We sometimes forget to appreciate that there are a lot of effort to keep an aircraft flying, which is invisible to us, let alone the relentless pursuits to keep the overall industry safe.When something is not working as planned, a series of decisions and actions will determine the fate of the flight. An ability to think clearly under such situation is something we can learn.

Learning from Aviation

“To make an aircraft fly is a constant struggle against physics. An airliner traveling six hundred miles per hour at thirty thousand feet is not something that happens naturally. It’s not a fail-safe act, meaning the default is to crash—it’s up to our ingenuity and decision-making to prevent it from happening.”

Making decision as a fighter pilot involves 3 steps known as the ACE Helix:<ul><li>Assess the problem</li><li>Choose correct course of action</li><li>Execute</li></ul>It’s like a helix because each decision may require us to make second and even third order of decision spiraling down the line.

3 Steps of Decision Making

“Knowledge is only useful to the degree that it can be drawn on when it’s needed.”

A fighter pilot needs to make decision with incomplete information and lives on the line. Clear thinking often beats talent. It’s better to exercise judgment to avoid situations that would require superior technical skills.In today’s complex and interconnected world, a decision can directly impact many others. This is further amplified by technology. The difference between good and bad decision is enormous.

Impact of Clear Thinking

Our minds are biased toward linear thinking. However, many things in life are nonlinear.Power Law governs systems where a change in one aspect can lead to a very large change in another, regardless of starting conditions.There are 3 common types:<ol><li>Exponential growth (population, virus infection, compound interest)</li><li>Diminishing returns (satisfaction, manpower, ad spend)</li><li>Long tail (income distribution, social media following, book sales)</li></ol>

Power Law

“We are naturally programmed to view the world in a linear way. For much of history, mistakenly identifying a power law as a linear relationship wasn’t a big deal because the world wasn’t nearly as leveraged. Today, though, our decisions are greatly leveraged by technology. Each decision we make is amplified to produce a far greater outcome than we could produce on our own.”

A fighter pilot must be able to make decision quickly until it becomes instinctual. There is hard limit on how many times they can fly and engage in real combat, so learning process is critical.Some strategies:<ul><li>Concepts over facts. Understand cause and effect relationship and develop robust mental framework.</li><li>Choose the best and most experienced pilot as the instructor. No option to turn down the position.</li><li>Use combat simulation. Pilots are required to solve a mission like in real world.</li><li>Take debrief seriously. Gain lessons learned from each simulation and real combat to refine our thinking.</li></ul>

Honing Decision Making Skill

“No one is born a good pilot. In fact, most fighter pilots show up to pilot training with zero flight experience.”

“For each mission, I would write down the top lessons I had learned in a small notebook that I always kept in my flight suit pocket. Before each flight, I would review similar missions and strive to repeat what I had done well and not make mistakes that I had made in the past.”

Heuristics are rule-of-thumb strategies designed to shorter the time it takes to solve complex problem and decide next course of action. It’s a mental shortcut.Some examples<ul><li>Line of sight. How an object align to certain position in the windshield.</li><li>Good-idea cutoff line. During planning, everyone can give ideas, but after two thirds of planning session, no more new ideas allowed to avoid delay and confusion.</li></ul>

Utilize Heuristics

To maximize learning from debrief session, apply the following ideas:<ul><li>Put aside ranks. Everyone must be allowed to point out mistakes. Everyone is open to criticism.</li><li>Own mistakes. Encourage everyone to first look inward for failure, starting from the mission commander and highest ranking pilots.</li><li>Structure the session. Debrief session typically consists of (1) recollection of all mission data and study them personally, (2) reconstruct the mission using everyone’s data to get the god’s eye view, (3) choose debrief focus points, (4) analyze contributing factors, and (5) formulate new instructions.</li></ul>

How To Conduct Effective Debrief

“Debriefing is one of the most powerful tools to improve decision-making. By understanding the cause and effect of the choices we make, we can build an understanding of the world around us.”

A fighter pilot must be able to make quick decision during critical situation by evaluating options, calculate its rough probability and approximate the expected value of each decision. This is an ability called fast-forecasting.Fast-forecasting allows us to create rough solutions that make sense. Precision is not the goal. The thought process is largely driven by logic and reason, cultivating our mental framework that we’ve accumulated in our life.

Fast-Forecasting

“The real world is complex, and decisions always come with some amount of uncertainty. Fast-forecasting is effective in this environment because it prioritizes accuracy over precision by integrating our hard-earned intuition into the solution.”

In modern days, war is planned based on the desired effects or outcomes rather than the available resources. Starting at the end goal and then working backward.This type of planning is better than focusing on traditional medium for certain attack, we can select and combine the most appropriate tools to get the desired end state, whether by using tanks, helicopters, drones, or even cyber attack.Creativity can help us connecting things in unexpected ways and it’s such critical resource that can give exponential advantage.

Effects-Based Operations

No plan survives first contact of the enemy. In real combat, there is always element of fear involved. Ability to manage stress and remain calm are critical to think clearly in any situation.Beside training and experience, there are several techniques that can be used, such as breathing slowly, reframing our thinking, and visualizing the upcoming events.

Mental Toughness

Eisenhower made one of the best decision in history during World War 2. In large part, it was due to his ability to prioritize.He introduced the famous Eisenhower matrix, a 2x2 matrix which can help us to prioritize our tasks based on urgency and importance. We should spend most of our time to focus on important things before it becomes urgent. We must reduce anything that is not important. Spare some mental capacity to make decision that matters.

Making Priority

“The ability to clearly assess a problem, generate potential courses of action, assess expected value, and then execute is a universal skill that everyone can learn and improve upon.”

This book is written based on the author’s real experiences as fighter pilot and trainer. Many of the lessons are quite practical and useful in critical situations.

THE #2 WALL STREET JOURNAL BESTSELLER Based on a career of making high-stakes, split-second decisions as a U.S. fighter pilot, The Art of Clear Thinking teaches readers to apply Hasard Lee's combat-tested techniques in everyday life. The training to become a fighter pilot is among the most competitive and difficult in the world with fewer than one in a thousand succeeding. Pushing a cutting-edge jet to its limits at over 1,000 mph means that every split-second decision can have catastrophic consequences. This extreme environment has forged a group of warriors who for the last fifty years have been considered at the apex of decision-making theory and practice. In The Art of Clear Thinking, Hasard Lee distills what he’s learned during his career flying some of the Air Force’s most advanced aircraft. With gripping firsthand accounts from his time as a fighter pilot and fascinating turning points throughout history, Hasard reveals powerful decision-making principles that can be used in business and in life, including: • HOW TO LEARN BETTER AND FASTER • CULTIVATING MENTAL TOUGHNESS • DEVELOPING THE SKILLS TO QUICKLY ASSESS, CHOOSE, AND EXECUTE • AND MUCH, MUCH MORE Hasard has used and taught these techniques across the full spectrum of human endeavors and proven their effectiveness in both the cockpit and the boardroom. Those who have already benefited include CEO’s, astronauts, CIA agents, students, parents, and many others. The Art of Clear Thinking is a book that will change how you interact with the world around you.

personaldevelopment

Personal Development

strategy

Strategy

problemsolving

Problem Solving

books

Books

Hasard Lee

The Art of Clear Thinking

The scariest moment is always just "before" the start

In most of our life aspects we often feel scared or afraid of doing new things or doubt our self and self restrict because of the fear of beginning.But if we analyse, its mostly at the "very start of doing something".If we overcome that initial fear and started doing it, almost half way of the intention will get acheived just by starting itself.So most of the times we should lowlight our inner self doubt and Just START !!

Just begin !!

Understand yourself and those around you.

psychology

Psychology

philosophy

Philosophy

mindfulness

Mindfulness

motivationandinspiration

Motivation & Inspiration

First step out of self doubt !

⭐ Can affect our decision-making, socializing, and self-expression.🌟 Can determine how we behave around others and which situations we seek or avoid.✨ Can bring a sense of belonging and security , but it can also have downsides.

Identity attachment: how we see and connect with ourselves.

Being overly attached to certain identities can lead to stereotyping, prejudice, and rigid thinking. This can hinder personal growth and prevent genuine self-expression.🌟 Overidentifying with identities can bring drawbacks. 🌟<ul><li>Stereotyping, prejudice, and rigid thinking can result from being too attached to specific identities.</li><li>This can limit personal growth and inhibit authentic self-expression.</li></ul>

Pitfalls

Our sense of self is not fixed, but rather fluid and ever-evolving. Understanding our attachment to our identities can shed light on our thoughts and actions, paving the way for greater flexibility and self-awareness. By embracing the complexity of our identity, we open ourselves to growth and transformation. 🔑<ul><li>Identity attachment is not rigid, but dynamic</li><li>Self-awareness and flexibility can be cultivated</li><li>Embracing the complexity of our identity leads to growth🌱</li></ul>

Embrace complexity

religionandspirituality

Religion & Spirituality

mentalhealth

Mental Health

Identity Attachment

Instead of : Caring too much what other people think of you Try to : Realize that you can't control them. How they think, move and react to certain things. It is just waste of your energy. It is better to: Look upon yourself, when you do something wrong, that doesn't mean that it defines who you are, what you think to yourself is far more better, only you can understand you.

Instead of vs. Try to

Instead of : Worrying and being anxious Try to : Let it be, it is what it is, the only way to change the future is changing the present moment, so focus on the present moment. While the past is a lessons, don't let it ruin your plans in the future. It is better to : Not take anything personally, everything is temporary, and what I mean by temporary is the short term goals you are willing to take. Long term goals may lasts longer so it is better to focus on them.

Instead of : Not satisfied with your character, body and mindset Try to : Realize that you get influenced by the people around you, observe if its truly you or you are just seeking validation from others. It is better to : Gradually accept your flaws and change for the better, for your future. If it's not who you trully want to be, then why are you settling in that kind of behavior. Be inspired by other people, but don't copy them, you have your own uniqueness. You are a different hero, or a villain, in your own story.

Instead of : Envy, arrogance and feeding your ego Try to : Accept that we are all humans. We have different perspective in life, what's good to you may not really good to others. It is better to : Be contented to what you have, someone out there wants to be you, or want something from you, it is just the reflection of who they are. Be humble and be kind.

Instead of : Not having patience Try to : Calm down and take a step back for a moment. Realize that everyone is facing their own battle. What's for you, will be grant for you, everything that comes easily will go easily. It is better to : Realize that everyone has their own timeline, you are not living in the same roof as them or eating the same meal, seeing the same things. Think what you truly wanted and work for it, be consistent to it. Your time will come soon.

Instead of : Overthinking Try to : Observe your thoughts, it isn't real, how you react to it, is real. It is better to : Become aware about your thoughts, don't react to it. Let it be, don't suppress yourself but rather accept that you can't control your thoughts, what you can control is your reaction. Be mindful of your own mind.

Instead of : Regrets and doubts Try to : Trust yourself once again, everyone deserves a second chance, so do you. It is better to : Forgive yourself and others, unleash the hatred in your heart that is holding you back from what you wanted in life, don't let that feelings controls you or hold you back. Take accountability, forgive and believe.

Do not disturb yourself by imagining your whole life at once.

You have the ability to transform some of these undesirable traits into positive attributes. Remind yourself to modify your true desires for yourself and accept those shortcomings.

Making life changes can be tough even if you're determined and sincere.
Don't overestimate your self-discipline. Here are some tips to help:
<ul>
<li>Start small with mini habits</li>
<li>Be consistent and commit to a small change every day</li>
<li>Track your progress to stay motivated</li>
</ul>
Remember that intention without action is pointless. Start today!

Tips for Achieving Life Changes

Why take a small step daily?<ul><li>Develops lifelong habit</li><li>Requires little willpower</li><li>Leads you in the right direction</li></ul> What are the benefits of taking small steps?<ul><li>Creates big results</li><li>Easy to achieve</li><li>Builds motivation</li></ul>🔍Turn your goals into reality, one small step at a time!🚀

Small Steps Lead to Big Results

Habits Matter! 🧐 According to Duke University, they make up 45% of our behavior. By simply repeating a behavior, we strengthen the pathway associated with it.

The Power of Mini Habits 😎

“Starting small and removing the pressure of expectations is the recipe were using for success and it works well, so we want to keep it as long as possible.”

Did you know: forming a habit takes an average of 66 days, not 21-30 days as commonly believed. This varies from person to person (18-254 days). When it becomes natural and easy, you've formed the habit!

<ul>
<li>Habit takes average 66 days, not 21-30</li>
<li>for you, it may take 18-254 days</li>
<li>when easy and natural, habit formed</li>
</ul>

How long does it take to form a habit? 🤔

Human beings have a limited supply of willpower. According to studies, our willpower or self-control can become weaker due to several factors. These include effort, perceived difficulty, negative emotions, fatigue, and blood glucose levels.

Primary causes of ego depletion:
<ol>
 <li>Effort</li>
 <li>Perceived difficulty</li>
 <li>Negative affect</li>
 <li>Subjective fatigue</li>
 <li>Blood glucose levels</li>
</ol>

Willpower Management

The eight steps in the mini-habit program are:
<ul>
 <li>Choose your mini habits and habit plan - Write a list of positive habits you'd like to have </li>
 <li>Use the why drill on each mini habit - Ask yourself why you want to instill a mini habit into your life, and delve deeply into the answer by asking the question more than once </li>
 <li>Define your habit cues - Habits are either "time-based" or "activity-based". Identify which cue works for each new mini habit.</li>
 <li>Create your reward plan - Many habits don't offer immediate rewards. Sculpting your abs, for example, takes time.</li>
</ul>

An Eight-Step Plan

<ul><li>Write Everything Down - Writing something down grants it importance. Visually track your mini habit success to reinforce your sense of accomplishment.</li><li>Think Small - The advantage of mini habits is that repetition strengthens your willpower.</li><li>Meet Your Schedule and Drop High Expectations - While having a positive belief in your capabilities is good, setting your expectations too high can hold you back.</li><li>Watch for Signs of Habits, but be Careful not to Jump the Gun - Several signs will tell you that you've developed a positive habit.</li></ul>

An Eight-Step Plan (Continued)

<ul><li> “Never, ever cheat” – Don’t deceive yourself when setting mini goals.</li><li> “Be happy with all progress” – Celebrate your wins, no matter how small.</li><li> “Reward yourself often, especially after a mini habit” </li><li> Stay level-headed – Once a habit becomes routine, it may lose excitement.</li><li> “If you feel strong resistance, back off and go smaller” </li><li> “Remind yourself how easy this is” </li><li> “Never think a step is too small” – Mini habits may seem ridiculous, but they're effective.</li><li> “Put extra energy and ambition toward bonus reps, not a bigger requirement” </li></ul>

Eight Mini-Habit Rules

Discover the Life-Changing Strategy of This Worldwide Bestseller in 17 Languages! Lasting Change For Early Quitters, Burnouts, The Unmotivated, And Everyone Else Too  When I decided to start exercising consistently 10 years ago, this is what actually happened: I tried &quot;getting motivated.&quot; It worked sometimes.I tried setting audacious big goals. I almost always failed them.I tried to make changes last. They didn't.Like most people who try to change and fail, I assumed that I was the problem. Then one afternoon--after another failed attempt to get motivated to exercise--I (accidentally) started my first mini habit. I initially committed to do one push-up, and it turned into a full workout. I was shocked. This &quot;stupid idea&quot; wasn't supposed to work. I was shocked again when my success with this strategy continued for months (and to this day). I had to consider that maybe I wasn't the problem in those 10 years of mediocre results. Maybe it was my prior strategies that were ineffective, despite being oft-repeated as &quot;the way to change&quot; in countless books and blogs. My suspicions were correct. Is There A Scientific Explanation For This?As I sought understanding, I found a plethora of scientific studies that had answers, with nobody to interpret them correctly. Based on the science--which you'll find peppered throughout Mini Habits--we've been doing it all wrong. You can succeed without the guilt, intimidation, and repeated failure associated with such strategies as &quot;getting motivated,&quot; New Year's Resolutions, or even &quot;just doing it.&quot; In fact, you need to stop using those strategies if they aren't giving you great results. Most popular strategies don't work well because they require you to fight against your subconscious brain (a fight not easily won). It's only when you start playing by your brain's rules and taking your human limitations seriously--as mini habits show you how to do--that you can achieve lasting change. What's A Mini Habit?A mini habit is a very small positive behavior that you force yourself to do every day; its &quot;too small to fail&quot; nature makes it weightless, deceptively powerful, and a superior habit-building strategy. You will have no choice but to believe in yourself when you're always moving forward. The barrier to the first step is so low that even depressed or &quot;stuck&quot; people can find early success and begin to reverse their lives right away. And if you think one push-up a day is too small to matter, I've got one heck of a story for you! Aim For The First StepThey say when you aim for the moon, you'll land among the stars. Well, that doesn't make sense, as the moon is closer than the stars. I digress.  The message is that you should aim very high and even if you fall short, you'll still get somewhere. I've found the opposite to be true in regards to productivity and healthy behaviors. When you aim for the moon, you won't do anything because it's too far away. But when you aim for the step in front of you, you might keep going and reach the moon. I've used the Mini Habits strategy to get into the best shape of my life, read 10x more books, and write 4x as many words. It started from requiring one push-up from myself every day. How ridiculous is that? Not so ridiculous when you consider the science of the brain, habits, and willpower. The Mini Habits system works because it's how our brains are designed to change. Note: This book isn't for eliminating bad habits (some principles could be useful for breaking habits). Mini Habits is a strategy to create permanent healthy habits in: exercise, writing, reading, thinking positively, meditating, drinking water, eating healthy foods, etc. Lasting change won't happen until you take that first step into a strategy that works. Give Mini Habits a try. You won't look back.

habits

Habits

Stephen Guise is an international bestselling author, blogger, and entrepreneur. His books have been translated into 21 languages.As an author, Guise is known for delivering highly actionable, world-class behavior change strategies in a humorous wrapper.

Stephen Guise

Mini Habits

"If we cannot live happily without an assured future, we are clearly not adapted to living in a world where accidents will happen."

"Don't let your learning lead to knowledge; let your learning lead to action."

“Psychologists find that people will ignore or even deny the existence of a problem if they’re not fond of the solution.”

"The true price of anything you do is the amount of time you exchange for it."

"You cannot hate and understand yourself at the same time."

"If you argue for your limitations you get to keep them. But if you argue for your possibilities you get to create them!"

productivity

Productivity

Food for Thought Quotes

The life we live in, that we call reality isn't truly the reality but,it is our perspection of reality.Reality is that event that has happened which has no interpretation

How Our Thoughts Shape Our Reality

If for instance, you are home ,and you think about your job, then you start feeling anxious, worried, disgusted ,And at the same time another one has that same job,and whenever they think about it, they feel happy

The main question is WHY?Why do you and the other person have different experiences about the same job

The answer lies, on how we percieve a situation.If you just take the time and ask your self who you would be without that one thought that is negative. And let the answers surface without thinking too much about it,You will see how drastically everything changes.

Our feelings aren't caused by external events , but by our own thinking about the events , hence we can only feel what we are thinking .

We need to appreciate the power of our thoughts for they control our reality of life.

The root cause of our suffering 

The line between good and evil is permeable and almost anyone can be induced to cross it when pressured by situational forces.

Human is a coin with both positives and negatives but the decider is always the situation.

Situation-Stimulates

Situation changes people from being lovable to rude ,from being happy to sad , from being lazy to smart or the opposite .EVERYTHING KEEPS ON CHANGING

Good OR Bad

Situations changes people from rich to poor , from dust to gold ,from no one to someone .TRUST YOURSELF WHATEVER IT MAYBE .

Situations -The Game Changer

Situations change but human kindness stays .

Kindness Stays Forever

Spread kindness as "SITUATION" turns tables

People act , react , respond only based on the situations they face ,so situations are the real factor which decides us

health

Health

Situation - Best Stimulator 

We use neural memory to remember everything. To build neural memory we need to build plasticity in our brain. Plasticity is formed when we commit errors.Errors are a very essential part of learning something. That’s why I recommend that before you watch an hour long tutorial,<ul><li class="ql-align-justify">you should start a project that motivated you to learn the skill</li><li class="ql-align-justify">learn along the way as you build your project</li><li class="ql-align-justify">make errors to build plasticity</li><li class="ql-align-justify">and then search for a tutorial to do that specific thing</li></ul>

Neural Memory

You might get frustrated while building the project because you don’t know anything and it looks hard but it eventually gets easy.Andrew Huberman recommends getting frustrated because then, when you overcome the frustration, dopamine is released in your brain which gives a sense of accomplishment, which then drives you to do more.

Frustration

Andrew Huberman also recommends taking a nap for 20 minutes after learning which helps the neurons register information in our brain.If you aren’t a napping person like me, then you should get a good night deep sleep. I sleep around 9 hours and that fits with me. It’s different with every person.Taking a 10 sec gap while staring at something and completely emptying your mind, with irregular intervals of about 50–60 will help boost your learning process.

Sleeps & Naps

The 20 hour rule states that to get better at 80% of the people at that skill, you only need the first 20 hours.In that 20 hours you should learn using the Pareto’s principle which states that 80% of the results can be achieved by 20% of the work.

20 Hour Rule

It is also recommended to make a roadmap before you start learning. And from that roadmap, you should do the 20% of the work.This is the most crucial step. I made the mistake of thinking I know what to do but I kept switching from one path to another.

Pre-learning

If you want to learn more then join my weekly <a href="https://binsletter.beehiiv.com/subscribe">newsletter</a>

That's it

Over the past week, I managed to learn thumbnail designing, which was a really hard skill for me because I suck at designing. But I managed to learn a skill I was afraid of in under a week. We’ll explore how I did just that

education

Learning & Education

timemanagement

Time Management

How I learn hard skills quickly

In order to be productive, you need three elements: focus, energy and time. If you have focus and time, but you lack energy, you’ll be too tired and lethargic to tackle your tasks. If you have lots of energy and time, but lack focus, you’ll be constantly distracted, jumping from one thing to the other, unable to complete your task at hand. If you have both energy and focus, but you don’t have time, then you simply can’t be productive. Thus, productivity is a function of the three.

What is Productivity?

When the Age of Enlightenment and Reason came about in the middle of the 17th and early 18th century, its prime focus was to discredit anything that cannot be proven by science. Added to this, is the Western world’s uneasy relationship with the Church and religion in general. Western intellectuals were convinced that in order for human progress to be made, religion and spirituality need to step aside for Man to use his reason for economic and social advancement. This new found “freedom” led to the rise of modern nation states and capitalism.

Modern Nation States and Capitalism

Having said that, whilst we have made notable progress in many areas of life, we cannot deny that these advancements have come at a price. From the impact on the environment, to the disparity between rich and poor, to other social physical illnesses attributed to post-modern lifestyle (e.g. breakdown of families, sedentary lifestyle diseases, etc), these negative effects tend to question the advancement we’ve made in our productivity and human civilisation.

Cost of Post-modern Lifestyle

Yes, we’ve boosted our productivity as a human race but we’ve also lost three things along the way: our purpose, our values, and our soul. As humans, we’re treating ourselves (and other human beings) as soul-less machines whose whole purpose is to work. We’ve focused on what improves the functions of the body (nutrition, fitness, and sleep) and the mind (focus, creativity and time management) and neglected the values that nourish our soul.

Lost Our Purpose, Values, Soul

Allah is calling you to a different type of slavery: a slavery that’s bound to Him and frees you from the shackles of this life.We’re created as slaves, and thus we have a choice: Either we willingly submit and become slaves to the Creator of the heavens and the earth, our only true Master, OR we become (willingly or unwillingly) slaves to our money, our jobs, our families, our ego, etc. Which one would you rather be? Slave to the Most Merciful? Or slave to anything else?

Different Type of Slavery

“If you’re not going to be a slave to Allah, you’ll be a slave to something or somebody else” If we accept that we’re slaves of Allah, then this entails that whatever we do, whatever we say, should be in line with what our Master wants. Simply by accepting that you’re a slave of Allah opens a new level of purpose and meaning in your life. No longer will you be obsessed with the rat race and its spoils. Your main concern will always be: how can I please my Master? What can I do to be the best slave of Allah?

Slave to Allah

<ul><li class="ql-align-justify">firstly, by submitting yourself as a slave of Allah you’ll change your outlook on life and always be intrinsically motivated to live life according to the values set in the Quran and the sunnah of Prophet Muhammad (s) and not according to the swaying values of humanity. </li><li class="ql-align-justify">Secondly, you’ll have a higher purpose that helps you balance between the different life roles (parent, spouse, child, neighbour, employee etc) instead of being solely obsessed with a single role. </li><li class="ql-align-justify">Thirdly, you’ll feel constantly connected to your Master and seek His pleasure in every small or major decision.</li></ul>

Change your outlook on life

The second role that Islam commands a person to fulfil is to be Allah’s successive authority on earth. In the verse, “[ Prophet], when your Lord told the angels, ‘ I am putting a successor on earth” [2: 30].The Arabic word used for “successor” in this verse is khalifah which is often misunderstood to mean the Islamic political system headed by a caliph. This is not the Quranic meaning of this word. The Quranic meaning of khalifah is that of a vicegerent, deputy or potential trustee to whom a responsibility is temporarily given.

Allah's Trustees on Earth

What does it mean to be a trustee of Allah on earth? The following hadith helps explain this role: “Everyone of you is a guardian and is responsible for his charges. The ruler who has authority over people is a guardian and is responsible for them, a man is a guardian of his family and is responsible for them; a woman is a guardian of her husband’s house and children and is responsible for them; a slave is a guardian of his master’s property and is responsible for it; so all of you are guardians and are responsible for your charges”. (Bukhari).

Everyone of you is a guardian

Islam comes with values and guidelines that are not imposed by external force, but self-applied out of a person’s own will and submission to the command of Allah and the guidance of the Prophet Muhammad (s). Living and applying these values have huge benefit to the individual and to the society. Values such as amanah (trust), sidq (honesty), ihsaan (excellence),adl (justice) & rahma (mercy) help us be truthful in our lives and uphold the highest standards of morality. All these values help maintain human dignity. This is where Islam encourages its followers to have an internal moral compass.

Internal Moral Compass

Once the Caliph Umar Bin Abdul-Aziz, who received a visitor from a distant land. While they conversed about the state of the Muslims, he kept a lamp lit. However, when the conversation turned to personal and family issues, the caliph dimmed the lamp and conversed in the dark. His visitor was bemused by this behaviour and asked him why he did this. The Caliph responded that he bought the lamp using money from the Treasury of the Muslim World, so he only used it when working on related matters and not for personal benefit! An entire civilisation was built on such honourable Islamic values.

True Islamic Values - A True Story

Prophet Muhammad (s) taught us that a person would be asked about five things on the Day of Judgement: <ol><li class="ql-align-justify">his knowledge and how he used it, </li><li class="ql-align-justify">his youth and how he spent it, </li><li class="ql-align-justify">his life and how he lived it, and </li><li class="ql-align-justify">his wealth (where he got it from) </li><li class="ql-align-justify">& how he spent it. </li></ol>If you think about these five questions, they are all linked to productivity. Were you productive with your knowledge and used it well? Were you productive with your youth living a life of service or did you waste it away? Were you productive with your money, earning it from ethical sources and spending it in the right way?

Five Things

Ever wondered if there's a practical way to lead a productive lifestyle that combines the best of Islamic tradition and modern psychology and science? In The Productive Muslim, Mohammed Faris, the founder of ProductiveMuslim.com, provides this practical framework that helps urban global Muslims lead a productive lifestyle – spiritually, physically and socially.Combining his love for Islam with modern productivity techniques, in this book, Mohammed will teach you:How to spiritually book your productivityHow to manage your sleep, nutrition, and fitnessHow to be socially productive outside your home and communityhow to manage your focus in an age of distractionsHow to build productive habits and routinesHow to manage your time and invest in your hereafterHow to be productive during Ramadan

Mohammed Faris

The Productive Muslim

Find  Self Improvement Tips - Curated from popular Books like Atomic Habits, 48 Rules of Power, Deep Work, Rich Dad Poor Dad and way more!