The fable of the grasshopper and the ant paints the picture that play is bad and work is good, or at least that living for today gets you into trouble, and planning ahead lets you thrive. Depending on the version you encounter, you may hear morals of prepare for lean times or die, plan for the future, help the needy with your resources, or even something like there’s a time for “work” and a time for “play”. You can’t disagree that having fun is much easier and more satisfying in the moment than working all the time.
The people I observe — on the news, in TV shows (a reflection of social norms or trends), on the streets, and in my own life — seem to live a life of ease and comfort more than a life of effort and challenge. Is that a grasshopper and ant comparison — ease and comfort equating to the grasshopper and the effort and challenge equating to the ant? In some ways yes, but there’s more to it than what Aesop’s simple fable depicts, because life is more complicated today than then.
By “ease and comfort” I mean taking the easy path or the path of least resistance regardless of the consequences, and “effort and challenge” means pushing and extending yourself, and taking care of business and being responsible. Comparisons might be living a “BarcaLounger” life vs living a “rock-climbing wall” life, falling off your healthy diet during the holidays vs staying on your healthy diet year ’round, or going along with the gang rather than doing your chores vs seeing the gang later.
The question is, how much intention, responsibility, and self-control do you live with?
My take is, if you don’t push yourself, and tend to live in ease and comfort, you don’t grow or live a free life. What I mean by “you don’t live a free life” is that you are a captive, or maybe even a slave, to your ego, and that you aren’t being responsible and doing all the things you really want to and can do. Chaos reigns, and you are barely getting by. You may have a lovely life filled with ease and comfort, but you aren’t living to your potential, following your dreams, and calling your own shots. Ego is in charge, telling you what to do or not do, and keeping you reined in.
Examples of being controlled by your ego that you might see in your own life:
* Do you brush as the dentist directs? My dad loves to tell me – and no, he’s not a dentist — that you only need to brush the teeth you want to keep.
* Do you continue to eat ice cream even though you’ve been told to avoid dairy, saying to yourself that it tastes so good and you can’t possibly give it up?
* Is your word gold, are you reliable?
* Have you been told to eat more vegetables but don’t because it’s too hard to learn how to prepare them so you enjoy them?
* Are there health habits you feel you want to adopt but can’t quite muster what it takes to start? Or to continue the habits you started?
* What project have you dreamed and talked about and continued to postpone starting, or finishing?
If you identified with any of those questions, you are falling prey to “ease and comfort”. Resistance is rearing its head to stop you, or at least slow you down, from living the life you want. Your ego is using logic on you to keep you on your path of the easy course. Careful, because that’s a downward spiral that can be hard to pull yourself out of.
The ease and comfort approach to life can be the path of sloth and laziness, obesity and illness, as well as boredom and a poor work ethic. Haven’t you noticed that our society is getting fatter and sicker by the day? Or, that more people seem to have an attitude of “the world owes me”? And that they are easily bored, yet watch ancient reruns instead of tackling or finishing the project they’ve been talking about for years? What are you doing instead of the chores stacking up on your to-do list? Resistance — it’s got you. Ease and comfort are your fallback position, without even thinking. Or worse yet, even with careful thinking, thanks to justification.
The Alternate
In contrast, there is the life of effort and challenge. When you are in the habit of pushing yourself, and “always” taking the challenging path, you grow and impact the world. When you grow, you move to a path of an upward spiral that you can ride to great heights of joy and satisfaction, and success. You see it all around you in others. These are people who provide you great customer service; the ones you cheer when you see them launching into space, competing at the Olympics, winning Nobel prizes, developing technology into things, or making discoveries that will benefit others; politicians who reduce the crime in their communities and clean up the ghettos; teachers who inspire their students to excel; and parents who teach their kids responsibility and manners.
You see this in your personal life too. You lose the weight the doctor urged you to so that your joints don’t hurt and your heart doesn’t have to work so hard. The projects you dream up get started and finished. Not only is the work you were hired to do done well, but you also take that extra step to do more. You create and maintain a health regimen to keep you well and growing strong and younger. Your word is gold: you do what you say you will do. This puts you on the effort and challenge path. This is the path of high performance and success, happiness and joy, and the path of energy and engagement. This is an upward spiraling path that you can ride for the rest of your life.
For most people these lifestyles don’t represent all or nothing. We are all works in progress, and we flow in and out of “ease and comfort” and “effort and challenge”, and back again. What’s important is your attitude. Do you want to be free, to be your own person? Then you have no choice but to select “effort and challenge” as your lifestyle. Using productivity tools will help you stick with that decision and progress toward being a more free person who’s highly productive. You maintain a positive outlook on life and your role in it. A bonus with this pattern is the energy and peace of mind that comes from being truly independent.
Think about how these two paths impact your energy levels. The path of ease and comfort is an energy sucker, while the path of effort and challenge is an energy booster. Ultimately, if you want to live an energized life and experience all that it has to offer, you have to walk the path of effort and challenge, and to be autonomous. Any other choice leaves you a slave to others’ whims and needs, and to your ego and your resistance.
Plus, a Bonus
The last important lesson highlighting these two paths is that of the role model. The path you choose to walk is the path of the role model you play. You teach the people in your life, especially your kids, how to live by the way you live. Do you want your kids to have the best in life? Then you need to model the way by doing your best with your life. To be part of the solution, not the problem, take the path of effort and challenge. That approach models for others that a positive outlook promotes progress. When the role you model is that of not helping with the solution so being part of the problem, you successfully model the path of ease and comfort — guiding them into an unhappy, unhealthy, and unsuccessful life.
Yes, the grasshopper has a great time each day fiddling and singing, relaxing in the sun, and generally hanging out with his buddies. But the grasshopper ultimately needs more in and from life to thrive, so ultimately isn’t as happy as he wants to be. The ant, on the other hand, also enjoys his daily life with working to collect and save food for lean times, overcoming obstacles and challenges, and building for the future of his community. The ant creates a perfect life and thrives, and is quite happy.
The grasshopper’s path of ease and comfort looks great for a brief time. The ant’s path of effort and challenge looks great for a long time. Which are you going to choose?