LESSONS LEARNT FROM SPIDERS

 5 Life lessons from Spiders

Spiders may not appeal to you, but they can certainly teach you a few life lessons. Like them or not, spiders are incredibly powerful and awe-inspiring. Spiders have fascinated me as creatures and the more I think about them, the more I understand some of the life lessons they can offer to us. I list here five key lessons I learnt observing them…

1. Getting started – A spider doesn’t waste time looking for a perfect location to start. It broadly identifies areas where its prey is available and starts spinning the web. Once it gets started, there is no looking back till it completes the web. Many of us keep waiting for the best day, best time, best location and the best business idea and just don’t get started. I’m sure you would have come across successful businesses the ideas for which would have crossed your mind long before someone started. You end up regretting having not started it when it struck your mind. So the lesson for us is to get started…
2. Perseverance – A spider never gives up spinning. No matter how many times it falls or its web gets broken, it climbs up and starts again. The lesson here is that one must persevere no matter what. There will be hurdles along the way. Your web may be broken by many extraneous reasons but you must believe in your ability to rebuild again and again..
3. Network – What helps the spider is the width of its web. The wider it spins the web, the higher the chances of trapping its prey. It’s web is the security for daily needs of food. Similarly, it is important that we build our web / network as wide as possible. It provides you the guarantee for future support. Future proof yourself by building the strength of your network. The wider the better.
4. Trust – If you ever observed the spider in its web, you will find that it remains planted with its eight legs spread wide and ready for the prey to come near. It can stay there for long hours without moving and has complete ‘trust’ in the web it’s spun. Similarly, we must have complete trust in our ability and the work which we do. You must stay the whole course. If you have a firm belief on the journey you embarked on, your success will be dependent on the time you can impart to the path. Many times we tend to just give up nearer to success. Trust in your ability and stay the course.
5. Patience – There is no other insect you will find in your house which demonstrates ‘patience’ to the extent the spider shows. Once it has spun its web (laid the foundation) it waits patiently to catch its prey. It’s never anxious and doesn’t run helter-skelter like a rat in search of food. Are you patient as the spider?