LEADERSHIP CAPSULE
equipping leaders with skills, weapons and tools to provide effective leadership for nations to ultimately fulfill the Great Commission.

Tuesday, 16th May, 2017

TITLE : The Leadership Lessons & Wisdom Principles From The Ants 2

#1 SELF MOTIVATION

"Go to the ant, you sluggard! Consider her ways and be wise, which, having no captain, overseer or ruler, provides her supplies in the summer, and gathers her food in the harvest." Proverbs 6:6-8

Andrew Carnegie said "People who are unable to motivate themselves must be content with mediocrity, no matter how impressive their other talents."

Ants are amazing creatures.  It’s estimated that if you were to weigh all of the ants on earth, they would weigh more than the total human population. Whilst we don’t want them running around in our kitchens, there is a lot that we can learn from them. The ants appear to be a small and insignificant part of nature but the reality is that although they are small they are in no way insignificant as they possess some very fine leadership qualities. Every leader or aspiring leader in any field of endeavour has something to learn from these creatures. The Bible mentions them in the book of Proverbs which happens to be the book of wisdom. This is not surprising, as they are, without any doubt, creatures of wisdom. To teach us the danger of laziness or foolishness in our lives, God points us to an unlikely teaching source. “Go to the ant”, He tells us, to learn valuable lessons. What can we learn from the ants? Ants teach us how to be self-motivated. “Which, having no captain, overseer, or ruler, provides her supplies in the summer, and gathers her food in the harvest” (Prov 6:7-8).

If you want to excel in life, self motivation is essential. Self motivation is the first leadership lesson I highlighted in the beginning of this ant series. We're currently studying the ants. Ants are self motivated. Leaders are naturally self motivated. You must know how to motivate yourself. You must be able to keep your spirit high no matter how discouraging a situation is. That’s the only way to get the power you need to overcome difficulties. Those who are discouraged in difficult times are certain to lose even before the battle is over. Self-motivation is a power that drives us to keep moving ahead.

WHAT IS SELF MOTIVATION?

Motivation is what pushes us to achieve our goals, feel more fulfilled and improve overall quality of life. Self-motivation is, in its simplest form, the force that drives you to do things. It is the ability to do what needs to be done, without influence from other people or situations.
People with self motivation can find a reason and strength to complete a task, even when challenging, without giving up or needing another to encourage them.

Self-motivation is a key life skill and something that everybody interested in personal development should think carefully about. It is also a key part of emotional intelligence, one of the three areas of personal skills that are integral to the concept.

Are you motivated to achieve what you really want in life?
So, what's the difference between those who never reach their goals, year after year, and those who achieve one goal after another? Often, it's their self-motivation. Wanting to do something and motivating yourself to actually do it are two different things.

Self-motivation is the force that keeps pushing us to go on – it's our internal drive to achieve, produce, develop, and keep moving forward. When you think you're ready to quit something, or you just don't know how to start, your self-motivation is what pushes you to go on.
With self-motivation, you'll learn and grow – regardless of the specific situation. That's why it's such a fundamental tool for reaching your goals, achieving your dreams, and succeeding, in this journey we call life.

The best motivation is self-motivation. In fact, not many people succeed in life without self-generated drive. If you rely on others to energize you, or hesitate until the right mood hits, or delay until circumstances are ideal, then you’ll spend most of your life waiting. Leaders motivate themselves internally rather than depending on external incentives. There’s a world of difference between unmotivated and self-motived people.
Unmotivated people give required effort. Motivated people give inspired effort.

If self-motivation is such a valuable leadership trait, then the question is: where does self-motivation come from?

We will continue this discussion in the next episode as we study more leadership lessons and attributes of wisdom that we can learn from the ant.