into their nest. By itself, a single ant couldn't carry it, but when they work together, they can carry a much heavier load to their desired destination. They understand the need for them to work together for the success and survival of their colony. 

Lesson: Each of us is uniquely created and thus there a lot of ways for us to do things. But try as we may, there will always be better ways to do things when we gather our resources and work as a team. It will make the job easier & faster. Remember this quote from Helen Keller, "Alone we can do so little, together we can do so much"

Do ponder and adopt this ant philosophy into your life to improve yourself. I'll leave you with this awesome video of ants.