Innocent Years
In my youth, before I got distracted by growing up, I was able to stop and observe insects. I lived on a farm between the ages of 6 and 11, so I had lots of bugs to study.
I saw strange looking beetles, caterpillars, honeybees, bumble bees, wasps, grasshoppers, and hills of ants. Of all that I observed the ant was the most fascinating. They were strong and organized. Though one ant could carry several times his weight, if an awkward food source like a dead grasshopper was available, you could see several ants working together to carry their load back to the colony.
That is fascinating stuff that adults have little time nor desire to study. And I feel privileged to have had the experience that a lot of city kids do not.
Learn from Observation
There is much to gain from making those observations of bugs and their behavior. This is their way of living and surviving.
Granted they are low on the food chain. However, certain behaviors seem to work better than others.
The bees have their hives. Some wasps have hives, but they are less organized. Beetles eat and hide in decaying debris like grass and rotting wood.
Then there is the ant.
“The Ant Theory”
My favorite motivational speaker, Jim Rohn, spoke of “The Ant Theory”. He made the point that ants are persistent. They do not let obstacles stop them. They find a way over or around!
As mentioned earlier they often team up to gather food for their colony. The process is fascinating to watch. In fact, they still sell kits to help you watch the ant’s work. They are called ant farms.
“The Ant Theory” that Jim Rohn conveyed went beyond just being persistent.
“They think winter all summer.” They are busy storing food to get through the winter. No wonder the kits are called “ant farms”.
And, yes, cold weather drives the ants underground. But they watch the weather. On the first warm day, they are back out gathering more food. They don’t relax. They don’t give up!
“They think summer all winter.” They keep a positive attitude in hard times. Their survival depends on being hopeful.
Just because you cannot see good things currently doesn’t mean they are not coming. Be positive. Prayer will help to give you hope but work to make good things possible.
Follow the Insects
There are lessons to learn. It will take time and effort. Read books. Then, observe what goes on around you.
Don’t be like the grasshopper. They are good for bait when fishing in the fall, when they are easy to catch. When the sun is warm, they can fly far and are hard to catch. When the weather cools and the dew is heavy, they are much easier to catch because they cannot fly far. The dew makes them heavy, and they make no attempt to take cover. They make no provision for survival. They eat where they land.
Planning is important. Your survival requires you to think and plan for what you need to do to make your days ahead go better.
Live The Ant Philosophy
Learn from the ants. You need others to survive. So, learn to cooperate but learn to defend yourself.
Develop your own philosophy. Start each day considering how you can gather information and assets to help you get through any storms in your future that will try to block your progress.
Assets will include savings built up from your current income that will be enough to survive a job loss for a short period of time.
Assets will also include saving to help you gather income outside of a job through investing.
Then, saving for retirement will help to provide for the day you can quit having to work.
Until then, you must work. You must gather provisions to get you through your winters. Then, you can afford to enjoy some good times and share with others.
Sharing with others is a very good thing to learn. Remember to help others to help themselves.
Not All Insects Are the Same
As you may have observed, not all insects are the same. Some are more apt to be found alone, where they have less shelter and little provision for survival.
Then, there are others who work together with some organization for survival.
Which model or philosophy of insect behaviors will you label others as you make your own observations and evaluations? Even better, which type of insect behaviors would your daily actions seem to follow?
You Need a Philosophy
An important part of my helping you build a better mindset for money is to convey the importance of building a philosophy for how you will conduct your life and daily financial decisions with a view to how to plan for your future livelihood and potential for retirement.
No one should tell you that making a living should be easy. Or that learning more to qualify for a better paying job will be easy. It will be hard work. You must discipline yourself to get to work, read, or study.
However, the effort will be worth it. The cost in time will be very beneficial to you later.
Will you be like the grasshopper or like the ant?
Learn from insects!