Productivity

20
Feb
2024
40 Personal Development Tips

40 Personal Development Tips

In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.

Peace be upon the Final Messenger.

Here are 40 important tips to help you along your personal development journey:

  1. Your number one priority in life must be your relationship with Your Creator. Everything else is secondary.
  2. Make time daily to worship your Creator and to connect with Him. The five daily prayers being the bare minimum of this.
  3. Spend time in the company of the righteous. You will always benefit from any time spent around pious people.
  4. Small consistent daily effort works best. Focus on the small things and be consistent at them.
  5. Have a vision and have clear goals that fit within that vision. This gives you something to work towards.
  6. A strong work ethic is key for succeeding at anything. Get accustomed to hard work.
  7. Never neglect your family in pursuit of your own goals. Your personal vision must include strong family ties.
  8. You will gain more happiness from a strong relationship with your spouse, children, siblings and parents, then you will from being a wealthy loner.
  9. Discover what you are good at and passionate about. Work on the side on building something that aligns your skills with your passions. Do not neglect these two sides of you.
  10. Starting your day early leads to a blessed day in which a lot gets done.
  11. You do not need to be good at school to succeed at life. Forget about your traumatic school experiences and focus on learning knowledge that benefits and growing into the best version of yourself.
  12. Focus on one task at a time. An hour of intensive focused work produces better results than a week of unfocused work.
  13. Develop a routine that s productive and healthy. Routines help you stay focused and work hard even when you are unmotivated.
  14. It is okay to sometimes feel overwhelmed or sad, to take breaks, but you need to eventually get back at it and work through your emotions.
  15. There will always be obstacles and challenges. Nothing worth having comes easy. Be ready to face a lot of resistance on the path to success.
  16. Invest in your own learning. Read daily, study a wide range of topics and skills. Keep building your skillset over a long period of time.
  17. Take time daily to relax, have some halal fun, and recharge. Do not overwork your body or mind.
  18. Take care of your health. Ensure that you eat healthy, get enough sleep, and exercise enough to keep your body working well.
  19. Some days will be harder than others. Cut yourself some slack and focus on what is necessary during those days.
  20. We stress too much about things that are outside our control. Trust your Creator, accept your Destiny, and focus on what is within your control.
  21. We worry too much about things that may never happen. Be optimistic about the future, but also be prepared for realistic things that may go wrong.
  22. Being obsessed with things that went wrong in the past will prevent you from excelling today or building a brighter tomorrow. Focus on the present and the future. Learn from the past.
  23. Community is important. Build strong relationships with members of your community and be there for each other.
  24. A life of service to others is better than the pursuit of selfish desires. Do what you can to assist others and be of service to your family and community.
  25. Be generous always. With your wealth, time, skills, knowledge, experience, and wisdom.
  26. Learn from the wisdom of your elders. Make time to sit with them, listen to their life experiences and benefit from their wisdom.
  27. You will not be able to achieve perfect work/life balance. That is fine. Just focus on working hard, and spending quality time with family, while carving out some time for yourself too. Perfection is impossible.
  28. Conflict is a part of life. Learn how to resolve conflicts, forgive each other, and rebuild relationships. Do not cut people off easily due to one bad experience.
  29. But do not be a fool either. There are people out there who are really evil and will take advantage of good people, when you encounter such people, stay far away from them.
  30. Success is not measured in wealth or fame. Success is God’s pleasure, a happy family, a content soul, and a sense of purpose and community.
  31. Halal Wealth is important, but do not make wealth your primary objective. Once you have enough to not worry about money anymore, then be content and focus on more important things. Do not feed the greed monster, it never gets satisfied.
  32. You do not have to do things alone. Work with others, benefit from mentors, and let others help you.
  33. Spend time in nature. It reconnects you with God, calms the soul, and helps boost your creativity.
  34. Learn quickly how to make money, save money, invest, and grow your wealth. These skills will help you escape the rat race quickly.
  35. Try to build hobbies that sharpen the mind, strengthen the body and channel your creativity. This will benefit you in every aspect of life.
  36. Good manners and good character are necessary for building successful relationships. Invest in your own character development.
  37. Live a life of dignity, morality, modesty, and honour. This will save you from a lot of unnecessary drama and trouble.
  38. Treat the trials in your life like opportunities for levelling up. You will unlock your greatest skills and qualities during difficult times.
  39. Be grateful for every little blessing in your life. Make time daily to focus on the blessings in your life and to thank God for them.
  40. Make peace with your mortality. Accept that death is sudden and inevitable. Focus on being the best you can be everyday knowing full well that it will end one day.

We ask our Creator for a good life in His Service, with strong relationships, consistency, strength, and a good end.

Ameen.

Learn more with our Self Help Starter Bundle, on sale here: https://islamicselfhelp.gumroad.com/l/selfhelpbundle/

Posted by Ismail Kamdar in Productivity
16
Oct
2023

Podcast: Auditing a Podcaster’s Week

In this new podcast interview, I audit a week in the life of Mahin the Podcaster. We go through his weekly routine and challenges, and work through the deeper problems that may be causing lack of motivation or procrastination. This interview may help you understand your own life better, as many of us share the same problems and obstacles. It is a long interview, two and half hours almost, but worth taking the time to listen to, especially if you want to see Islamic Self Help in action.

Posted by Ismail Kamdar in Life Hacks, Productivity
27
Sep
2023
Thinking Beyond Oneself

Thinking Beyond Oneself

We live in an age of hyper-individualism (a tendency for people to act in a highly individual way, without regard to society). Many young people today have grown up in an environment that has made them extremely self-focused. The Self-Help industry has played a major role in making this problem worse. Everything is about your goals, your dreams, and your desires. Many people have reached a dangerous level of self-centeredness. At this point, life has become all about the self. There is no sense of family, community or ummatic concern. The needs and desires of the self override everything else.

Islam, however, calls on us to find balance between fulfilling the rights of the Creator, the rights of the Creation and our own needs and goals. This balance is missing a lot of modern culture. Many young people do not want to get married because they do not want the responsibility of another person. If they do get married, many young people do not want to have children because they see children as a burden and an obstacle in the way of their personal goals. The idea of one’s neighbours, community or the ummah as a whole having rights over oneself has become a foreign idea in the minds of many people.

This problematic paradigm needs to be adjusted. People need to learn how to care about others. The dangers of not doing so is that many people will end up alone, and communities will slowly fall apart. Communities thrive when people care about each other and put the needs of others above their own. To get back to this natural way of living, here are a few necessary steps we can all take.

Embrace Responsibility

Muslims must be responsible and socially conscious people. The rights of others are not a burden, but an opportunity for us to become the best versions of ourselves. It is through taking care of the rights of others that we find fulfilment and true happiness. Responsibility is necessary for growth, and for unlocking better versions for ourselves.

Start small and take up responsibilities around the home and at work. When you are ready, embrace the responsibility of starting a family. As your family grows, so will you. Marriage and becoming a parent are important milestones that shape us and help us grow into better versions of ourselves. So do not delay these important steps unnecessarily. Over time, you will find more joy in fulfilling your family responsibilities then in selfish pursuits.

Learn more about other people and their lives

Too many of us live in silos. We sit all day at home working online, while surfing social media and streaming movies and tv shows. Such people lack real lives and connection with others. This is an unnatural way of life that has made us disconnected from humanity. It is time to break away from these dangerous habits and embrace the real world.

Leave the comfort of your home. Talk to real people. Learn about their challenges, problems, and dreams. Form real friendships and connections with others. This will help you develop more empathy for people and change the way you think about life and your goals. Once you connect deeply with enough people and understand their problems, your own goals may evolve from selfish pursuits to solving societal problems. It is then that you will discover the true joy of contribution. A joy that the selfish person can never understand.

Make time to serve your community. Volunteer to help others. Go out and do what you can for others. Assist your neighbours, join a community development initiative, and get involved in helping others. There is far more joy in service than in being alone. Over time, you will learn to enjoy this more than your personal pursuits.

Study the Quran and Sunnah teachings on this topic

The Quran and Sunnah are full of wisdom on the importance of family, community and ummatic concern. We will end with some quotations from the Quran and Sunnah for you to reflect on. Hopefully, this reflection can inspire true and deep change in all of us.

Quran on Ummah

“You are the best community that ever emerged for humanity: you advocate what is moral, and forbid what is immoral, and believe in God.” (Surah Ale-Imran 3:110)

“And cooperate with one another in virtuous conduct and conscience, and do not cooperate with one another in sin and hostility. And fear God. God is severe in punishment.” (Surah al-Ma’idah 5:2)

“This nation of yours is one nation, and I am your Lord, so fear Me.” (Surah al-Muminun 23:52)

Hadiths on Caring for others

“Seek out the vulnerable for me, for you are only given provision and divine support due to your care for the vulnerable.” (Abu Dawud 2594)

“The parable of the believers in their affection, mercy, and compassion for each other is that of a body. When any limb aches, the whole body reacts with sleeplessness and fever.” (Sahih Bukhari 6011, Sahih Muslim 2586)

“Whoever would love to be shaded in the shade of Allah, let him help someone in hardship or waive a loan.” (Musnad Ahmad 15520)

“Allah continues to fulfill the needs of the servant as long as he fulfills the needs of his brother.” (Mu’jam al-Kabir 4664)

“The merciful will be shown mercy by the Most Merciful. Be merciful to those on the earth, and the One in the heavens will have mercy upon you.” (Tirmidhi 1924)

“Verily, the believers are like bricks of a building, each part strengthening the other,” (Sahih Bukhari 481, Sahih Muslim 2585)

“There is a (compulsory) Sadaqa (charity) to be given for every joint of the human body (as a sign of gratitude to Allah) everyday the sun rises. To judge justly between two persons is regarded as Sadaqa, and to help a man concerning his riding animal by helping him to ride it or by lifting his luggage on to it, is also regarded as Sadaqa, and (saying) a good word is also Sadaqa, and every step taken on one’s way to offer the compulsory prayer (in the mosque) is also Sadaqa and to remove a harmful thing from the way is also Sadaqa.” (Sahih Bukhari 2989)

Hadiths on avoiding jealousy and hatred between believers

“Renounce the world and Allah will love you, and renounce what the people possess and the people will love you.” (Nawawi’s 40 Hadith, 31)

“None of you will have faith till he wishes for his (Muslim) brother what he likes for himself.” (Sahih Bukhari 13)

“Do not envy one another, and do not inflate prices for one another, and do not hate one another, and do not turn away from one another, and do not undercut one another in trade, but [rather] be slaves of Allah and brothers [amongst yourselves]. A Muslim is the brother of a Muslim: he does not oppress him, nor does he fail him, nor does he lie to him, nor does he hold him in contempt. Taqwa (piety) is right here [and he pointed to his chest three times]. It is evil enough for a man to hold his brother Muslim in contempt. The whole of a Muslim is inviolable for another Muslim: his blood, his property, and his honour.” (Sahih Muslim 2564)

Posted by Ismail Kamdar in Leadership, Productivity
31
Jan
2023
Social Media Minimalist Experiment #1

Social Media Minimalist Experiment #1

Cutting Back on Social Media – 2018

Five years ago, I decided to scale back my social media usage. At the time, I was spending too much time on Facebook. I had gained a five-figure following on Facebook and with it came a lot of messages, comments, drama, and arguments. Facebook had become a time-consuming addiction that was distracting me from more important things in life. To fix this, I scaled back my Facebook usage by deleting the app, switching over to just posting once or twice a day without checking my feed, and using Twitter as my main source of social media.

At the time, Twitter felt like the right move for me I had a few hundred followers on Twitter, so anything I posted did not reach many people. Furthermore, I could follow various news and hobby accounts to keep up with my favorite hobbies, and stay up to date with the news. For several years, this worked fine for me. I used Twitter once a day to read the news and share some quotes and links, and the rest of my day went productively. However, in the past two years, Twitter became my new Facebook.

When Twitter became drama central

Over the past two years, my Twitter following has increased from 600 to 23k, and my reached has grown to one million per month. This completely transformed the way I interacted with the app. On one hand, I was making a lot more money through book and course sales on Twitter, compared to any other social media platform. On the other hand, my tweets were often reaching far outside my circle of influence, drawing all kinds of nasty people to comment on them.

During this period, Twitter became a new source of trial for me. I found myself caught up in drama and arguments way too often. But these arguments were worse than the Facebook arguments of five years ago, as the replies were a lot more vulgar and nasty. Hijab-wearing Muslims cursing and using filthy language simply because I stated a scholarly opinion they disagreed with. Things got worse when people started picking on every account I followed or post I liked, or mutual I followed. Every tiny detail became an issue and controversy. Dealing with all this has caused a lot of headache and unnecessary stress. Now I find myself in a situation in which I need to figure out if Twitter is worth all the pain and headache.

In the past few months, I already tried a few ways to change my Twitter usage in order to minimize the damage but none of them worked. Some of the things I tried include:

  1. Unfollowing all accounts besides the few scholars and institutes I work with.
  2. Muting any conversation or tweet that had grown too large in its reach.
  3. Creating secondary accounts for following, reading, and liking posts so it does not reflect on my main account.

Although each of these made some difference, none of them solved my problem. Almost every week, multiple hours are wasted in debating vulgar and crude people on this app. Eventually, it reached a point where it does not feel worth investing any time in these discussions. So it is time for a new experiment.

The Experiment

I am not going to shut down my Twitter account yet, as I believe it benefits thousands of people. However, I do not want to waste my time in arguments and debates with hot-headed and immature trolls on this app any longer. So, for February 2023, I am going to try another experiment to keep my beneficial usage of the app going while minimizing the drama and headaches.

For this month, I am going to try the following:

  1. I have deleted the app from my phone and will only log in from my PC for 10 minutes a day.
  2. I will post one or two beneficial tweets per day, and mute the threads so that I do not see the replies or Quote Tweets.
  3. I will not waste any time scrolling through the news feed, and will try to remain oblivious to what others are discussing on the app.
  4. I will replace using Twitter for news by following a handful of news websites instead and reading the headlines there.
  5. I will apply similar rules to my usage of Instagram and Facebook, so that social media does not take up more than 30 minutes of my day.

At the end of February, I will evaluate if this method has helped me be more productive. If so, I will either stick to this method or consider deleting the apps entirely.

Should social media be haram?

Social media platforms are very new and we do not know the long-term benefits and harms that these platforms will cause for the ummah. Only time will tell if they are a positive or negative way of interacting for Muslims. At the current stage, it feels like the harms outweigh the benefits. Social media has caused Muslims to hate each other more, curse each other openly, disrespect their own religion, experience jealousy, bitterness, and depression, and waste a lot of time.

It is too early to declare such platforms as prohibited to use. The general maxim of “Permissible until proven prohibited” will apply until we know for sure that the harms outweigh the benefits. Do not be surprised, however, if in the next decade more scholars move away from social media and declare it a place of fitna. Until Muslims learn to interact with each other maturely and discuss their differences with wisdom, discussing Islam on social media seems to cause more harm than good.

I’ll post an update in a month’s time to let you all know how my experiment is going.

Posted by Ismail Kamdar in Productivity
31
Oct
2022
Take Ownership of Your Choices

Take Ownership of Your Choices

Abu Huraira reported Allah’s Messenger (ﷺ) as saying, “A strong believer is better and is more lovable to Allah than a weak believer, and there is good in everyone, (but) cherish that which gives you benefit (in the Hereafter) and seek help from Allah and do not lose heart, and if anything (in the form of trouble) comes to you, don’t say: If I had not done that, it would not have happened so and so, but say: Allah did that what He had ordained to do and your” if” opens the (gate) for the Satan.”

Sahih Muslim 2664

Too many people live off excuses. They make excuses for why their business failed, their marriage failed, or their life sucks. This mindset does not help them in any way. An excuse is just a means of projected responsibility onto someone else. If your failure is the government’s fault, the media’s fault, or society’s fault, then you have an excuse to stay where you are and never advance in life. This mindset is itself a failure and will lead to nothing but more failure.

To succeed at anything, a man must take complete ownership of his choices and their consequences. He must own his decisions, own his mistakes, own his experiences, and own his consequences. It is only when we start taking ownership of these things, we do that we truly grow and mature. Maturity comes from understanding your mistakes and learning from them. Wisdom comes from making mistakes and never repeating the same mistakes. Growth comes from trying new things even if you fail at them. Success lies on the other side of ownership, to succeed you must take full responsibility.

Qadar is not an excuse

Umar ibn al-Khattab reported that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, “If you were to rely upon Allah with reliance due to Him, He would provide for you just as He provides for the birds. They go out in the morning with empty stomachs and return full.”

Sunan al-Tirmidhī 2344

You cannot use Qadar as an excuse to sit around and do nothing. Nobody knows their Qadar, so we all need to go out there and do our absolute best. The result for that day is your Qadar for that day. But you do not know your Qadar for tomorrow, so try again tomorrow and give it your best again. Do this, every single day. Taking ownership for your choices means giving it your best, trying your hardest, being your best, and then accepting what God has written for you for that day.

Take ownership every single day for your choices and actions for that day. Analyse your actions, recognize your mistakes. Learn, improve, grow with each move.

Someone who sits around and just cries about his bad luck will never move forward. His own thoughts and self-defeating beliefs will keep him exactly where he is or pull him further down. To be your best, you must change your mindset. You must approach life with responsibility and optimism.

Optimism is part of faith

Abu Huraira reported that the  Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, “Allah Almighty says: I am as My servants expects of Me. If he thinks good of Me, he will have it. If he thinks evil of Me, he will have it.”

Ṣaḥīḥ Ibn Ḥibbān 639

A believer must be optimistic. He must think good thoughts about God and hope for the best. A negative attitude towards life is a negative attitude towards the Creator. The believer views everything in his life as part of God’s Plan. He sees the lesson in every mistake, the growth in every trial, and the blessing in every success. The believer takes full responsibility for his own actions but attributes all success to the Creator. This is part of gratitude and living a life of worship.

Anas ibn Malik reported that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, “I am amazed by the believer. Verily, Allah does not decree anything for the believer except what is good for him.”

Musnad Ahmad 12495, Grade: Hasan

Slow and gradual is the surest path to success

Abu Huraira reported that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, “Take up good deeds only as much as you are able, for the best deeds are those done regularly even if they are few.”

Sunan Ibn Mājah 4240

There are no guarantees in life besides death. But in business and personal growth, slow and steady tends to win. Too many people look for get-rich-quick schemes and the fastest path to riches. They want shortcuts to good health, piety, and retirement. But life does not work like this. Everything worth having takes a long time and a lot of effort to get hold off.

To be successful at anything, you need to be patient. You need to work hard, piece by piece, every day. You need to be committed to the long run. Your business may not become truly profitable in its first year. Your marriage may not be a dream in the early years. Your children may be difficult to be deal with at certain points in their lives. In every aspect of life, you need to be committed to the long term.

It takes a lot of effort over a long period of time to produce anything great. A great marriage is a result of decades of love and sacrifice. Great children are the result of twenty years of invested parenting. An amazing business is the result of at least a decade of hard work. Even piety is not attained overnight. It takes a lifetime of spiritual growth to become a truly righteous person, and that struggle never ends until we leave this world.

Life is not easy. Embrace that fact. Take responsibility for your actions. Avoid excuses. Be optimistic. And be committed to the long-term in anything that is important to you.

Posted by Ismail Kamdar in Positive Thinking, Productivity