You Can't Drown Them: Because they do their Job and they work for something Greater Than Themselves.
Go to the ant, you sluggard;
consider its ways and be wise!
It has no commander,
no overseer or ruler,
yet it stores its provisions in summer
and gathers its food at harvest.
How long will you lie there, you sluggard?
When will you get up from your sleep?
A little sleep, a little slumber,
a little folding of the hands to rest—
and poverty will come on you like a thief
and scarcity like an armed man.
Proverbs 6:6
Why You Wanna Be An Ant Not A Dog
A little sleep, a little slumber. It sounds appealing, it beckons at your tired soul, but is this who you want to become? The dog sleeps, the dog must be called upon, the dog listens and is obedient, but it needs a ruler. A dog is cute but is your goal to be cute in life? A dog operates as a social being but doesn’t use its abilities to progress the community. Are you living your life like a dog or like an ant?
Do Your Job
An ant does its job, without being asked, for the betterment of the community and family. It sounds simple, but how many people in your life do you see that do this? How many people in life do you see looking for work? Do you? This is something that I’m forever grateful to have been ingrained in me from a very young age, when my dad pulled me out of preschool to go work with him digging holes. If you don’t know what to do next, work. I’m not saying this is always the best thought process, maybe sometimes it’s better to take a step back and think about the next option and that may be true, but so many people I see in life that aren’t in the situation of leverage don’t do this. They freeze. Either from fear or uncertainty. They have that dog mentality; no orders, no direction. I promise if you push forward and work, even if its not the best option in that moment, it’ll free you up to push forward to that next step. But if we feel lost and don’t understand why we are doing what we are doing, why work? Well the Ants Have an answer to that as well.
Why Work:
“One of the most remarkable things about ants is they have a very close sense of community and their instincts tend to be geared toward working together to help and protect their colonies. Some of the behavior ant colonies have shown when working together have been remarkable”
They do it for something greater than themselves. They have a deeper understanding of their why. It what makes their seemingly simple and repetitive job worth waking up for in the morning. (Ant actually just take 100’s of small naps so maybe it’s their sleeping habits we really have to look into, but you get the point) Do you know why you’re doing what you’re doing? Do you know what you’re working towards? Do you know why you’re waking up in the morning? Because it has nothing to do with what you’re doing. Are we just following orders and going through the motions of life, or actively striving for something greater?
Come Together
We understand that each Ant has a reason for doing what they are doing, but we also see this why involves other people! Each ant alone can lift 20 times its body weight, which is remarkable, but they also have tiny brains and are super specialized.
“They live and work together in highly organized societies called colonies. In fact, most ant colonies are so united toward the common purposes of survival, growth, and reproduction that they behave like a single organism, or a “superorganism.”
"Each individual ant has a tiny brain. But all the ants of a colony combined are smart. Ant superorganisms can solve difficult problems by processing information as a group. For example, a colony can compare potential nest sites before collectively choosing the best one. A solitary insect would not be able to weigh as many options and could more easily make a mistake.”
Alone they could work and do a remarkable job at what they are doing, but what would be the purpose, and would they survive? If the ant that’s in charge of finding the food doesn’t have other ants whose job is to carry the food, then it was all for not. Not only will this lead to dissatisfaction in their job. (Yes, they did a phenomenal job finding the food but technically they still failed) But it also will lead to death of the individual and colony.
“Every ant has an assigned task and the entire colony works together as one living creature to keep the colony alive, protected and fed. Ants have been shown to work together as a team to break apart large food elements to bring down into the nest. Ants also have been shown to create bridges and tunnels with their own bodies to shelter the rest of the colony as it rushes out to find food. Ants work together to attack threats from people, animals and other ant colonies. Ants have even been shown to group together to create rafts to ensure the colony survives flooding.”
Every single successful person in life is phenomenal at a certain thing, they are great because they are great…at one thing! But if you truly are the greatest at something, you’re going to be very average at a lot of other things. Are you allowing these weaknesses to become exposed or are you surrounding yourself with others who can help? We are who we surround ourselves with, so make sure you surround yourself with other ant type people who counteract your weaknesses. This is different from the dog mentality of surround yourself with someone who will tell you exactly what to do. You need to surround yourself with people that are working towards the same thing you are working towards, that will allow you to use your talents.
Again…Don’t be A Dog
Many people are living their lives like dogs, when they are tired, they rest, when things get tough, they shy away, when an order is given, they are great, but when chaos comes into their lives they fall apart. They live in these comfortable bubbles. They surround themselves with other dogs that will convince them its all comfort and relaxation. Until something happens. Until you get called into your boss’s office to find out you’ve been fired. Until a spouse ask for a divorce. I’m sorry to be a downer here, but these are real life things that happen in life; if you’re living your life like a dog. If you allow yourself to become complacent. If you think you’ve made it. The ant knows there is no such thing, you know there is no such thing. Everyday you must wake up, everyday you must put on your working hat. The more successful you become, you more you must work, the more ants you are in charge of. This is what will push you and your community closer to your goal, your why. Complacency is the death of an individual. Complacency is the death of a goal and dream. Keep it out of your head.
“A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest and poverty will come
on you like a thief and scarcity like an armed man”
Keep Chopping Wood my friends
Comments