The Ant Philosophy

[Muhammad]

Short stories that matter

 

 

A boat docked in a tiny Mexican village. An American tourist complimented the Mexican fisherman on the quality of his fish and asked how long it took him to catch them.

 

"Not very long," answered the Mexican.

 

"But then, why didn't you stay out longer and catch more?" asked the American.

 

The Mexican explained that his small catch was sufficient to meet his needs and those of his family. The American asked, "But what do you do with the rest of your time?"

 

"I sleep late, fish a little, play with my children, and take a siesta with my wife. In the evenings, I go into the village to see my friends, play the guitar, and sing a few songs...I have a full life."

 

The American interrupted, "I have an MBA from Harvard and I can help you! You should start by fishing longer every day. You can then sell the extra fish you catch. With the extra revenue, you can buy a bigger boat. With the extra money the larger boat will bring, you can buy a second one and a third one and so on until you have an entire fleet of trawlers. Instead of selling your fish to a middle man, you can negotiate directly with the processing plants and maybe even open your own plant. You can then leave this little village and move to Mexico City, Los Angeles, or even New York City! From there you can direct your huge enterprise."

 

"How long would that take?" asked the Mexican.

 

"Twenty, perhaps twenty-five years," replied the American.

 

"And after that?"

 

"Afterwards? That's when it gets really interesting," answered the American, laughing.

 

"When your business gets really big, you can start selling stocks and make millions!"

 

"Millions? Really? And after that?"

 

"After that you'll be able to retire, live in a tiny village near the coast, sleep late, play with your children, catch a few fish, take a siesta, and spend your evenings enjoying with your friends..."

 

 

Anonymous

 

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SOLers

 

what benefits can we derive from this story?

[underdog]

Once upon a time two brothers who lived on adjoining farms fell into conflict.

It was the first serious rift in 40 years of farming side by side, sharing machinery, and trading labor and goods as needed without a hitch.

 

Then the long collaboration fell apart. It began with a small misunderstanding and it grew into a major difference, and finally it exploded into an exchange of bitter words followed by weeks of silence.

 

One morning there was a knock on John's door. He opened it to find a man with a carpenter's toolbox. "I'm looking for a few days work" he said.

 

"Perhaps you would have a few small jobs here and there I could help with? Could I help you?"

 

"Yes," said the older brother. "I do have a job for you. Look across the creek at that farm. That's my neighbor, in fact, it's my younger brother.

 

Last week there was a meadow between us and he took his bulldozer to the river levee and now there is a creek between us. Well, he may have done this to spite me, but I'll go him one better. See that pile of lumber by the barn?

 

 

I want you to build me a fence - - an 8-foot fence -- so I won't need to see his place or his face anymore."

 

The carpenter said, "I think I understand the situation. Show me the nails and the post hole digger and I'll be able to do a job that pleases you."

 

The older brother had to go to town, so he helped the carpenter get the materials ready and then he was off for the day. The carpenter worked hard all that day measuring, sawing, nailing, and hammering.

 

About sunset when the farmer returned, the carpenter had just finished his job. The farmer's eyes opened wide, his jaw dropped. There was no fence there at all.

 

 

It was a bridge -- a bridge stretching from one side of the creek to the other! A fine piece of work handrails and all -- and the neighbor, his younger brother, was coming across, his hand outstretched.

"You are quite a fellow to build this bridge after all I've said and done."

 

The two brothers stood at each end of the bridge, and then they met in the middle, taking each other's hand. They turned to see

 

the carpenter hoist his toolbox on his shoulder.

"No, wait! Stay a few days. I've a lot of other projects for you," said the older brother.

 

"I'd love to stay on," the carpenter said, "but, I have many more bridges to build."

[Muhammad]

Time Management

 

 

One day, an expert in time management was speaking to a group of business students and, to drive home a point, used an illustration those students will never forget. As he stood in front of the group of high-powered overachievers he said, "Okay, time for a quiz" and he pulled out a one-gallon, wide-mouth mason jar and set it on the table in front of him. He also produced about a dozen fist-sized rocks and carefully placed them, one at a time, into the jar.

 

When the jar was filled to the top and no more rocks would fit inside, he asked, "Is this jar full?" Everyone in the class yelled, "Yes." The time management expert replied, "Really?" He reached under the table and pulled out a bucket of gravel. He dumped some gravel in and shook the jar causing pieces of gravel to work themselves down into the spaces between the big rocks. He then asked the group once more, "Is the jar full?"

 

By this time the class was on to him. "Probably not," one of them answered. "Good!" he replied. He reached under the table and brought out a bucket of sand. He started dumping the sand in the jar and it went into all of the spaces left between the rocks and the gravel. Once more he asked the question, "Is this jar full?" "No!" the class shouted. Once again he said, "Good." Then he grabbed a pitcher of water and began to pour it in until the jar was filled to the brim.

 

Then he looked at the class and asked, "What is the point of this illustration?" One eager beaver raised his hand and said, "The point is, no matter how full your schedule is, if you try really hard you can always fit some more things in it!" "No," the speaker replied, "that's not the point. The truth this illustration teaches us is: If you don't put the big rocks in first, you'll never get them in at all."

 

What are the 'big rocks' in your life, time with your loved ones, your faith, your education, your dreams, a worthy cause, teaching or mentoring others? Remember to put these big rocks in first or you'll never get them in at all. So, tonight, or in the morning, when you are reflecting on this short story, ask yourself this question: What are the 'big rocks' in my life? Then, put those in your jar first.

[Muhammad]

Busyness

 

Once upon a time a very strong woodcutter ask for a job in a timber merchant, and he got it. The paid was really good and so were the work conditions. For that reason, the woodcutter was determined to do his best. His boss gave him an axe and showed him the area where he was supposed to work.

 

The first day, the woodcutter brought 18 trees "Congratulations," the boss said. "Go on that way!" Very motivated for the boss' words, the woodcutter try harder the next day, but he only could bring 15 trees.

 

The third day he try even harder, but he only could bring 10 trees.Day after day he was bringing less and less trees. "I must be losing my strength", the woodcutter thought. He went to the boss and apologized, saying that he could not understand what was going on. "When was the last time you sharpened your axe?" the boss asked. "Sharpen? I had no time to sharpen my axe. I have been very busy trying to cut trees..."

 

by Stephen Covey

[Castro]

what benefits can we derive from this story?

I see a few lessons in this story. First, ambition and simple life are mutually exclusive. Second, taking a siesta with your wife in the afternoons could get you more kids than you bargained for. Finally, neither a Harvard MBA nor a lot of money can buy happiness.

 

Ofleh

 

------

 

"After all these years, I see that I was mistaken about Eve in the beginning; it is better to live outside the Garden with her than inside it without her." .... Mark Twain

[Muhammad]

 

 

The Ant Philosophy

Over the years I've been teaching children about a simple but powerful concept - the ant philosophy. I think everybody should study ants. They have an amazing four- part philosophy, and here is the first part: ants never quit. That's a good philosophy. If they're headed somewhere and you try to stop them; they'll look for another way. They'll climb over, they'll climb under, they'll climb around. They keep looking for another way. What a neat philosophy, to never quit looking for a way to get where you're supposed to go.

 

Second, ants think winter all summer. That's an important perspective. You can't be so naive as to think summer will last forever. So ants are gathering in their winter food in the middle of summer.

 

An ancient story says, "Don't build your house on the sand in the summer." Why do we need that advice? Because it is important to be realistic. In the summer, you've got to think storm. You've got to think rocks as you enjoy the sand and sun. Think ahead.

 

The third part of the ant philosophy is that ants think summer all winter. That is so important. During the winter, ants remind themselves, "This won't last long; we'll soon be out of here." And the first warm day, the ants are out. If it turns cold again, they'll dive back down, but then they come out the first warm day. They can't wait to get out.

 

And here's the last part of the ant philosophy. How much will an ant gather during the summer to prepare for the winter? All that he possibly can. What an incredible philosophy, the "all-that-you-possibly-can" philosophy.

 

Wow, what a great seminar to attend - the ant seminar. Never give up, look ahead, stay positive and do all you can.

 

To Your Success,

Jim Rohn

[Warrior of Light]

The Benefit of Obstacles! - Author Unknown

 

A small boy - the fifth amongst seven siblings of a poor father, was selling newspapers in a small village to earn his living. He was not exceptionally smart at school but was fascinated by religion and rockets. The first rocket he built crashed. A missile that he built crashed multiple times and he was made a butt of ridicule. He is the person to have scripted the Space Odyssey of India single-handedly. He is Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam (President of India).

 

When Thomas Edison Thomas Edison invented the light bulb, he tried over 2000 experiments before he got it to work. A young reporter asked him how it felt to fail so many times. He said, "I never failed once. I invented the light bulb. It just happened to be a 2000-step process."

 

When Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone in 1876, it did not ring off the hook with calls from potential backers. After making a demonstration call, President Rutherford Hayes said, "That's an amazing invention, but who would ever want to see one of them?"

 

In the 1940s, another young inventor named Chester Carlson took his idea to 20 corporations, including some of the biggest in the country. They all turned him down. In 1947, after 7 long years of rejections, he finally got a tiny company in Rochester, NY, the Haloid company,to purchase the rights to his invention -- an electrostatic paper copying process. Haloid became the....... Xerox Corporation.

 

A little girl - the 20th of 22 children, was born prematurely and her survival was doubtful. When she was 4 years old, she contracted double pneumonia and scarlet fever, which left her with a paralysed left leg. At age 9, she removed the metal leg brace she had been dependent on and began to walk without it. By 13 she had developed a rhythmic walk, which doctors said was a miracle. That same year she decided to become a runner. She entered a race and came in last. For the next few years every race she entered, she came in last. Everyone told her to quit, but she kept on running. One day she actually won a race. And then another. From then on she won every race she entered. Eventually this little girl - Wilma Rudolph , went on to win three Olympic gold medals.

 

A school teacher scolded a boy for not paying attention to his mathematics and for not being able to solve simple problems. She told him that "you would not become anybody in life. The boy was Albert Einstein .

 

Ed McMahon is a typical example of the obstacle/power relationship. His fascinating story illustrates that people who succeed best in the end are frequently the ones who had the most difficulty at the start. Ed McMahon is proud to be a salesman. He discovered his ability to sell because of the financial obstacles of his modest background. His family moved so often that he went to 15 different schools before high school. The obstacle of having no friends increased his power to make friends easily and today he is a friend to millions of Americans.

 

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A wise philosopher once commented that an eagle's only obstacle to flying with speed and ease is the air. Yet, if the air were withdrawn and the proud bird were to fly in a vacuum, it would fall instantly to the ground, unable to fly at all. The very element that offers the resistance to flying is at the same time the condition of flight.

 

 

 

The main obstacle that a powerboat has to overcome is the water against the propeller, yet if it were not for this same resistance, the boat would not move at all.

 

 

 

The same law - that obstacles are conditions of success - holds true in human life. A life free of all obstacles and difficulties would reduce all possibilities and powers to zero. Obstacles wake us up and lead us to use our abilities. Exertion gives us new power. So, out of our difficulties new strength is born.

 

 

 

A closer acquaintance with the life of successful people almost always reveals the presence of some unusual obstacle, bitter disappointment or personal deprivation. As the above successful peoples' personal accounts suggest, there is no misfortune which a resolute will may not transform into an advantage. Out of an obstacle comes strength; out of disappointment comes growth; out of deprivation comes desire.

 

 

To achieve success means looking for the obstacles that wake up the powers within YOU.

 

 

 

Holy Quran clearly stipulates the above formula: "Verily, along with every hardship is relief. Verily, with every hardship is releif. So when you have finished , devote yourself for Allah's worship. And to your Lord turn your hopes and intentions". (94:5-8).

 

 

 

Prophet Muhammad (saww) said: : "More the tests a believer faces, the more his faith increases".

[MR ORGILAQE]

SALAALA WEWE MSWAHILI UMENIKOROFISHA NA MASEMO YAKO NDGU!

[Warrior of Light]

Acha zako ORGI, mbona mambo madogo haya.

[MR ORGILAQE]

SIJAFIKA PEJI HIYO

[Emperor]

At the begining the Mexican:

"I sleep late, fish a little, play with my children, and take a siesta with my wife. In the evenings, I go into the village to see my friends, play the guitar, and sing a few songs...I have a full life."

In the End,

"After that you'll be able to retire, live in a tiny village near the coast, sleep late, play with your children, catch a few fish, take a siesta, and spend your evenings enjoying with your friends..."

He's actually doing that right now, LOOOOOL After all the hassle it all went back to where he started from, Amazing story, truth in it.. There is always end to the life, Think about God.

[Muhammad]

Warrior of Light ;

 

jazakallah

 

 

Originally posted by ORGILAQE:

SALAALA WEWE MSWAHILI UMENIKOROFISHA NA MASEMO YAKO NDGU!

ina adeerow bal maxaad tiri iigu sheeg! :confused:

 

 

Qorshel;

 

well said!!

[MR ORGILAQE]

wacha zako we mdosi

[Muhammad]

kidhogo kidhogo

 

[Som@li]

Great stories,