Your work ethic is going to largely determine your success in any endeavor whether becoming good at playing a sport, playing the piano or building a business. If you are lazy, you are simply not going to achieve the goals you have set for yourself.
The Ant and His Work Ethic
Let’s take a look at the lowly ant for a little inspiration. Here are some verses from the book of Proverbs that give us a pretty good vision of the ant’s work ethic.
“Go to the ant, O sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise. Without having any chief, officer, or ruler, she prepares her bread in summer and gathers her food in harvest. How long will you lie there, O sluggard? When will you arise from your sleep? A little sleep, a little slumber, and a little folding of the hands to rest, and poverty will come upon you like a robber, and want like an armed man.”
Proverbs 6:6-11
We can see that the lowly ant stands as a shining example of a good work ethic. The ant works constantly and is not lazy. The ant prepares for winter by working and planning through the summer. Jim Rohn describes four qualities that the ant exhibits that would be good for us to consider.
Four Lessons to Learn About Work Ethic
1. Ants never quit. “They’ll climb over, they’ll climb under, and they’ll climb around. They keep looking for another way.” How many times have you thrown your hands up in defeat when you were trying to learn something new? How many times have you said, “This will never work!” When you set out to build an online business, you have got to have serious resolve. You have to be willing to show up every day and do the things you know that you need to do. Typically, we don’t fail because of a lack of knowledge, we fail because we give up, or worse yet, we never even try! We have to be willing to climb over, climb under or climb around whatever obstacles may be in our way keeping us from being successful.
2. Ants think winter all summer long. “That’s an important perspective. You can’t be so naive as to think summer will last forever. So ants are gathering in their winter food in the middle of summer.” From this, we see that ants keep a longer timeline in focus when they are working. Too often our sights are set far too short. The ant is preparing and planning for a time that is 6 or 7 months away; however, we are usually ready to quit after a week! If we are going to have any worthwhile success, we must think longer-term. We cannot allow ourselves to be tempted to throw in the towel after a few weeks or months.
3. Ants think summer all winter long. This is important because the ants think “This won’t last long; we’ll soon be out of here.” We also see that ants keep all things in perspective. We must remember that no matter how difficult a time we may be having, there is a time coming when things will be different–a time when things will be better. As King Solomon reminds us, there is a season for everything. If you are struggling to try to figure things out, and you are struggling to achieve success in your new business, know that there is a time coming that things will be better if you remain faithful in your work!
4. How much will an ant gather during the summer to prepare for the winter? All he possibly can! “What an incredible philosophy, the “all-you-possibly-can” philosophy.” Finally, we see that the ant is all in! The ant flat-out does all he possibly can to prepare. He works tirelessly. He doesn’t say well, I have done enough, I am going to take a rest. Remember the story of the tortoise and the hare. The hare was so confident that he would win the race that he stopped to rest and low and behold the tortoise passed him by and won the race because the hare was resting.
Rev Up Your Work Ethic
Life is far too short to spend most of it resting! Get out there and make something happen in your life!
If you want to truly build a successful online business or do anything worthwhile in this life, you must show up EVERY DAY and do the work, not just when you feel like it. Make it happen, make this a great day!
The original article by Jim Rohn can be found here.
