Lessons learned in the Chamber of Scarabs

First of all: “What’s a scarab?” The scarab (or “dung beetle”) was featured as a sacred symbol in ancient Egyptian artwork.

This resourceful creature gathers dung (its food source) into a ball up to 50 times its own weight. When the scarab travels, it takes its food with it by using its hind legs to roll the dung ball over any obstacles.

The beetle’s incredible focus earned the respect of the ancient Egyptians, who believed that the scarab and its dung ball represented a god who rolled the sun over the horizon in a similar way.

Go to the Adventurer’s Arcade and play the Chamber of Scarabs again. Now that you know that the red spheres won’t affect you, how many green spheres do you think your scarab will be able to catch? Go find out, then come back. I’ll wait…

…Did you go to the Adventurer’s Arcade and play the Chamber of Scarabs again?…

…Great! How many green spheres were you able to catch? Bet you were able to grab almost all of them. Why? That’s right–because you weren’t worried about the bad ones: you knew that they couldn’t affect you.

Now think about how that principle applies in your life.

Eliminating distractions allows you to focus on better opportunities. Focusing only on the best opportunities and ignoring distractions will benefit every aspect of your life.

For example:

• Avoiding an overpriced purchase may allow you to take advantage of a great deal you might not have noticed otherwise.
• Choosing to not purchase a DVD or spend a night on the town leaves you with more time to spend on other activities: exercise, selling things, or doing odd jobs.

Every dollar you save instead of spend increases your freedom. As long as you have it in your wallet, you can do whatever you want with it. Once it’s gone, however, so is your ability to choose where it goes–you’re stuck with your decision.

Let’s all learn a lesson from the lowly, yet sacred, scarab beetle: focus on the task at hand and remember why it’s so important. Then no temptation will be able to successfully distract you from your financial goals.

Now return to The Frugality Game to tackle the Chamber of Hieroglyphics!