I am an ardent student of wisdom. I pray to the Almighty for wisdom in my day-to-day activities. Again, I receive wisdom through observation, systematic enquiry, and derive lessons from life’s experiences. I learn from great sportsmen, artisans, entrepreneurs, scientists, politicians, clergymen, corporate executives, scholars; educated and uneducated, rich and poor, etc. To each person, there is an inimitable ability to tap wisdom from. But for the purpose of this article, we enter into the animal kingdom and derive insights from these animals. Through observation, I have come to know that the instincts of animals for example, which control their behaviour, draw our attention to God’s wisdom.
Animals are organised beings endowed with life, sensation and voluntary motion. Some are very useful to man because they can easily be domesticated while others, considered as inferior beings in relation to their diminutive size, carry unique qualities for learning. God’s wisdom is an irresistible fulfilment of what He has in His mind. In other words, His wisdom emphasises on the fact that all animals and human beings are the products of His creative power.
King Solomon, the wisest king who ever lived in Israel and the author of the book of proverbs, at certain portions of his writings, uses riddles to communicate his messages of wisdom. He uses riddles which are short statements with a humorous puzzle describing an object, a person or a thing in a mysterious or misleading way, which can only be solved using skills, creativity or wit. It means that there is a deeper meaning to each riddle no matter how simple it may sound.
In learning from the Wisdom of the Wise, we take an acute study on the attitudes of the ants. As a matter of fact, there are two peculiar characteristics of the ant I would like us to consider for our learning as determined leaders. They are hard-working and selfless. Today, we will focus on hard work, while the subsequent article will look at the second one – selflessness.
Ants: The Hard-Working Beings
Ants are a kind of social hymenopterous insects. Though very small and insignificant in nature, their commitment to a higher task makes them unique.
“The ants are a people not strong, yet they prepare their meat in the summer”. Proverbs 30:25
Like all strong-minded leaders who believe in diligence, ants share a similar attitude of hard work. Their work ethics, as recorded in the book of Proverbs 6:6-11, show smartness and alacrity. As much as possible, ants detest mediocrity and laziness. Being mindful of seasonal changes, and also aware of the weather conditions of each particular season, they are always on the go, gathering food for their future. This instinct in these hymenopterous insects that enables them to identify seasonal changes indicates God’s incomparable wisdom. For example, during the rainy seasons, ants are virtually in their hide outs depending on their stored food. They really take due advantage of summer to store food. What a wise decision!
This predisposition of these ants is typically likened to productive leaders of our day. Their foresight of future eventualities pushes them to maximise the use of the day. They therefore strategically plan, and wisely make hay while the sun shines. The skillfulness and commitment to duty by these ants made the wisest king who ever lived in Israel, Solomon, to cautiously study the activities of these ants and sensibly asked the lazy man to consider their (ants’) ways. Let us take a look at what he said.
“Take a lesson from the ants, you lazybones, learn from their ways and become wise! Though they have no prince or governor or ruler to make them work, they labour hard all summer, gathering food for the winter. But you, lazybones, how long will you sleep? When will you wake up? A little extra sleep, a little more slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest then poverty will pounce on you like a bandit; scarcity will attack you like an armed robber.”
Proverbs 6:6-11(New Living Translation)
Financial hardships, academic setbacks and other socially-related problems are sometimes on the nerves of the unprepared man. Why do you always postpone assignments? Since when did procrastination help man to achieve his dream? Do not procrastinate, thinking tomorrow may be a better day to start whatever you want to do. There will never be an ideal time. The future, like any other occasion that has passed in your life will come with its own challenges.
The vulture, unlike the ant, is preoccupied with procrastination. It lives without a nest, and the fierce rain sometimes beats it up. Whereas vultures postpone activities with regards to where to lay their heads in times of unforeseen circumstances, the ants during summer consciously build their hills. Sometimes, the building materials they use roll away from them, they however do not give up. Instead, they pick up the fallen items and climb up to continue their objective of building their house (Ant hill).
Procrastination, as most of us know, is the thief of time. Meaning, it consequently steals one’s happiness. For as long as you keep on postponing assignments, you should know that you will never get anything done. Why are you still piling assignments and not giving particular attention to very important schedules? Those who keep on giving flimsy excuses are really heading for trouble because there are enemies on the way known as ‘bandits and scarcity’, who rob man without notice.
The day of scarcity can be your retirement stage, where unplanned life gets married to helplessness, thereby giving birth to abject poverty. So, what are you doing now? What are you currently exerting your energy on? Are you resorting to much sleeping or engaging yourself in a meaningful employment? Make sure you passionately do something meaningful with your life. Do you know that time runs very fast and actually favours the hardworking man who is obsessed with a strong sense of purpose? Yes, it does! It is wise to be hard-working like these ants, which have a sense of urgency for their purpose. In the next ten years, where do you hope to pitch your tent?
As a family head, what financial investment policy is in store for your children’s future and for your own self? It is pathetic to know that most people are surviving only on their salaries. Though it is important to think of your job as the first financial resort and your most valuable asset, you should bear in mind that there is need to develop multiple streams of earning income. Jobs draw heavily on human capital, which means you are exposed to the risk of illness or injury. Actually, the most effective way of going around this risk is through disability insurance, mutual fund, buying shares from reputable companies and life insurance policy in ensuring that the value of human capital is protected.
In the case of the married, life insurance, mutual fund and buying shares from reputable companies will help hedge against the complete loss of income as a result of death of any of the family’s income earners. Once the income from your human capital is protected and guaranteed through insurance and other financial investments, it becomes necessary to save and invest for several reasons including periods of unemployment, further educational training, housing and retirement needs.
Friend, time is ticking faster and does not wait for any pauper. Whatever resources you have now, are all in the form of a seed. You can decide to waste your seeds or reinvest them for a better tomorrow. And this is the secret of all ants. They are conscious of tomorrow’s hardships, and seek to maximise each given day as if it were their last day to live. Ants effectively combine achievable plans with hard work to avoid the hardships of tomorrow.
Until you altruistically work hard today, you cannot reap a munificent or open-handed harvest tomorrow. It is unhealthy to always depend on people for survival. I am of the opinion that at a certain stage in life, you do not need to totally depend on anyone for any financial assistance. Yes, understand this principle to be financially free from debt and its consequences. African countries must come to the point of believing in themselves, maximising their natural resources and being knowledgeable in economic systems to negotiate for higher prices for their products on the world market.
The days of continuously running to foreign countries for aid should abate. I’m still of the opinion that, we are capable of managing, controlling and directing our own affairs. Though we all live in an inter-dependent environment, we should learn to break the hard shell of waiting for a foreigner to build our infrastructural facilities for us. It is good to partner with foreign companies, but to some extent, the less financially endowed partner receives the lower percentage.
Why can’t we build better roads, bridges, school buildings and all the other flashy amenities we see others enjoy? Are we waiting for foreign experts to come and build them for us? What about our own local expertise? Are they not prepared enough for this task? The onus rests on us to prepare well for such a task. As a matter of fact, the power to make it in life dwells in us! So, arise from your slumber! As I travel across most of the countries in Africa, I see abject poverty on the faces of most of the continent’s inhabitants. Do you know that seventy-five percent (75%) of poor countries in the world are found in sub-Saharan Africa? Oh, yes! A UN report confirms it. Is the African cursed? Definitely not! We are all created in the direct image of God and we have a responsibility to manage our available natural resources effectively through honesty, integrity, love and hard work.
Our inability to manage what we have has attracted looters and squatters to plunder our rich natural resources. Corruption has perverted the boarders of our continent to the extent that most of the countries are within the borderline of abject poverty. Africa as a continent is not poor. It is self-ambition, nepotism, bad leadership and greed among other negative values, which are rather inviting looters to siphon what we have. We need to transmute our minds for massive economic development.
Friend, your inability to manage your resources due to several factors known to you may cause others to think you are not trying hard enough. You need to take charge of your future and value your present with the available resources. Negligence of duty and the inability to recognise your true nature will make you think some people are more blessed than you are. I strongly reject this assertion. It is not so and can never be! We all have an equal opportunity – life. Everyone has the right to life, but it is your responsibility to make good use of this greatest gift (life) to maximise your profit.
As parents, we are expected to teach our children to be dutiful and disciplined in every field of endeavour. They need to be brainwashed to believe that they can also make it in their homeland, in spite of the numerous challenges confronting them. We must structure our family systems and values very well in the training of our children to accept big challenges. When we do this, it will help our children and the people around us achieve a state of actualisation. Life must be approached in an excellent manner; you must learn to achieve excellent results. However, it takes hard work and the fear of God to do so. Our children should be mentally empowered in accepting the fact that they have the capacity to make it in life on their own soil. Sometimes, government’s policies may not be favourable for business expansion, but learn to break off that limit with perseverance, firmness and resilience.
As an entrepreneur, tax rates on exportation of your goods may be so high, but it should not deter you from achieving your expectations. I opine that tax rates should not be too high at the expense of the economic well-being of the citizens. However, where tariffs on both export and import products are unreasonably high, it will call for recoiling into shells and neglecting dreams; yet you need to take a bold stand not to wilt to discouraging remarks and rates. Know what you want to do and do it right. Know what you need and fight for it with all seriousness. Do not wait for anyone to make your life better. Instead, acknowledge that God has given you the power to make your life better. The ability to create wealth and other opportunities resides right in you. What counts now is total commitment to your dream.
If you are a growing adult reading this article, there is a lesson to pick up from here: do not wait for the government of your country to create jobs before doing something profitable. Do not wait for an uncle, auntie or a grandfather somewhere to help you before you get serious with life. Do not dissipate your energy under monkey-bread trees (baobab trees), playing draught or snooker from the rising of the sun till the going down of same. It is quite painful to see how some young energetic people waste precious time in unprofitable arguments at the expense of their future, forgetting that opportunity comes but once. Time (age) will eventually catch up with you, and what will you have to show for it?
Friend, we can never receive much if we have not sown much (in tears). It pays to be diligent! It is more satisfying to earn money than to receive alms. In addition, it is more blessed to be promoted through hard work than through undeserved favour.
The secret to success is hard work, coupled with a deep sense of purpose. Laziness should not substitute hard work. When I study the attitudes of these painstaking ants, I conclude that time is vacant and dreams have to be written in it. As a matter of fact, time accommodates anything you put into it. And it is your responsibility to use it wisely. Though for now you can choose what you want to do with it, never forget that there is a day coming when you have to account for every spent second of your time.
You can choose to fill your available time with too much sleep, lustful pleasure, or empty jokes. I believe you will care to know that if you consistently spend more than eight hours in bed, it means for a year, you would have wasted more than 2,920 hours of your life in bed, which is equivalent to 122 days out of the 365 days in a given year. I’m not advocating for sleepless nights, but my focus is for you to learn how to judiciously manage your time.
Until you maximise your time and work very hard toward achieving positive results, mockers will never stop ridiculing you. Hard work with a sense of direction does not break bones! Hard work does not kill! Rather it strengthens bones. It tells you how far you can go and how much you can take. Therefore, be prepared to go the extra mile in pursuit of your dream(s). This is not suggestive of you going suddenly restless. Not at all! You need to be flexible when scheduling your day. You do not even need to have a very tight schedule because you might not be able to meet the entire task, but do minimal activity each day. It is important you make room for your God-given dream and other recreational activities.
Unlike virtue, hard work is not its own reward. You must have a direction for your work, like these foraging ants that have a sense of direction for the storage of their food. Set SMART objectives (that is: objectives that are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time bound), and generate all the requisite energies toward achieving them. Instead of repeatedly doing things you are best at, why do you still exert more energy into other fields where you are struggling to thrive?
To ease down pressure on your schedule, you can categorise your agenda into important, less important, urgent and less urgent. Then, get deadlines for all these individual agenda so that when you want to do something, you verify if that thing is less urgent or very urgent. If it is urgent, then you should make it a priority to attend to it, otherwise if it gets to the point where it becomes something that is very urgent and unavoidable, you are likely to work under duress and mess things up. When you focus on the most important agenda rather than the urgent or less important schedule, you are sure to achieve positive results. The principle over here is that, until you work hard toward the achievement of your aspirations in life, you will fall into the pit of average living.
Rick Warren, the author of The Purpose-Driven Church, shows how he started his ministry with his family and later on with fifteen (15) members. And, as part of their evangelistic strategy, they hand-addressed and hand-stamped fifteen thousand (15,000) letters inviting neighbours to attend their first Sunday worship service. That actually involved a whole lot of arduous work. And for the first church service, two hundred and five (205) people responded to the invitation on April 6, 1980. Indeed, that was a great intervention of God to Rick then. Today, Rick Warren’s church, Saddleback Valley Community, has grown from a membership of fifteen (15), on to two hundred and five (205) and finally to more than twenty-two thousand (22,000) in California, USA. As you read this article now, I believe the numerical strength of the church has even gone higher. When 600 senior pastors were asked to name the people they thought had the greatest influence on Church affairs in the USA, Rick Warren’s name came second only to the late Billy Graham!
The import of Rick Warren’s story tells you that it is only through hard work that you will be catapulted onto the frontline. I highly recommend Rick Warren’s book(s) to you if you are either a pastor or staff of a church or any corporate organisation. Some people only admire and enjoy the inventions of new products on the market without necessarily knowing what actually goes into their preparation. Perfect conditions do not exist; it is the management of the unsuitable conditions that makes the difference. What I mean is that, it pays to take the path of greatness and demonstrate resilience toward a good cause.
Jan Paderewski, a renowned pianist of his time and also a Prime Minister of Poland in 1919, was once asked if he could perform a recital on short notice. He replied: “I am always ready. I have practised eight (8) hours daily for forty (40) years”. Wow, what an impressive response! This is what I call real hard work and being always prepared, just like the ants.
Friend, take a minute for reflection. How many hours do you spend on your dream on a daily basis? How many hours do you spend in front of the TV set when you actually are not dreaming of ever being on it? If you are indeed wasting all your resources on lustful pleasures on your mobile phone or your iPad, then you better go to the ants and learn from their ways. They have no guide, yet prepare their food in summer, against unforeseen occurrences. Do not be like the grasshopper who takes leisure out in summer till he has ‘hopped’ away all the available time to it, forgetting where to settle in winter. If you are between the ages of 18 and 50 and you acutely think you have wasted your life, I beg to differ. There is still hope for you if only the days ahead of you can be judiciously used toward the achievement of your dream.
Think of this quote by Martin Luther King Jnr., the late USA civil rights activist. It has a deeper meaning with that of the ants’ lesson on hard work, resilience and commitment to a good cause: “If you cannot fly, run; if you cannot run, walk; if you cannot walk, crawl. But by all means, keep moving”. Do you get the point Martin Luther King Jnr. is trying to make? He is admonishing us to consistently do something meaningful despite the challenges, the odds, the seemingly impossible situations and the mishaps. Therefore, let us all put our shoulders to our individual wheels so that by all means, we safely reach the level God has purposed for us.
Conclusion
There is no substitute for hard work. Greater opportunities do not fall on the laps of lazy people, but the prepared who seize the slightest prospect in making their lives count for relevance. So, stay awake to hard work… it does not break bones!
This article is an extract from the writer’s book, Yes, You Can Make It!
Grab a copy of this book (YES, YOU CAN MAKE IT!) from Kingdom Bookshop, KNUST, Kumasi and in Accra, contact: Mrs. Justina Asempa (Phoenix Insurance, Ringway Estates, Osu) on 0244 20 88 43. In Sunyani, contact: Miriam on 054 929 89 16.
Email: [email protected]
Contact: +233 (59) 5 71 08 01
The writer is an Academic, Visiting Lecturer, Leadership Consultant and a Reverend Minister with the WordSprings City Church, Kumasi-Ghana.
References
- Owusu, P. (2016). The Leading Edge, Kumasi: Streams Publishing House, pp. 116-137.
- Owusu, P. (2021). Yes, You Can Make It! Kumasi: Streams Publishing House, p.22.
