What does it truly mean to know your objective and do just that? First off, you must clearly define your objective, or your goals. This means you must know what it is, where it will come from, when you are going to accomplish it, and the steps that will lead you to that end.

Let’s use the ant as an example. An ants objective is to gather food for the entire colony. That is objective number one. Objective number two is to protect the colony. There isn’t much lolly gagging around. To an ant, getting food is primary until threatened. Then protection is primary. It is about survival.

Let’s relate this to running a successful business or becoming an entrepreneur. Your first objective is to gather food, or income, or raise. Nothing else should step in the way of that. Make it a priority. Set apart your “income producing” time. Get that time done before moving on to anything else. In Network Marketing or a Home Based Business, it is very easy to be distracted by other things. While working from home, there are kids to play with, wife or husband to help out, things to clean or build, babies crying and activities that do not add to the “income producing” ones. Do not let these get in the way. Set your priorities and tackle them in order of importance.

Get clear on your objective. Operate as you are already there and as though it is happening. This comes about through visualizing your goals. Once already at the end goal or the final destination, it is easier to see the steps you must take to arrive there. You can begin to work backwards and figure things out that might not be otherwise anticipated.

And always, always, always be a master of one. In other words, don’t be a jack of all trades and a master of none. When you start a business, project, or job, finish that one first or make that one the most successful first before you attempt to look elsewhere. I have known people who have started three Home Based Businesses all at once! Guess which ones failed? All of them failed! There is power behind concentrated and channeled focus. When directed to one objective, success happens!

So let us be more and think more like the ant. Even though it is pure instinct and the nature of the ant, I have no doubt that the ant is thinking “food, food, food, food” the entire time it is looking for it. It definitely isn’t thinking about the sexy queen ant it met the other day. It is extremely focused on the objective, and thus, extremely successful!

This is the second of the 10 Philosophies of the Ant.

“All the so-called ‘secrets of success’ will not work unless you do.” This is a quote by an unknown author that hit the nail head on. So many people desire success yet they wait for it to slap them in the face. We’ve all heard of the old saying, “Nobody ever drowned in their own sweat!” We aren’t saved by our faith alone, but by our “Works” also. Basically, if you want something done, you’d better get your butt up and do it. The Lord worked for 6 days and then he rested on the seventh. There is much to learn from all this. Basically success, fortunes and dreams aren’t created by themselves. They are created by work.

Hard work always pays off

Now, there are different kinds of work. Hard work is not defined by how much you sweat or how many ditches you can dig. Work is defined by your productivity. “You don’t get paid for the hour. You get paid for the value you bring to the hour.” ~Jim Rohn

For me to make $1000 by working 10 hour days for a week straight is work alright, but is it productive work? If I were your employer, I would say yes! If I were the employee, I would say no! You see, there is something that ants understand very well. They understand the power of a small word called “leverage!” Can a single ant feed an entire colony? Do a few ants collect the food while the rest hang out with the queen? No! So, think about who you’d like to be in this scenario. Do you want to be the worker ant or the queen? The worker has only leveraged his own efforts. True success comes when you can figure out how to leverage your time with the efforts of others and at the same time, adding value for everyone involved.

There are only 24 hours in a day. We all get those same 24 hours right? So, whether you get rich or whether you get broke is a measure of what you have done with your 24 hours. Success, the same as failure, doesn’t happen overnight or in one swift decision. It happens by one small act or failure to act, duplicated over and over, for a period of time! Work requires action rather than sweat. Work requires productivity rather than the ability to just stay busy. Work requires will and ambition rather than complaining and remorse. If success didn’t involve work, I think almost everyone would be doing it! Then again, there are those who still would not do it because thinking can be work.

The only place where success comes before work is in the dictionary. Understand that the first philosophy of the ant is: Hard work always pays off. In the words of an previous mentor of mine, “The field is white, all ready to harvest, so just forget yourself and go to work!”

I am beginning to realize the power of social networking sites. It is amazing to me the amount of traffic you can drive to your site through various sites such as Facebook and MyBlogLog. Twitter is a fun one as well. I am adding this site to MyBlogLog and am required to post this little snippet to verify my ownership.

Undergoing MyBlogLog Verification