Anthill: Lessons from the Ants
NANCY RAMOKHUA
editors@thepatriot.co.bw
Certified John Maxwell speaker, coach and trainer, David Grace shares insight on his latest book, Anthill: Lessons from the Ants. A results driven Motswana, Grace has spent time observing and studying ants. His book redefines success based on the ant system of operation, dictating an intuition of how to live a successful life.
Born and raised in Palapye, growing up in a poor family inspired Grace to eventually write the book. He describes the writing of Anthill as one which came about in an extra ordinary way. The story idea comes from way back at the age of 17, when he got home hungry to his left over African doughnut. In a dark hut, he reached out for his doughnut, took a bite and found that it had ants all over it, which bit him and left him bleeding. “I became curious to learn more about these minuscule creatures. After concluding my research and reading a substantial amount on ants, I concluded that humans could learn so much from them” Grace said. He emphasised that if we too embraced some of the ant’s ways of life, we could be more productive than we currently are.
The 148 paged book consists of 13 chapters inclusive of “THE ATTITUDE OF AN ANT”, “THINKING BIG PRECEDES STARTING SMALL” and “COLLABORATION”. Grace says ants know how to survive in a world that keeps evolving . In the same way, there are human anthills worldwide such as school, an office or foundation. “Any organisation with a great vision is an anthill” he said. Likening life to the process of how ants build an anthill, Grace stated that big things always start small. He added that big steps can take an individual further ahead on the path of success, but it is the small steps that count. The author explains that for decades ants have kept the secret of productivity, vision, self governance, team work and networking to themselves. They live in a hostile world yet they continue to thrive. He emphasised that ants build their empires in silence and that is what we need to learn. “In the anthill there is no loitering. Each ant has a specific task that it must accomplish within a given time so it can achieve its goal”. In the same book Grace says ants are some of the most organised and productive societies because of their ability to communicate. Exerting emphasis on the power of collaboration, Grace stated that successful people all over the world have developed the ability to network. They understand that every worthy cause requires joint forces. “I always believed in working alone but this determination became a problem when I wanted to expand my reach and achieve much bigger things” he said.
Grace wants his audience to learn life lessons from ants. He believes that several aspects from ants can be applied to our lives in order for us to reach levels of succes we deem unattainable. “I want Anthill to fuel the reader enough to help them pursue their dreams and break every limitation as they strive to make the world a better place”. Anthill book is accessible and can be purchased on different platforms such as Smashwords, Takealot and Amazon.