The Grasshopper and the Ant

Over the years many fables, stories, and tales have been told that always had a moral; something that you were supposed to learn, and grow from. But how many of them did you really pay attention to or internalize.

Allow me to refresh your memory of the story of the grasshopper and the ant. I have told it many times to employees who didn’t want to work very hard or complained about work.
Once upon a time there was a grasshopper and an ant. The ant was very industrious and put his time to good use gathering food and making everything just right in the ant hill for the winter time. He had a good friend, grasshopper, who would come around everyday wanting him to come out and play. “Let’s go boating, or lets go partying, or let’s go to a concert”, he’d say with no thought about tomorrow.

Ant would always have to turn him down. “I’ve got to get ready for the winter” he’d say. And grasshopper would give him the same old line, “you can do it tomorrow, let’s go have fun now.”
So this went on all summer long. Grasshopper would be our having his fun and living the good life while ant was working away, stockpiling food and making preparations.

Finally, summer faded into fall and fall into winter. Snow covered the ground and ant was nowhere to be found. But worse than that, grasshopper was hungry and cold. He had stored no food for the winter and had no place to live. He looked for ant and asked for help but ant could do nothing to help him. Ant was prepared and grasshopper had to suffer. There was nothing that could be done.

The moral is obvious; however you may be more of a grasshopper than you think. How much debt do you have? Are you prepared for the cold harsh winter? Do you play more than you prepare?
I’m no party pooper and I love to have my share of fun, but have you ever had anyone come up to you and chat for a bit, then upon leaving they utter the words “don’t work too hard.” I have almost every day. Of course you want to work hard, you want to get somewhere. You’re no grasshopper.

While you are in your preparing stage and working hard, just make sure that you set away some time to work smart too. That is as important as working hard. How can you grow your business so that you won’t have to work it till you die? How can you set up your business so that it will run automatically? How can you create a legacy and not just a job?

If you remember one thing from this text, just remember to be an ant and not a grasshopper. The grasshoppers always end up dead in the winter while the ants are nice and toasty in their hills with plenty of food and resources to create a comfortable life. n