Best Summer Break Ever! Follow the Ant.

Summer break is here!

The time when you stay up long into the midnight hours, sleep in through noon and feel little regret.

The time when it’s socially acceptable to sing “Summer Time” by Will Smith.

The time when you realize the reason why you chose to live on campus after one week living back with your parents.

The time when you have close to zero stress or worries, the most time you’ve had all year and live day-by-day care free. Most importantly, the time when you have no more dreaded school work.

Speaking of work! Do you know what the hardest working insect in the world is? I’ll give you a hint; it’s of the Formicidae family. Still not ringing a bell? According to experts, this insect happens to be “eusocial”. There also happens to be an upcoming Marvel movie that bears it’s name.

It’s the ant! Ants are always moving! Very rarely have I spotted an ant taking an extended break. They always seem to be working on something. In fact, according to experts this something can be boiled down to two things, building and protecting.

There’s no coincidence that ants have some of the most sophisticated homes in the insect world which if ant-scaled are the size of sky-scrappers. Even in the insect world, if you work hard you live big!

You may be wondering what does this have to do with your summer break. Simply put, if you want to live big in life, live outside the world of average, and embrace your best self and big dreams; it’s to your advantage to take on the worker ant mentality of constantly building and protecting; building and protecting yourself and building and protecting your dreams.

This summer isn’t time to give up territory. It’s an opportunity to use extra time to build and protect ground than you’ve taken all year.

Here’s how:

1. Prioritize. Prioritizing this summer break means identifying what’s important for you. Some may recommend that you throw out fun and “wasting time” this summer. Others may recommend that you throw away the seriousness and have all the fun you can.

My recommendation: prioritize this break based on what’s important for you. Sit back and think deeply on what you’d like to accomplish. Whether that means building a particular skill or spending the majority of your time with friends, it’s up to you to decide and define what success means. Once you’ve found these areas, then list them out in order of importance.

2. Plan. You’ve heard it before, “if you fail to plan, you plan to fail”. The average student will allow this summer break to come and pass without ever creating a plan. After you’ve accomplished the first step of prioritizing, the next step is to plan based on these priorities. How do you want to spend time on these priorities? What goals do you want to accomplish in these areas?

After you’ve created your overall plan, the next step will be ensuring you plan on a weekly and daily basis so that you are staying on track with your priorities. Creating your priorities, building your plans and following your plan, will almost guarantee you a successful summer break,where you take ground instead of loose.

3. Work on yourself. Jim Rohn is famous for saying: “Work hard at your job and you can make a living. Work hard on yourself and you can make a fortune.” This is a quote that I’ve carried with me for years now. If you truly want to make a huge impact in the world, live life outside the realm of average and achieve your every dream, then it’s incumbent upon you to work on you.

What skills do you know will make a huge impact in your career? How well are your goal setting, planning, time management, and interpersonal skills? How well do you know yourself? What habits do you want to break and create?

Spend this summer getting serious about you, and watch how things change.

4. Stretch yourself. The only way we grow and become better is by stretching ourselves. By placing ourselves in situations where we’re uncomfortable. As you build your priorities I challenge you to find and intentionally plan situations that will challenge you in areas of growth.

Whether it’s physically, mentally or spiritually, ask yourself what area(s) do you need to grow in most. After that, set out to push yourself in these areas like never before.

5. Get a Summer Partner. You know your priorities, you have your plan, and you’ve decided to work on yourself, what’s next? Now we ensure that you follow through on your plan. How? By getting someone else involved.

Your chances of success greatly increase when you add the accountability factor. Let’s face it, often times we don’t do what we should do. We choose the easier route instead. To ensure your follow through, choose a friend, relative, or someone you trust to be your summer partner. Share with them your plans and ask them to hold you accountable along the way.

Those are my top 5! What are you doing this summer to make it your best yet? I’d love to hear your plans and priorities or anything else you’d like to share. Have a great summer!