Proverb

“The early bird catches the worm”

Alex heard this proverb when he was young, around when he was eight years old, and was told this proverb by his mother. While he does not remember why he first heard this he remembers the other contexts it was used in. When Alex and his brothers would lie in all day and tend to be lazy, their mother would always repeat this proverb. His mother would use this proverb especially when it came to their schoolwork. His mother wanted to make sure that they all would be successful in school and complete all their work on time and a lot of the times none of the boys would do their homework until the hour before it was due. When this would happen, their mother would explain how those who are always ready to work and ready to jump on opportunities at the earliest time, it is those people who are the most successful.

Alex stressed that his mom believes that this proverb is meant to advise someone that they will gain an advantage if they do something immediately or before anyone else does it and that she really wanted to ingrain this in her son’s head. When I was discussing this with Alex, however, he felt that you didn’t necessarily need to be the first one there, you just needed to be on top of your life and although he doesn’t fully follow this proverb, it did help guide him in knowing how important it was to really work hard to be successful.

I agree with Alex on his perspective on this proverb. To me this proverb literally tells you to act early or right now to be successful. It is common sense that if you do something early or before anyone else, you will have an advantage and be successful.  This proverb is not only meant for children but is something that should be implicated by everyone in their lives and it is a proverb that my parents have also ingrained in my life and I truly believe that if you are the first one and always prepared for everything you will be very successful in life.