Drive and Focus? Ask the Ants! (1)

A few years ago, I saw a programme on television discussing new inventions. The most intriguing to me was an alarm clock embedded in a rubber ball. The rationale was that people usually hated to be awoken by an alarm in the morning (though it was necessary) and would feel better if they could vent their anger. Hence, the only way to switch off the alarm was to grab the ball and throw it at a wall. You may think the alarm “ball” clock is a little weird but you will agree with me that an alarm is not the most exciting sound to hear in the morning.

Some people hate to wake up early in the morning because they hate their jobs. Some others don’t just have enough challenges to be excited about. Ants are completely different in this case.

1. Ants start out early: they seem to realise the importance of beginning their day early. As human beings, the only worthy motivation to start our day early is if we have a goal that is worth pursuing. When we sleep excited, we wake up motivated. Waking ahead of others gives us the opportunity to plan our day without distraction. By the time everyone is awake, we will be too much in a hurry to do any quality thinking.
2. Ants are always in a hurry: have you ever noticed that ants always seem to be running? They run to find and transport food. A research says they have super-efficient running skills. After studying some ants a while ago, I concluded that their “attitude” was that of creatures who believed there wasn’t any time to waste. If we realise how much we can achieve in our lives and how little time we have to achieve it, we will maximize the time we have.
3. Ants have unbroken focus: focus is the ability to lock one’s attention on a single goal and pursue it without distraction. When you are focused, nothing else matters. Ants are creatures of focus. Their major goal is to get food and resources to the colony. If you place an obstacle before an ant, it will climb or go around it; but you can’t stop the ant. If you disturb a group of ants gathered around food and you leave the food unmoved, give them a few minutes and they would be back. Killing a few of them may not stop them either. You call them pests, I call them persistent. Imagine what greatness you can achieve if no obstacle or distraction can break your focus? Whatever you focus on grows.   What have you learnt from ants? Please share.