In your Art Practice, think like the Ant.#3

“Go to the ant”, to learn valuable lessons.

Ants teach us how to be self-motivated and self reliant.

No one carries a whip behind the ant to ensure the work gets done. There are no starting or finishing times in the anthill.

The ants are self-motivated, and need no boss to ensure they get their work done.

The ant use all the resources that they have at hand and do all they can to utilise them to the maximum.

.Ants teach us to prepare for the unexpected.

Ants think storms during dry times.

Storms are the times of sudden downpours, crisis, floods, landslides, leaks and destruction and the ants need to be preparing for them during the times of clear skies and beautiful days.

Sudden unexpected events both good and bad can come upon us all, if it's good then we see it as an opportunity and if it is bad it is crisis.

It would be foolish of me to say that life's events will not happen and that you should just have a positive attitude and they will stay away from you, but the reality is negative things happen to us all, it is how we handle them that counts.

Storms are part of life and we must prepare for them and have plan to deal with them.

The time to build strong is when there is no crisis or threat around and it is beautiful clear weather, but storms can come quickly, be prepared.

In the last post I talked about money and the need to save.

When we are selling paintings and money is coming in, that is the time to save very hard and not spend it and enjoy the party.

The ant stores everything away especially during the times of abundance, because if a storm hits they cannot work, no work, no stores, no survival.

I advise Artists to have a minimum of 6 months of living expenses in the bank, better to have 12months, this should be your priority, build away a reserve so that if the crisis comes you can get through it.

Money is usually where the problems strike the hardest, so get that 12 months of stores into the bank.

Now this is your security money and can only be used in direr times, it is your survival funds, this is the first saving target you must have and get to.

Then once that is put away, save for other things, saving is a key lesson to be learned from the ant.

If the storms of life do come and hit hard, then you need to hunker down like the ant. Block all the areas that the storm can get in and destroy what you have.

Always remember storms are not your personal cross, they happen to everyone, so don't say why me, just say this is life.

When your are in the middle of the storm and you have saved your money, so you will survive.

Learn the lesson of endurance in the storms of life.

When storms are hitting just endure them, do not try to change anything, the storms will pass, endure them and see them off.

Wisdom can be gained during the storms by leaning what you don't have and need and finding the areas of your life you need to work on.

Its to late to fix the leaking roof in the middle of the storm, sit it out.

Become stronger, become smarter and become wiser.

Learn from the ant, prepare for the unexpected.

Tomorrow, How do I become stronger, smarter and wiser like the ant?