The Ant and the Elephant - Leadership for the Self: A Parable and 5 Step Action Plan to Transform Performance

by Vince Poscente

In The Ant and the Elephant, New York Times bestselling author and Olympian, Vince Poscente, weaves a clever parable around profound concepts that can have an immediate impact on your life. This is an entertaining parable designed to help you eliminate bad habits and instill a transformational process for your future. Its goal is to demonstrate how we can unite the powerful forces of conscious and subconscious thought to reach our peak performance levels as individuals, parents and leaders.With his trademark wit and wisdom, Poscente shows you how to focus on and redirect the subconscious mind in order to accomplish the goals we consciously strive to achieve. This empowering story illustrates that understanding the dynamic relationship between conscious and subconscious thought is the first step toward transforming performance and outcomes in life. But harnessing the power of the subconscious is an experience commonly fraught with frustration. Even the most competent amongst us battles the subconscious fears, habits and attitudes that obstruct an authentic, fluid life. In fact, adjusting our own patterns of behavior as a means to motivate others is not unlike an ant trying to convince an elephant to change his ways.Meet Adir the ant and Elgo the elephant. Like two teammates who must work together to realize a common goal, Adir (our overly conscious hero) and Elgo (Adir's stubborn and instinctual subconscious partner) must work as a single creature in order to reach the Oasis, their vision of paradise in the African savannah.Their simple story is a powerful metaphor designed to bring out your best performance as a leader, so that you can do the same for those around you. Already a classic parable, The Ant and the Elephant is a must for those seek to transform their lives by reaching their full potential.

Genres: Leadership, Business, Nonfiction, Self Help, Personal Development, Psychology, Productivity

119 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2004

Reviews

[Amanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you have ever wondered how powerful your subconscious really is, READ THIS BOOK. I was fortunate enough to attend a lecture by the author last August, and I left the room feeling the "elephant buzz." Reading this book reminded me all over how powerful we can be if we tap into our subconscious with clarity and consistency.

Our conscious minds use about 2,000 neurons a second. Our subconscious minds, however, use 4,000,000 neurons in that same second! All of the sudden, the subconscious becomes VERY important!Poscente's allegory of the ant (conscious mind) and the elephant (subconscious mind)provides the 5 steps necessary to bring the two in alignment which, if successfully done, can bring about transformative results.

[Noor Abu Hassan · Rating 5 out of 5]

مؤثر.. انصح بقراءته

[الشناوي محمد جبر · Rating 3 out of 5]

النملة والفيل: قيادة الذات
فينس بوسنتي
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كثير من الكتب التي تتحدث عن إدارة الذات، لكن ليس كل الكتب يمكن أن يحدث الثمرة، وفي الحقيقة فإن إدارة الذات لا يمكن الركون إلي الكتب كي نتعلمها، فهي ليست نتاج القراءة بل بالدرجة الأولي هي نتاج الخبرة والممارسة والاحتكاك.
هذا الكتاب يتميز عن باقي الكتب التي في موضوعه بأنه يقدم معلوماته علي شكل روائي ويذكرنا بقوة بكتاب (عالم صوفي) الذي يروي تاريخ الفلسفة. رغم أن الكتاب يقدم موضوعه في هذا الثوب الروائي إلا أنه لم يخلو من تقصير حتي في شكله ومحتواه.
يدور الكتاب حول ذكر نملة، تعصف به عاصفة فتلقيه بعيدا عن قومه، وأراد أن يعود ويقودهم لما فيه خيرهم، يتعرف به غراب يعرف منه أنه ذاهب إلي الواحة، ويعرف أن الواحدة مكان فيه خير كثير، فتوجه اتجاهها، ثم يقترب منه طائر البوم، وكان يعرف حكمته بين الجميع، فأرشده إلي حقيقة حياته، وهي أنه بالأساس يعيش فوق ظهر فيل، وعرف أن اتجاهه طوال ما مضي كان يتحدد بحركة الفيل لا حركته هو، وأن عليه أن يتولي قيادة الفيل.
من هنا نعرف أن الفيل هو العقل الباطن والرغبات المكبوتة التي توجه الإنسان علي غير وعي منه، وأن النملة هي العقل الواعي في الإنسان، هنا نعلم أن القوي التي تتمتع بها حياتنا اللاواعية شديدة الضخامة في تأثيرها علي المصير الإنساني، لكن هذه القوي يمكن إدارتها لتتوجه نفس وجه العقل الواعي، حينها يمكن للإنسان أن يصل إلي هدفه في الحياة.
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مقتطفات من الكتاب:
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هناك أمثلة لا حصر لها عبر التاريخ تبين كيف أن الشجاع ينال مكافآت لن يعرفها الجبان أبدا. قد يبقينا الخوف آمنين سالمين، لكنه قد يبقينا جهلاء أيضا.
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إذا كان بإمكانك النظر للوراء بلا ندم، ستعرف أنك قد بذلت أقصي جهدك.
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حالما أدرك أنه كان بإمكاني أن أفعل الأشياء بطريقة أفضل، يكون قد فات الأوان.
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الحياة يجب أن تكون رحلة تشعرك بالرضا، لا معاناة من أجل البقاء وحسب.
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اجعل الخوف صديقك، لا سيدك؛ الخوف يمكن أن يكون محفزا قويا إذا تعلمت ان تتعامل معه.
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من دون صراع لا يوجد نمو، وبصدق، الصراع الأكثر تحديا هو الصراع الذي يدور داخل أنفسنا. حل الصراع الداخلي يمكننا من تغيير حياتنا.
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لسوء الحظ، إن تشخيص المشكلات الموجودة في الكائنات الأخري يكون أسهل علينا من تشخيص المشكلات الموجودة في أنفسنا.
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النظر إلي دواخلنا بموضوعية أمر مستحيل تقريبا من دون بعض العون من الخارج. ما مررت به كان صعبا، ولكن لكي تنمو، عليك أن تفهم أن هذه العملية ليست سهلة.
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[Keith Aul · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a fantastic book!!!! All people must learn how they conscious mind and subconscious minds are linked together and how important it is to align both of them. This is how our goals are achieved. This book should be a requirement for all students, including all adults. It's so great, I'm currently reading it again (2/21/12) because it's that important to me to achieve all that I can achieve.

[Nada | ندى · Rating 5 out of 5]

" لكن الليلة بإمكاننا أن ننظر إلى بعيد ونرى أن أي شيء يبدو ممكنا"
كل شيء ممكن

[Lauren · Rating 5 out of 5]

I Loved this book! It's a very entertaining short story that illustrates clearly what one has to do to better themselves...control your elephant!! It's a quick, easy read that is very memorable and leaves an impact.

[Liuyang Li · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you experience a lot of stress in your leadership role, this might be the right book for you. I don’t think I would appreciate the book when I was younger, but find it at the right time.

[Mike Madden · Rating 5 out of 5]

Perfect!!!

[Paigek · Rating 5 out of 5]

The "Ant and the Elephant" by Vince Poscente is about Adir the ant, representing your conscience, and Elgo the elephant, representing your sub-conscience. This book goes over the five action steps to help you reach your goals. These five action steps will help you aline your conscience and subconscience mind so you can reach your goals and become successful at whatever you do.

My favorite part of this book is when Adir realizes that dreams come true, but rarely in the exact way they are envisioned, and that if your Conscience and subconscious mind work together you can accomplish anything you put mind too.

I recommend that everyone, no matter what genre you like reading, should read this book.

[Brandon Perry · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing book on the power of your mind in the journey towards your goals and dreams. Uses a simple story about an ant and a elephant to give you bigger than life principles on how to use your conscious and sub conscious mind, have them work together, so that you can live how you've always wanted. I recommend this book for anyone who truly believes better is out there and it might possibly be for them. This book will show you how it is for you and how you can get started on that journey.

[W E J D A N · Rating 5 out of 5]

قليلاً ما تجد كتب تطوير ذاتي بهذه الجودة،.
يعينك الكتاب على تنظيم علاقة نملتك وفيلك لتحقيق انجازات بشكل واقعي أفضل.
وعلى العكس من كتب الثرثرة الذاتية ،. قدم الكاتب أهم الدروس بقصة قصيرة وممتعه وقابلة للتطبيق!

[Raymond · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was a good powerful read. There are a lot of little things. The owl thing to learn from the charter. I give it a 5 start.

[Gayathri Venkat · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh my goodness, why this book is not much popular? I feel so awaken after finish reading this book, it is such a tiny book only with 100 pages, so easy and quick to read for a purpose. After reading plenty of self-help and philosophical book finally I feel this 1 book is enough to get more enlightenment. Every single page is full of wisdom. I understood many things more clearly.

In this book, Dr Lee pulas revealed that every second, only 2000 neurons are making conscious decisions and 4 billion neurons making subconscious decisions in our brain. Now ask yourself who's in control? Conscious mind or subconscious mind? Are you in conscious mode or on autopilot in subconscious mode?

In this story, Adir the ant is a metaphor for our conscious mind and the elephant represents the subconscious mind. Until the ant can learn to lead and guide his subconscious, he will not be able to attain his goal. The ant and elephant are designed to be an entertaining allegory, it contains 5 powerful strategic tools that we can use to create a successful performance, both personally and professionally.

[Shabeeh Haider · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was wonderful piece of metaphor. The way writer has compared our conscious and subconscious minds to an ant and elephant is wonderful. Here is what I would recommend while reading this book.
1. Do not try skimming this book as it is already very short and skimming would ruin the storyline.
2. Belief in the story just as the ant believed in Brio (owl) with your full heart
3. Try to relate every moment of story with your own life, this would make it more interesting.
4. Try to focus on actions guided by the owl to the ant and think whether you are applying these actions too or not.
5. Most of techniques told by Brio to the ant are universal facts, you just need to remind yourself again and again about them.

[Betsy Katschke · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had to read this for a leadership program I am a part of. Very quick and easy read, and an interesting story to showcase self-leadership. It wasn't until reading the afterward that I grasped the metaphor of the ant being your conscious controlling your body (the elephant). I had totally read it thinking of times I have worked with co-workers who were like the elephant, or times when I may have been like the elephant to managers who were like the ant at the start of the book. Knowing the real meaning of the book makes a lot more sense, but was not at all what I was thinking of while reading.*

*Also, wasn't too wild about the constant asterisk asides throughout the story.

[Daniel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Subtle but very useful and practical tips for improving your self-awareness and taking better control of your subconscious mind, so you can perform better in the way of achieving your objectives.

Before this read I was using one of the techniques mentioned in the book which is about anticipation of worst case scenarios in your endeavors in order to mentality get ready for handling these situations in case of happening.

This reduces the amount of unnecessary worrying that some of us experience in our daily thought process.

[Ahmed Haamed · Rating 5 out of 5]

تعرف على النملة أدير والفيل الجو . مثل اثنين من أعضاء فريق يجب عليهما العمل سويا لتحقيق هدف مشترك ، أدير ( بطلنا الواعي للغاية) والجو ( شريك أدير العنيد ذو النزعة الفطرية غير الواقعية) ينبغي أن يعملا ككيان واحد من أجل الوصول إلى الواحة ؛ تصورهم للنعيم في السافانا الأفريقية . قصتهما البسيطة هي استعارة قوية مصممة لإبراز أفضل أداء لك كقائد ، حتى يتسنى لك فعل الأمر نفسه لمن حولك . كتاب كلاسيكي بالفعل لمساعدة الذات ، النملة والفيل هوقراءة لازمة للذين يسعون إلى وضوح الغاية والتوافق الذاتي والوصول لإمكاناتهم الكاملة .

[Sergiu Popa · Rating 2 out of 5]

O carte foarte usor de citit menita a-ti trezi instinctele si calitatile de lider. Totul e scris sub forma unei alegorii in care furnica este neocortexul, parte dezvoltata recent in evolutie si care ne da capacitatea sa gandim rational, iar elefantul este trunchiul cerebral si encefalul, parte prezenta la toate mamiferele. (Gandirea constienta si subconstienta)

[Petya Uzunova · Rating 3 out of 5]

Кратка книжка със стратегии за опознаване и контролиране на сьзнанието и подсьзнанието,
обрисувана като увлекателна история на една мравка и един слон в трсене на Оазиса.
Доста впечатляващи методи, но нещо ми липсваше в нея. Повечето неща съм ги чела в друга форма от други книги за личностно развитие.

[Chuck Cova · Rating 4 out of 5]

A wonderful little tale - with a great big meaning. This is truly key to understanding ourselves - how we think, and why we act as we do. Great insight into aligning the conscious and subconscious minds to work together toward realizing our dreams.

[Andrew Bishop · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great little book illustrating the importance of self, leadership and taking control. Uniquely presented as a parable. Looking forward to examining this at a Strength4Life workshop in near future. A highly recommended read.

[Cheryl Burton · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading this book. It provided an interesting perspective on the powerful impact of the subconscious mind on behavior. I highly recommend it for its light-hearted, yet provocative treatment of a timely subject.

[Hyuliya · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best books for leadership. The constant battle between the conscious and subconcious mind is illustrated very understandable. If you are able to control you subconcious mind, you will be able to control your decisions. And the decisions you make will determine your life.

[julio e loranca santiago · Rating 5 out of 5]

The power of alignment

Understanding the power of emotions can help you to make a better decisions and create a positive outcome in your life, career set the goals you want and go for it.
You never know what can happen when you are in synchrony with your emotions!

[Terry · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book and very entertaining. I should have read it several years ago though.

[Charlie Anderson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely love this book!! Definitely recommend for anyone who wants to achieve anything in their life!! I will definitely read this book again with a few months.

[Pablitomix Online · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is most interesting in the world

[Phil Everetts · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty good

[Partha Das · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good book, it will help you to re-think about how we run ourselves.

[Barry · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked the message of this book and practicing those good habits we need everyday whatever our vocation is..