Follow the Ant

At around 5:30 in the evening on Dec. 10, 1914, a massive explosion erupted in West Orange, New Jersey. Ten buildings in legendary inventor Thomas Edison's plant, which made up more than half of the site, were engulfed in flames. Between six and eight fire departments rushed to the scene, but the chemical-fueled inferno was too powerful to put out quickly.

According to a 1961 Reader's Digest article by Edison's son Charles, Edison calmly walked over to him as he watched the fire destroy his dad's work. In a childlike voice, Edison told his 24-year-old son, "Go get your mother and all her friends. They'll never see a fire like this again." When Charles objected, Edison said, "It's all right. We've just got rid of a lot of rubbish."

Later, at the scene of the blaze, Edison was quoted in The New York Times as saying, "Although I am over 67 years old, I'll start all over again tomorrow." He told the reporter that he was exhausted from remaining at the scene until the chaos was under control, but he stuck to his word and immediately began rebuilding the next morning without firing any of his employees.

Was there any other viable response? In the bestselling book, "The Obstacle Is the Way: The Timeless Art of Turning Trials into Triumph," author Ryan Holiday says there wasn't. Sure, Edison could have wept, yelled in anger, or locked himself in his house in a state of depression. But instead, he put on a smile and told his son to enjoy the spectacle.

"To do great things, we need to be able to endure tragedy and setbacks," Holiday writes. " We've got to love what we do and all that it entails, good and bad. We have to learn to find joy in every single thing that happens."

After thoroughly surveying the damage, Edison determined that he'd lost $919,788 (about $23 million in today's dollars), according to Matthew Josephson's biography. The flames had consumed years of priceless records and prototypes, and his plant's insurance covered only about a third of the total damage.

But after just three weeks, with a sizable loan from his friend Henry Ford, Edison got part of the plant up and running again. His employees worke d double shifts and set to work producing more than ever. Edison and his team went on to make almost $10 million in revenue the following year.

When things go south, we are often tempted to play victim, look for the blame game and find a corner to go cry about the misfortune. However we are practically aware that nothing ever comes of it. But the counter intuitive thought is your creations can be destroyed, not the creator, leaving the creator to comeback with double the vigour to raise an ever bigger spectacle that wouldn't have been possible if there hadn't been a destruction in the first place.

How many times we have missed saving a document that we had been working for an hour ? or the fate of a master film maker whose film fails at the box office after months of efforts ... all these can be truly devastating. But enduring through that is when the master piece happens.

Ever tried stopping an ant in his tracks by placing obstacles in his way, you will find that he will do whatever it takes to overcome the hurdle and keep his course. Let us follow the ANT