Reflection before I turn 30: Countdown to "Working Like An Ant" (Week 3)

Ants are fascinating creatures.

They work all day without stopping, and they serve the queen in the process.

They can build fascinating structures, and carry structures that are ten times their body weight.

Their impressive work ethic astounds me. Hence, I have learned that a person can learn a lot from an ant.

The part that intrigues me about ants is how they they can work little-by-little, and accomplish a lot.

Before I continue, I want to add this is not an original concept that I learned. I first encountered the lesson, "Working Like An Ant" in Dr. Henry Cloud's book 9 Things Graduates Must Do To Succeed In Life.

Providing context, I read this book after I graduated college. The wisdom in this tiny, but powerful book provided both direction towards my life and wisdom I needed.

One of my favorite principles that I learned from this book was working like an ant.

This principle was not only fun to read, but it helped me improve upon myself. One thing that I have done poorly is worry too much about the future that I can't control. In fact, I would worry too much about the future that I couldn't focus on today - work that presently needed to be done.

In this principle, Dr. Cloud has the same problem where he worries about the massive dissertation that he has to complete. However, he remembered how an ant works that if you work little - by - little a person can accomplish a lot.

I used to think that an hour in a day wasn't a lot of time. However, being the in the military I have learned that if a person moves with a sense of urgency, and thinks only about what he going to do within the first minute for that first task, surprisingly, they can accomplish a lot.

We self - defeat ourselves before the task has even started, and if we forget everything that we have to do then we will accomplish a lot. Like an ant, they don't care about how much work they need accomplished. They just work!

This is a simple principle that I wanted to reflect upon. This lesson of working like an ant is something that I look forward to bringing into the new decade, and improving upon it.

An important reflection before I hit 30.

Journal's note: I talk about what I have discovered about success, and how the definition has differed for me than for other people.