How Can We Eat More Sustainably?

No, I’m not going to tell you to go full vegan. But let’s see how close we can get to that.

I received a lot of positive feedback on my previous post on ‘Why do we waste food?’. I figured it would be useful to dive into a relevant topic. The concept of eating more sustainably is something that I strive towards, it’s not something that I fully live out as yet. I attempted it when I lived alone in Cape Town, but struggled once I started staying with my family again.

In today’s post, I’d like to dive into a few aspects of sustainable eating that are worth considering. Let’s first look at why it’s important, how our current habits impact the environment, ways we can try to improve on our eating habits, and how to move forward as a society.

Why is this topic important?

I think many of us underestimate the impact our eating habits have, not only on our body, but our mind, our community and the environment. I personally think it’s important because we typically eat around 3 meals a day (+snacks), every single day of our life. That’s somewhat astonishing, if you think about how much we actually eat in a year (>1000 meals). If we think of the population as a whole, that’s 7 billion people eating at a rate of 1000 meals a year – there’s a lot of mouths to feed.

Now I know that’s a bit of a stretch, since not everyone eats that much or has the privilege to. Trying to also point out why we should be incredibly grateful to fit that category.

That rate of eating means that we need to find ways to efficiently produce enough food for everyone. Efficiency, however, can come at a cost (I realized that from own personal experiences). We’ve started to extract natural resources at an unnatural rate, and the products get distributed unequally. That means that we’re now producing more food than ever before, but are causing significant damage to the environment and not feeding everyone.

Let’s dive deeper into that.

How are our current eating habits affecting the environment?

Here some interesting facts from Our World In Data:

https://ourworldindata.org/environmental-impacts-of-food

The bar graphs essentially show the contribution of the food and agriculture industry on different aspects of the environment. What we don’t realize is that the type of food we eat, has a direct impact on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, land-use, fresh water supplies and even biodiversity.

Here’s another interesting figure to see how specific food types affect GHG emissions.

The immediate takeaway is that the top 3 contributors are all meat-related. That is because livestock and cattle are all incredible potent methane producers (cows and sheep fart, A LOT). When you stack up all the farms that use unsustainable techniques, it adds up to tonnes of GHG emissions.

I’ve also talked about the impact of food waste in my previous post, which has its fair share of environmental impact. There’s also the packaging and plastics that are used throughout the value chain, which all accumulates.

It’s not all bleak and sour though, there are clear ways for us to improve on these issues. It’s not as easy for some people and it might be easier in other countries, but it all starts with a single step.

https://image.cagle.com/151304/750/151304.png

How can we improve?

From my personal experience, it’s somewhat simple. We just need to be more conscious of where we get our food from. The first thing is to try and support local as much as you can. The more you’re able to source from small farms, butchers and reliable sources of free range food, the better.

Try to cut down on buying fast food and eating out at large franchises. Those are typically major contributors to the emission chain and tend to be incredibly unsustainable.

The next thing is to add more vegetables, fruit and plants into your diet. The less we rely on cattle and poultry, the more we are reducing our contribution to the GHG emissions. It can be as simple as setting up a meal plan for the week, and instead of eating meat for like 4 days, cut it down to 1 or 2 days (essentially cut down from your current habit).

The last thing is to grow your own food where possible. This is more applicable to people who live in houses with gardens. The more you can source your own food organically, the healthier it is for you and the environment.

If you’d like to find more tips on how to eat more sustainably, check out the link below:

https://www.wwf.org.uk/what-can-i-do/10-tips-help-you-eat-more-sustainably

Moving forward

As a society, we’ve started to romanticize the concept of fast food and take-outs. Some people I know can eat fast food on a daily basis. It’s cheap and convenient. But it comes at an indirect cost.

To move forward as a society, I think we need to start finding ways to encourage and incentivize each other to live more sustainably. We live on a planet with finite resources. The impact of our actions from the last few decades/centuries are starting to take its toll. We can’t keep plowing ahead with the same habits. The population is growing, so that means we’ll only have more mouths to feed.

https://ojogalaksihmbah.blogspot.com/2020/07/animated-greenhouse-gases-cartoon.html

It’s all about taking a small step in the right direction. Little by little, a little becomes a lot. Don’t underestimate the ripple effect of the minor changes you make in your life. Just try your best, whatever that means to you.

The point I’d like to make here is that we can do better. Most of us choose not to, out of convenience. The choice of eating more sustainably is definitely a privilege, but one that we should utilize as much as we can.

Eat better today, for a healthier planet tomorrow.

Ramadan Coming To An End

It’s a rather dismal part of the year, where the beautiful and blessed month of Ramadan is coming to an end. On the bright side though, Eid is approaching, which is always a wonderful celebration after all sacrifices made.

I’d like to link this post to the one I wrote a few weeks ago on Making the Most of Ramadan. Many of us have established some incredible habits and managed to forego several of our terrible habits. Let’s look at ways for us to reflect over the past month, to keep our habits in check comfortably after Ramadan, the blessings associated with Eid, and giving!

https://za.pinterest.com/pin/814870126302469810/

Reflecting

When it comes to any experience in life, we often flesh out the most value after we’ve given it some thought. The same apply after experiencing the spiritual month such of Ramadan. In subtle and perhaps significant ways, we’ve applied ourselves differently. Our behaviours, our attitudes, our temperament, our habits, everything changed to accommodate the season of fasting.

One of the key takeaways for me is realizing how capable I am of actually praying more consistently, giving more, being kinder, being less vulgar, and appreciating the shortness of life. The greatest element is always realizing how short-lived we are.

I’m sure you have your own unique reflections to learn and gain wisdom from, here are some questions to provoke those thoughts:

• What have I learnt about my own capacity to be spiritual?
• What is something that was easier for me to do during this month?
• What is something that was harder for me to during this month?
• How did I spend my time differently?
• How much more do I still need to learn?
• What habits do I still need to work on letting go?
• What habits do I need to maintain after this month?

It’ just food for thought. Ponder over them next time you go for a walk or when you’re laying in bed.

https://image.freepik.com/free-photo/beautiful-selective-focus-shot-crystal-ball-reflecting-breathtaking-sunset_181624-8579.jpg

Keeping habits in check

After you’ve done a bit of reflecting, it’s time to see how we can keep those epic habits in check. Things like fasting, waking up before sunrise to pray Fajr, praying in the Masjid, reading Quran regularly, giving out lots of charity, inviting people to your house to eat with you, and so much more.

I’m speaking to myself here as it is something I struggle with every year – keeping consistent once Ramadan is over. The point is to have an awareness of the fact that consistency is the key to mastery. If we slip up once it becomes easy, we stand the chance of losing that habit for another year.

Better awareness –> Better choices –> Better results

To make this actionable, let’s try and write down a list of all the incredibly habits that we managed to pick up. Circle 2 or 3 of the highest priority items (in your opinion), and find ways to keep them in check. Maybe you can speak to a friend or family member to join you, or have someone hold you accountable for getting them done consistently.

Once you manage to keep those initial habits in place, look back at your list and start with another one. You keep going down the list until you fortify your toolkit of great habits, that will hopefully last you a lifetime, Insha’Allah!

It’s not about perfection, it’s about progress.

Blessed day of Eid

Eid-ul-Fitr, which is day after Ramadan is completed, can be considered like the ‘Christmas’ for Mulsims. It’s a day where we celebrate the month of sacrifice and commemorate the end of Ramadan with family members and friends.

It’s typically a day where we dress up in our best outfits, prepare the most delicious meals, and share as much as possible. A key theme in Eid is giving. There’s a lot of gifts that are shared, money given to children and charity given to those in need. I’ve written about it last year as well, on my post on Eid.

https://static.vecteezy.com/system/resources/previews/000/463/721/original/eid-mubarak-vector-illustration.jpg

Considering we have a couple of days to go, I urge you to try and make the most of it. It’s the last push. We won’t get this kind of spiritual energy for another month. It’s okay if you’ve made mistakes up until now. It’s okay if you weren’t doing as best as you possible could. Try now. There’s always enough time to make amends and score some goods deeds.

You got this, Insha’Allah.

How Can We Make The Most of Ramadan?

Ramadan Kareem! it’s the fasting season again. This is easily one of my favourite parts of the year. The vibe, the spirit, the excitement, the discipline. Always gives me some kind of spiritual rejuvenation. Last year I spoke about Why Ramadan Is Important. This time, I’d like to talk about how we can make the most of it, given it’s only 1 month in the year.

In today’s post, I’ll talk about how we can develop lasting habits in Ramadan, how to schedule our time effectively to finish reciting the Quran, certain practices to incorporate and why we should embrace the disruption.

Developing habits in Ramadan

One of the greatest things about Ramadan is the consistency that it requires. We have to wake up before sunrise every single day to eat something before we commence the fasting. As many of you may already know, waking up that early in the morning has incredible benefits.

The other thing it helps with is discipline. We cannot eat or drink anything (yes, even water) for the entire day until sunrise. This helps us control our urges and snacking habits, which occur quite often when we’re just bored.

Another aspect is that it helps build consistency with praying. In Islam, we pray 5 times a day. Because of the spirit of Ramadan, we tend to be more diligent with those prayers and try to pray them in congregation on time.

Fasting is also another incredibly healthy habit that this month allows us to work on. It’s not always easy during the year to fast, especially given how we structure our entire lives around eating. Ramadan allows us to practice the habit of fasting and makes it easier to keep steady on it afterwards.

These little habits are all fairly simple yet quite remarkable. The impact it has on our day to day lives can be very rewarding, if we approach it with the right mindset and correct intention.

Scheduling your time to recite the Quran

As with my usual reading tricks, there are certain ways to effectively find time to read more Quran during this month. The concept of habit stacking comes in play here. This is essentially implementing a new habit before or after an existing habit, since there would be less effort that way. So, what you can do after each salaah is sit down and recite as much as you feel comfortable to. This will make it more manageable, if praying 5 times a day is an existing habit.

Let’s say your objective is to try and finish reciting the Quran over the 30 days of Ramadan. Considering there are 30 chapters (juzz or paras) in total, that equates to roughly 1 chapter a day. Reading a chapter in a single setting is not necessarily easy for everyone, so you can break it down into more digestible pieces.

In the Quran that I use, a chapter is roughly 20 pages. Using the habit stacking method, you can divide those 20 pages by 5, which equates to reading 4 pages after each salaah. If you use this method consistently over the entire month, it will allow you to recite all 30 chapters.

Once the habit if formed after Ramadan, you can just keep the momentum going by sticking to it afterwards.

https://www.studioarabiyainegypt.com

Spiritual boosters

In addition to the previous habits that I’ve mentioned, there are a few key boosters that are easier to implement during the month of Ramadan. These are typically done throughout one’s life, but can be incorporated specifically if you haven’t already formed them.

• Giving charity regularly and being grateful
• Listening to Islamic lectures / podcasts
• Waking up to pray Tahajjud (in the last 3rd of the night)
• Praying in the masjid 5 times a day for each salaah
• Making zikr throughout the day (remembering Allah often)

Here are specific things to try and avoid doing, to ensure that you make the most of your time and to help you cut down on bad habits in general:

• Don’t sleep the whole day (for those of you on holiday)
• Try not to stay up till too late playing games or watching TV (in fact try and cut that out completely this month)
• Cut down the time you spend on social media (delete unnecessary apps if possible)
• Don’t overeat when it’s time to break your fast

Embracing the disruption

The last topic I’d like to talk about is the disruption that often occurs in this month. We leave our comfort zones to a certain extent. We can’t stick to our usual habits. We need to adapt to certain changes, like waking up early to eat or staying away from snacking all day.

If we can embrace the disruption and use it to our advantage, it will make the adaptation process a lot more efficient. This will not only allow us to make the most of Ramadan, but it will also aid us in staying consistent with the habits afterwards.

Ramadan is an incredibly blessed time of the year. We should be very grateful to be experiencing it yet again. Time is your most valuable asset. This is the prime time to invest it in your spirituality and Islamic habits. The return on the investment is immeasurable. Don’t miss out on your chance. You only die once.

Implementing Change

So we’re approaching a new year yet again. I’m genuinely surprised that we managed to survive up until now. I have no idea what 2021 has in store for us, but we’ve already endured enough to take on whatever challenges it brings.

I’ve discussed the concept of reflecting, habits and preparing for a new year before. You can click on any of the hyperlinks to read those posts in more detail. Considering that December is around the corner, I thought it would be a good idea to get the ball rolling.

Prepare in advance

This philosophy has carried me a long way in terms of getting things done. Whenever we take on a new task, project or habit, it initially seems like a mountain to climb. There’s just way too much to do and it can be very daunting.

The solution? Start before you’re meant to start.

It works like a charm. If you’re writing an essay or a report for example, start with setting up your template before you even get your assignment brief. Maybe even get the introduction in while you’re at it. If you’re planning to start exercising, keep your outfit ready the night before. If you want to get into reading, keep the book by your bedside and read 1 page before you sleep.

“You can only eat an elephant one bite at a time.”

It’s more or less about mentally preparing. You’re telling yourself: ‘Ha, I’ve already started… Let’s just continue and make a little more progress.’

Starting is more often than not where the most friction is. If you can find a way to lubricate the beginning, it’ll make your life a lot simpler. Prepare in advance for any of your endeavors.

Write down your goals

It’s as simple as that. Write. Down. Your. Goals. If you don’t know what to write, that’s enough of an indication that you need to start working on yourself. You’re essentially creating a map to direct your energy, perhaps we could call it a compass.

There’s an infinite number of directions that we can take in our lives. We need to figure out which ones are the most worthwhile and aligned with our values. You need to carefully start thinking about this, well before the new year comes.

*FYI, I’m just using the new year as a reference point. It psychologically helps with making abrupt changes in our lives. We should be doing these practices throughout the year at any given point.

If you don’t know where you’re going, you’ll never get there.

http://www.wikihow.com/images/1/13/Achieve-Short-Term-Goals-Step-9.jpg

Visualize

Everything we use today is a result of someone’s imagination. It’s been thought of or visualized before. We all operate in a similar way. We’re guided by our thoughts.

Energy follows focus

Keep in mind that the more we contemplate our goals and visualize ourselves achieving them, the more likely we are to relentlessly chase them. You’re constantly reminding your subconscious of what you want. It’s essentially what we do when we pray for things that we want.

Yes, a lot of it is out of our control and somethings are destined for us, while other things are not. That doesn’t mean we should try our best to get what it is we do want. This also works best as soon as you wake up or before you go to bed. Your mind is still hazy and you absorb information a lot quicker into your psyche.

When you do visualize, really put effort into it. Feel the emotions. Feel the celebration. Feel the contentment of working hard and achieving your objectives.

Reflect

We are all just a bunch of mistakes. Each and every day, we make several terrible choices. We also occasionally make a few great ones. The best way to filter those decisions and differentiate between what worked and what didn’t, is to reflect on them regularly. It’s how we make sure we don’t repeat the same mistakes again.

Before you go to bed, take stock of how the day went. What were the range of emotions? Did you achieve what you set out to do? What worked really well for you? What was a complete waste of time? What did you learn today?

These are some really great questions that we should keep in mind as often as possible. Don’t ever stop learning, especially from your own life. The treasure is there and it’s infinite, we just need to be willing to dig in.

Change

Now we’re getting to the crux of things. The post today was essentially meant to encourage you take action. To embrace change. To keep striving to improve yourself.

It’s always easier said than done. Something we’ve evolved to do is take the past of least resistance. What does that mean exactly? Well, it basically means that we’ll keep doing the same easy thing over and over again, if it give us average results. But even when we do keep at it, things just pop up and force us to adapt.

“Change is inevitable, resistance is futile.”

Ultimately, what we need to do is become more adaptable. If we start making changes in our own life and gain a new perspective, it’ll mean that we are becoming more comfortable with change. Become comfortable being uncomfortable.

“The only constant in life is change.”

And there you have it; a growth mindset. Which a central theme yet again. Because we are only capable of much more than we think we are. Our greatest limitation is our own thoughts. Remove the sentence ‘I can’t’ from your vocabulary. Whatever you’re overcoming, whatever you’re struggling to achieve, whatever you’ve been praying for, just remember: Not yet.

Atomic Habits

Have you ever gotten stuck trying to implement a really important habit? Why is it so hard to stay consistent? How often do you start a new activity with lots of energy, only to just stop after a few days?

Today’s post will be all about habit formation and how to incorporate consistency into your life. I’ll use the techniques I gained from ‘Atomic Habits’ by James Clear and some of my own little life hacks. You’ll probably want to get a journal out and take down some notes, this will be very interesting!

I’ll discuss what, how and why to form habits, then I’ll introduce you to a concept called habit-stacking and the 2-minute rule.

What are habits? –> Outcome

A habit is essentially a behaviour that is performed automatically or on a regular basis. They are mental shortcuts learned from experience. Your personal feedback loop to living more efficiently.

“Success is the product of daily habits, not a once-in-a-lifetime transformation.”

Let’s identify the different between goal-oriented habits and system-oriented habits. Goals are essentially about the results you’d like to achieve. Systems are about the processes that lead to those results. You need to be more concerned with your current trajectory than with your current results.

It’s your commitment to the process that will determine your progress. I think most of the time we become obsessed with achieving a certain goal, without putting much thought into how we’re actually going to get there. So how can we form systems that will allow us to reach those goals?

“If you can get 1% better each day, you’ll end up 37x times better after 365 days.”

How do you form habits that last? –> Processes

It starts with trial and error. The feedback loop involves trying, failing, learning and then trying differently. The emphasis here is on the failing, because that’s often the most demotivating part. You need to realize that failure is part of growth. Progress requires you to unlearn and then relearn. It’s all part of the plan.

There are 2 phases each containing 2 subcategories to the habit loop; a problem phase and a solution phase. The problem phase consists of Cue and Craving, whilst the solution phase consists of Response and Reward.

To put it simply: the cue is about noticing a reward (trigger), craving is wanting that reward (desire), response is about working towards the reward (motivation) and reward ultimately satisfies us or teaches us. This in turn associates the reward with the cue.

Four laws of behaviour change:

1. Make it obvious
2. Make it attractive
3. Make it easy
4. Make it satisfying

If you combine that concept with the four laws of behaviour change, you’ll amplify the habit formation process. So why form habits?

Why should you form habits? –> Identity

When a habit becomes part of your identity, it feeds the loop that will continuously motivate you. Decide who you want to be. Prove it to yourself with small consistent wins.

Keep the benefits of the habit you’re about to form at the forefront of your mind. You want to remind yourself on a regular basis how this will serve you and why you’re pursuing it.

Familiarize yourself with the concept of failure, because pain is an effective teacher. The more you identify as a ‘perfectionist’ or someone who never fails, the less likely you are to overcome the fear of failure.

Habit stacking

This is a simple trick whereby you pair a new habit with an existing one. For example, if you want to start reading more every night before you go to bed, start immediately after you brush your teeth. This makes it easier for your mind to remember when to do it.

“We are more likely to repeat a behaviour when the experience is satisfying.”

You’re pairing those habits together so that you can stay consistent. Let’s dive into how to develop that consistency.

The two-minute rule

You need to make it as easy as possible to get started. This is one of the most important concepts to learn, because we are often very resistant to habits that seem like mountains to climb.

The two-minute rule is essentially sticking to the new habit for 2 minutes everyday. Want to start reading? Do it for 2 minutes. Want to start meditating? Do it for 2 minutes. Want to start exercising? Do it for 2 minutes.

Master the habit of showing up. It doesn’t have to be perfect. You just need to do it. Once it starts becoming part of who you are, you can optimize and push yourself a little more. The key is to get comfortable with consistency.

“A thousand mile journey begins with a single step.”

I hope this has served you in some way. It’s not easy to form habits that last, but once you make it part of who you are, you’ll never be able to let go. Remember to focus on processes not just goals when forming habits. You will slip up here and there, but don’t give up. You will get there, just keep trying your best.

“The process of building habits is actually the process of becoming yourself.”

If you have any thoughts or questions that you’d like to share, feel free to comment below.

Mindful Monday #3

Another beautiful day to be mindful. Before we get going, smile, look at the world around you and take in 3 deep breaths. Now let’s talk about food, auto-pilot, gratitude and habits.

Food

We definitely have work to do when it comes to eating mindfully. How exactly?

By focusing on your food more. Paying more attention to the texture, the smell and the taste of it. Did you know that 80% of the flavour we taste is acquired through smelling? (Google it haha)

Technology has become quite an ingrained aspect of our lives. Separating it from food however, will definitely help us enhance our life experience.

I can’t be the only one who has conditioned myself to eat while watching series, sports or YouTube videos. Let’s try to be aware of that and change our habits accordingly.

When you eat mindfully and are truly grateful for what you have, there’s so much blessing in it.

Auto-Pilot

We’re quite algorithmic. There’s so much that we do without a conscious thought. Brushing your teeth, getting into the car, scrolling on your phone, making food, changing into your outfit.

Are robots becoming more like us, or are we becoming more like them?

We could try paying a little more attention to the way the water feels when we’re washing the dishes, the way the milk tastes in our tea or the feeling of the wind stroking our hair.

This trains the mind to be present, which allows us to focus on what truly matters. Mindfulness is a practice which aligns our thoughts with our feelings, allowing us to actually experience the world.

Habits

Don’t get me wrong here, operating on auto-pilot makes us highly efficient. It saves our brain a lot of time and energy, by following routine without needing to think.

The only problem with that is that we don’t fully appreciate all that we have. We subconsciously take certain aspects of our life for granted, because we don’t spend enough time thinking about it.

By incorporating mindfulness into our habits, we can start feeling truly grateful for our blessings. Considering we can only be grateful in the present, why not focus on what we have a little more?

Spend more time focusing on your food. Consciously take in the scents and aromas of what you’re indulging. Focus a little more during your routine, to train your brain to be present. Think about how blessed you are as often as you can, it’ll truly change your life.

The Journey VI

Little by little, a little becomes a lot. I had no idea that I’d be reaching 50 posts so soon. I started off back in 2014, just before I finished high-school. Let’s talk a little about how we got to this point, 6 years later.

As with everything in life, it started off as an experiment. There’s no better way to learn than from actually trying, so I attempted to use this space as a virtual journal. In this post, I’ll run you through the timeline of how things developed.

2014-2015

In 2014-2015, I was a little obsessed with my online presence. I took a lot of pride in the follower-following ratio, the aesthetic of my IG feed, twitter cliques and getting enough likes.

I was showcasing the best moments of my life, as social media often lures us to do. I’d say that I wasn’t mature enough to understand how to virtually socialize. I started this blog for the sake of starting a blog, coming from an egotistical place. My intentions were not aligned with my goals.

I carried on blogging every other month, about the most random aspects of my life. In 2016, it kind of all just stopped. When you’re inconsistent and your why isn’t clear, the motivation tends to dissipate.

2016-2017

Throughout 2016-2017, I went through quite a bit of emotional turbulence. I didn’t really know how to deal with my own insecurities or how to love myself. Those were key ingredients for low self-esteem. I’ve mentioned this before, but at the end of 2017, I took a social media sabbatical. (You can read more about it by clicking on the hyper-link)

That’s when things really started to change.

You don’t truly realize how toxic social media can be, until you step out of it. I had way more time than I could’ve previously imagined. I also had a lot of emotional energy that I needed to utilize.

2018

At the beginning of 2018, I started journalling, meditating and reading! It started off in that specific order. Having a journal completely changed the way I took charge of my life. My thoughts and habits became a lot clearer to me. And as I’ve said before:
Better awareness – Better choices – Better results.

That’s exactly what started to happen. With my self-awareness slowly increasing, I started making much better choices that were aligned with my values. This ultimately led to better results.

I started off being a little skeptical with regards to meditation, especially from an Islamic point of view. But through constantly being grateful and remembering God, I opened the space for myself to sit in presence every morning. It’s all about intention, don’t forget that.

At the beginning, I was barely able to focus on my breath for 2 minutes at a time. So I had to use guided meditations for a while, until that increased to 5 minutes, then 10 minutes, then 15 minutes. After that, I was able to sit with my own thoughts and just focus on my breath without needing a ‘guide’.

I used to read a lot when I was a child, thanks to my mother. Growing up in Saudi Arabia however, changed that quite a bit. Throughout middle school and high school, my focus shifted entirely to sports and gaming. I had no interest in reading anything, be that academic or even fiction.

After my mindfulness practice and journalling routine, I realized that I had a lot more to learn. Not only about those particular habits, but about the world in general. That led me to reading ‘The Power of Now’ by Eckhart Tolle.

It took me a few months to read that book, but once I actually completed it, my identity started to change. I was now a reader. Someone who could actually commit to finishing books.

As with every other habit, the more you deliberately practice, the better you get. I started reading books a little bit faster and started learning more about how to retain the information I was learning.

2019

From finishing 3-4 books in 2018, I started finishing 1 book every month in the beginning of 2019. I had to make a conscious effort to achieve that goal. It got even better towards the end of the year, where I started finishing around 2 books a month. A few months after that and I now objectively read at least 4 books a month.

To bring us back to how I started blogging more seriously, I had an urge to share the knowledge I was gaining from all those books and the few habits I was forming. I tried blogging again, with consistency and intention. It started with the The Journey. I (Click the hyper-link to read my first post in 2018)

“The teacher learns the most.”

2019 was the year a lot of my habits fell into place. Everything that I had attempted to do over the previous year was now becoming part of my identity. My intentions were finally aligned with my goals and values.

2020

“First you create your habits, then your habits create you.”

I became passionate about helping other people and serving the world around me. Aspire To Inspire became the motto. To help each and every one of us unleash our full potential and spread the knowledge we gain.

The objective now is to publish at least 2 blog posts per month. I’m also trying to get more people involved in the journey with me, to expand and grow.

Life is temporary. We’re all going to die eventually. Keep that fact in mind and allow it to vitalize your every day. Starting small and staying consistent will always help you sustain your habits. This will then help you become the person you wish to be.

Make it obvious. Make it attractive. Make it easy. Make it satisfying. Don’t only focus on what you need to get done, focus more on who you need to be.

A friend of mine recently told me something really inspiring: “The only way to eat an elephant is one bite at a time.”

I’d love to know more about the aspects that have helped you develop into the person you are today. Please feel free to share your story or comment your views on mine in the section below.

Warming up for 2020

How would you like to start your new year? Any new year resolutions? Are there aspects of your life that you’re excited to change?

Surely you have plans to start chasing your goals and build in healthier routines. I’d like to use this post to discuss how we can start the new year with a bang.

I’m not at all an advocate for waiting till new years to start making progress. Which is why I think this is such an important topic, to see how we can utilize the time we have NOW, to work towards our aspirations.

By starting small, dreaming big, loads of reflection and gratitude, I’d like to help you successfully transition into the new year.

There is a psychological advantage in starting the new year on a clean slate, as it builds momentum. So let’s dive into how we can use these tricks and utilize our brains most effectively.

Start now

It takes around 2 months of consistent dedication to a create a habit. If you start thinking now of what you’d like to implement in 2020, you’ll already have an advantage.

Remember that time is a relative concept, we each experience it differently; although it passes at the same rate. So don’t add too much pressure on yourself to perfect new routines at the very start of the year.

By using December to warm up to your goals, you’ll enter the new year ready to rumble.

Start small

Here’s something that I’ve mentioned before: Start small. It’s such a recurring pattern that I keep witnessing; diving into large goals and getting overwhelmed.

A mental trick is to start small and make the first step as easy as possible.

You’re trying to build up towards massive goals and become the best version of yourself. Move from conscious incompetence, to unconscious competence. Once it becomes comfortable doing the easy task, make it a little more challenging.

Remember: Growth only occurs in a state of discomfort.

Stay consistent

The key to all mastery? Consistency. This is something else that I often find when people fail to achieve their new year resolutions; they stop being consistent.

Self-love is essentially keeping at your craft and taking care of yourself. It’s pushing one more rep at the gym. It’s refusing to go out when you haven’t exercised or read for the day. It’s refusing to order pizza when it isn’t your cheat day. It’s journalling consistently and working on your emotional intelligence.

Be like the sun. It rises and sets everyday without fail.

“We are what we do repeatedly. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.”

Yes that quote is a little overused, but it’s very true. First we form our habits, then our habits form us.

Don’t stop believing in yourself. Especially when it gets difficult. That’s where it counts the most. Everyone can make progress when it’s easy or when it’s a good day. It’s about making progress when it’s difficult or when you dread it.

Read, reflect, plan and grow

If you have been journalling throughout the year, now is the time to look back on those entries and see the changes you’ve endured. You’ve survived all the tough times and achieved so many goals. Celebrate your accomplishments!

Embrace the progress and reflect on your life in general. See what has worked and what hasn’t worked for you. There’s so much to learn from our own life, if we just give it a little more attention.

All the L’s that I’ve received this year are just Lessons.

“I never fail or lose, I always learn.” Keep that mentality and nothing can crush your momentum. Foster a growth mindset and your blessings will be so much clearer.

As for planning and growing, my post on time management sums it up pretty well. If you can form structure in your life, your days will become exponentially more productive. Don’t forget to write down your goals and visualize yourself achieving them. Consistently.

Stay mindful, give thanks & forgive

Stay mindful of your thoughts and behaviours. Notice the aspects of your mentality that are holding you back. Remove the self-doubt and negative self-talk. Once you become aware of a thought or emotion, it no longer holds any weight over you.

Don’t be afraid to feel. Don’t be afraid to fall or fail. Don’t be afraid of rejection. Life is a set of trials and errors. If you’re not willing to make mistakes, you’ll never come up with anything original.

Focus on your blessings. Think of all you have to be grateful for every single day. Think of how blessed you are to live through another year. Remember that death is the only guarantee we have in life, so live each day as if it’s your last.

This Kurzgesagt video perfectly explains gratitude! One of the best YouTube videos I’ve come across.

Do yourself another massive favour and learn to forgive. Holding onto grudges only causes more suffering for you. Does it make sense to start a new year with resentment of the past? Make peace with your demons and those who’ve done you wrong.

Not for them. For you. Forgiveness is another form of self-love. It’s a reflection of your character and the type of person you are. The more you’re able to forgive, the more peace and clarity you’ll witness in your life.

This post was meant to be a quick summary of my favourite topics. I want us all to try our best, each and every single day. Don’t wait for the new year to start. Now is all you have. You don’t know if you’ll have another day to live. Spread love, joy and peace to your best ability, each and everyday.

Smile more. Laugh more. Be grateful. Be merciful. And most importantly, don’t be crippled by fear. Life favours the bold and courageous. You are fully capable of achieving your wildest goals and ambitions, don’t let anyone (especially you!) stop you.

The 5 AM Club

The way you start your day, powerfully shapes how productively you’ll live it.

This post will be very closely linked to The Journey II. I’ll speak about the importance of waking up early and how a powerful morning routine can help you make everyday, legendary! As previously mentioned, this will discuss a lot of The 5 AM Club (5AC) by Robin Sharma, so it’ll be similar to a book review.

Essentially I’ll discuss the values I’ve found most useful and how it has truly helped me amplify my days. Through asking questions about why we should wake up early, then answering them by discussing the benefits, I’ll hopefully convince you to wake up earlier. Keep in mind that there’s no such thing as a ‘morning person’, you are what you do repeatedly.

Before I dive into the routine on how we can make the most of our day, I’ll talk about some of the wisdom I’ve learnt from the story in the 5AC.

Give more, take less. There’s just something profound about being generous or charitable, whereby the more you give the more you get. I’ve genuinely become a firm believer of that (a key pillar of Islam is to be charitable), and it’s emphasized quite a lot here. From my own experience, giving to those who are less fortunate or just being generous to those around you, instills gratitude.

When you’re grateful and content, you’re no longer chasing accumulation or greed. This is something I’m extremely thankful to my parents for, they’re genuinely the kindest people in my life. I know gratitude is repeated a lot in my posts, but there’s no doubt it’s one of the most important values to me.

Another piece of wisdom is being relentless in your dedication. The moment you feel like giving up and calling it quits, is the moment you should try your best to stay put and push forward. This teaches something called grit; that the ability to persevere and work hard outweighs talent. [Grit by Angela Duckworth is an incredible read for those interested in resilience and passion]

“The soreness of growth is so much less expensive, than the devastating costs of regret.”

The final point, is to just acknowledge that there’s more than just mindset to focus on. There are 4 interior empires to balance for success and fulfillment, which sort of relates to The Journey V. They are:

• Mindset
• Heartset
• Healthset
• Soulset

I won’t go into too much detail since I’ve already discussed it previously, but keep in mind that, starting your day by working on each of those components is key to having a legendary day, everyday.

Mindset would revolve around your self-talk and pyschology. Heartset is having the ability to be forgiving and compassionate to the world around you, as well as dealing with the traumas and heartbreaks of your past.

Healthset is ensuring you exercise sufficiently and stay in optimum health. Finally, soulset is about your ability to cultivate your character. Your authenticity, bravery and courage, what you stand for. So these are the four interior empires that we need to focus on each and everyday for longevity and fulfillment.

Let’s start with why? Why should we wake up at 5 am everyday?

1- Okay I’ll first start with something simple; it enhances the state of ‘flow‘. This can be considered the peak mental state where our perceptions become heightened, our originality increases and we’re able to access new levels of processing power. For me, this state is most easily accessed when I play soccer for example. It’s when you enjoy doing something so much (albeit challenging), that you forget about everything else, lose track of time and find an optimal way to focus.

2- Another simple reason would be to obtain a Gargantuan Competitive Advantage (GCA). Just think about all that you can achieve if you’re up before everyone else. I’ve been feeling like I’ve lived multiple days in one since waking up at 5 am. How does this give me a GCA? Well because I have time to focus on finding clarity within myself, before rushing and diving into the chaos & compulsion of daily life. Waking up at such an early point of the day, allows you to sit in stillness with yourself, plan for the day, focus on your core values and overall prepare before everyone else.

3- In case you still need another reason, it develops your willpower. We need to truly understand that willpower can be developed, like a skill, through relentless practice. Which is why I believe there’s no such thing as a morning person. The more you fight the urge to stay in bed, and get up at 5, the more you stretch the willpower muscle. This in turn, makes it easier for you to increase your self-control, and once the habit is formed, it becomes second nature. (Remember how I keep talking about cold showers? This is another reason why.)

“Consistency is the DNA of all mastery.”

General theory of self-discipline: To regularly do what is hard but important, when it feels most uncomfortable, is how warriors are born.

These are just some of the reasons why I think it’s absolutely critical to wake up at 5 am, let’s dive into how we can actually structure the morning to make the most of those early hours.

The 20/20/20 formula

• Move (Intense exercise)
• Reflect (Pray/journal/meditate)
• Grow (Read/listen to audio-books)

This technique is essentially the way to kick-start your day, by structuring the glory hour (first hour of your day) into 3 x 20 minute slots. For the first 20 minute slot, build up a sweat. Exercising releases brain-derived neurotrophic factors (BDNF), which is a protein responsible for growing neural connections. It essentially helps build the brain circuits, which allow hormones such as dopamine and serotonin to travel. Basically, the more BDNF in the brain, the better.

The hormone cortisol (which is responsible for stress), is also highest after you wake up. Therefore, starting your day off with exercise not only helps strengthen your neural connections, but also aids in releasing endorphins and other feel-good chemicals which help reduce cortisol.

The second slot should be used to reflect. Reflection in the sense of identifying your values, your core characteristics & your WHY. It’s also a great time to be thankful and to pray, as this develops contentment and happiness throughout the day. Meditating can also be done, focusing on the present moment and clearing your thoughts out early off in the morning.

Another thing to do would be to plan the day and visualize how you’d like the day to go. Journalling as I love to recommend, is perfect for this slot too, and you can check out the post I’ve already written on how to journal.

There a lot of things we can do during this period of reflection and I often spend more than 20 minutes on it. The point is to take this formula and maneuver around it, however you seem fit. It also doesn’t have to specifically start at 5 am, start slow at the hour you usually wake up and then work your way down.

Slow consistent steps, yield staggering results.

The final slot of the glory hour should be used to grow. The point here is to learn and gain knowledge. This time can be spent reading a book, listening to podcasts / motivational audios, or even reviewing your goals. This adds another aspect to the GCA, considering you’ll be progressing in some form each and everyday.

It’s also imperative to stay away from your phone during the first hour of your day, to avoid unnecessary distraction and stress. The next point will be discussing how to actually implement this habit.

The benefits of the glory hour are as follows can be seen the info-graphic below.

The habit installation protocol

The diagram below illustrates how the automaticity point of habits are formed. The first 22 days is called the destruction phase. This is essentially the phase in which an old habit must be destroyed to allow space for the new habit.

Remember: habits can’t be erased they can only be replaced.

The second 22 days is called the installation (or confusion) stage, this is where the habit is starting to settle in. This phase is also quite confusing because it’s still difficult to keep up with the habit and the urge to quite becomes stronger than ever. It’s critical to push past the mental challenge and keep going forward, as this builds on grit.

The final stage is called the integration phase. This is when things slowly start to make sense and the routine approaches automaticity. After 66 days (of continuous discomfort and resilience), the habit would’ve become second nature and comfortable.

It’s highly recommended, to keep at any habit you truly wish to incorporate into your life, for at least 66 days before calling it quits. This at least gives you the opportunity to truly see whether you’re capable of the change or not.

“All change is hard at first, messy in the middle and gorgeous at the end.”

“First you create your habits, then your habits create you.”

Once a habit is established, what next? Start with the next habit and keep growing! I’ll move onto the Islamic perspective for this habit.

Islamic Perspective

Once again, there’s always an Islamic benefit to the habits I try to install. Waking up at predawn to pray Tahajjud before Fajr (the compulsory morning prayer), is an absolute game changer. Starting your day off with remembering God and being thankful, allows for you to experience a fulfilling and gratifying day.

It has been stated in many aHadith, that the rewards of praying at the earliest hours of the morning (or final third of the night) is especially significant. Specifically because you need to be in a state of Wudhoo (ablution), therefore it requires you to cleanse yourself. You would also need to pick yourself out of bed at a very difficult time, which is very rewarding. This results in piety and God-consciousness (Taqwa), which also leads to more discipline.

“Be vigilant in standing up [in prayer] at night, for it was the practice of the pious before you. It is a means of gaining proximity to Allah Ta’ala, expiation for transgressions and a barrier from sins.” (Tirmidhi)

I’ve hopefully managed to convince you after this lengthy discussion & the previous post, to take your sleeping and waking patterns more seriously. Some of the key takings from this post are: To give more and take less. Remember that joining the 5AC gives you a GCA, allows you to enter the state of flow more readily and teaches you grit.

The four interior empires need to be worked on each and everyday; your mindset, heartset, healthset & soulset. The 20/20/20 formula includes moving, reflecting and growing. That the habit installation protocol requires at least 66 days before automaticity. And finally, to understand that there’s an islamic benefit for waking up early to pray and remembering God, which has incredible rewards.

I’ll leave you with my favourite quote from the book:

Own your morning, Elevate your life!