First Clubhouse Conversation: “How to be Productive in society?”

 

Alhamdulillah today I had my very first Clubhouse conversation with brothers Faraz, Amir and Harun. 

Here are some key takeaways:

1. Being productive in society starts with being PROACTIVE:

This is essentially what is described by the Prophet ﷺ as the strong believer: 

“Hasten and rush to seize that which will benefit you, seek the help of Allah, and do not be incapacitated or helpless!” (Muslim)

When a proactive individual recognizes something is good, you have determination to know it has a value and benefit, even if the people at large, the community, doesn’t quite see it in that way. They are able to see it for the substance, and seize the opportunity immediately. You don’t “wait and see”, get incapacitated by fear and insecurity, overthinking “what will the people say?”, or wait until symptoms of something terrible (or symptoms of problems) before you start taking action

2. Having High Aspirations

"Champions aren't made in the gyms. Champions are made from something they have deep inside them - a desire, a dream, a vision" (Muhammad Ali)

For you to be proactive, you need to know what to be proactive about in the first place. Or else, opportunities will pass you by without you even knowing they are valuable chances for you to seize them in the first place! And this can only be made possible if you have a clear sense of identity and purpose, aspirations of what you want to achieve. THEN the symptom of this high aspiration would be your proactiveness.

For me, personally, my biggest source of inspiration is the hadith wherein the Prophet said, when the son of Adam dies, all his deeds are cut off except 3: “Ongoing charity, knowledge that is benefitted from, and righteous children who supplicate for him” (Muslim)

Every day I ask myself, “what have I done today to invest in these 3?”

And that’s usually enough to get me off my backside and DO SOMETHING. 

3. Focus on Efforts, Not results

You just focus on the efforts. Allah will bring the results. If Allah deems that your deed is worth sharing, HE will add the barakah.

I would always remind the team at @thebarakaheffect: “don’t bother with how many people view, like, or subscribe to our channel. Worry about how sincere we are and how much effort we put in to deliver the BEST quality we are capable of, with ihsan. If Allah deems it worthy, HE will add the Barakah”

4. Sabr – Be methodical, don’t act based on emotion

Although we want to be proactive, we should always tamper that with sabr. Too many times today, our da’wah efforts are driven by emotion – as a result, a lot of initiatives, organizations, and charity drives are only “flash of the pan”, that we are only reacting to issues when they appear or start going viral. 

Being proactive and productive in society requires us to take our time, to plan things out and do our work systematically, to collaborate with the right team that makes up more than the sum of it parts. In that manner, insha Allah we can aim towards istiqamah (steadfastness): Deliver a sustainable, continuous value to society, not just one hit wonders.