1. Ants never quit.

Ants are not encumbered about how they’re going to do something. They just do it. They have a singular focus. Gather food. That’s it. And they don’t quit until they’ve got it.

What about when you disrupt their ant line? The ants will search and search until they relocate the scent.

Don’t ever quit. If you lose your way, keep looking until you pick up the scent again

2. Ants think winter all summer.

You know…There’s a pervasive philosophy in society that goes something like this, “Eat, drink, and be merry for tomorrow we die.” Perhaps you’ve heard this philosophy before. You might even subscribe to this philosophy. You might want to look at the ants’ philosophy.

The ants think more on the lines of “gather, gather, gather for tomorrow we die.” They know the winter is coming. They prepare while everything is going well, while the weather is beautiful. We winter comes it is too late.

3. Ants think summer all winter.

Ants are thinking, “This too shall pass.” They know that eventually the summer will come again. Winter never lasts forever.

The same is true in our lives. Our lows will pass. We’ll feel the warm on our faces again. The plenty will come again. Even the Ice Age eventually ended.

4. During the summer, ants gather all they possibly can. Rohn calls this the all-they-possibly-can philosophy.

The seasons follow predictable patterns. Fall follows summer. Winter follows Fall. Spring falls Winter. Summer follows Spring. We know what’s coming next. It’s never a surprise.

But we never know the exact day that a particular season will start on. We never know when the snow will start falling. The time to prepare is now.

So remember the ant philosophy…

1. Don’t ever, ever quit.

2. Think winter all summer.

3. Think summer all winter.

4. Gather all-you-possibly-can.

Does that mean that the secret of success then is the opposite of neglect? The thesaurus states the antonym of neglect is to care for or to look after. But this does clear things up too much. Perhaps looking to Jim Rohn’s wisdom will help us understand.

Jim Rohn was a millionaire by the age of 31. He attributes his success to his ability to look after or care for the success characteristics others neglected.

While his friends neglected to listen to successful people, Jim Rohn looked after this asked of his life.

While his friends neglected to set goals, Jim Rohn carefully cultivated his goals.

While his friends neglected to read books to improve their thinking, Jim Rohn took care of his mind and his positive thinking by filling his mind with the motivational words of the book he carefully chose.

Rohn points out opportunities exist all around us. There’s plenty of money in the world. There are plenty of changes at education. There are plenty of jobs out there. There are an infinite number of different types of careers to try.

Why don’t we succeed? We neglect.

We neglect to try new things. We neglect to seek mentors. We neglect to ignore the naysayers. We neglect to work. We neglect to set goals. We neglect to keep a positive attitude in the face of adversity.

The problem with neglect is that it affects us, well, negatively. We suffer. Not usually in a physical way, but maybe, if you neglect to exercise and eat right.

Neglect actually affects us on a spiritual and mental level. We lose confidence in ourselves. Our attitudes turn negative. We let down the people we love most. We doubt we can succeed. We doubt our talents. We lose ourselves.

The way to counter neglect is to take care of your dreams by acting on them. Doing something that moves you in the direction of dreams. Do not neglect the things that will move you toward your goals.

When you do something, anything, you will rid yourself of neglect.