Living brighter

Imagine the most colourful place in the world right now. Google Headquarters really fascinate me. Facebook rooftop co-working spaces are amazing too. Recently I went to Burj Khalifa Dubai, they have this amazing museum at its base. Think of any apple store. Look at this blog. Its design and choice of colours. Starbucks cafes and gloria jeans. Clean roads and colourful buildings. Nordic design with a sprinkle of asian touch. Amazing people on stage talking heart winning speeches.

Who is behind all these creations?

Allah (swt)? Jesus? No. I am not giving a sermon in a mosque. I am not talking hardships and boring religion. Awkward bearded people talking rudely, not today. Today I am talking brightness not boredom.

So who is behind all these creations?

1. Google Headquarters in Mountain View, California, United States. Designed by Bjarke Ingels.

2. Facebook Headquarters in Mountain View, California, United States. Designed by Frank Gehry.

3. Burj Khalifa in Downtown, Dubai. Designed by Adrian Smith.

4. Apple stores, around the world. Designed by Bohlin Cywinski Jackson.

5. Starbucks cafes, around the world. Designed by Kengo Kuma.

6. Steve jobs launched the 1st iPhone. Listen to his speech by clicking here.

This is a day, that I have been looking forward to for two and a half years, and today, Apple is going to reinvent the phone.
- Steve Jobs on launch of iPhone

Every good design around us has been designed with really an intense amount of passion. Love for innovation and creation brought these marvellous designs to us. Allah (swt) did not bring these things to us directly. It was people who carefully designed these products.

People who changed this world for better, were those who did not really care about losing their car or money to their passion. They invested all of themselves into their idea or goal.

Now, what stops us from living brighter?

Fear of losing reputation, wealth and stability. We have imprisoned our freedom ourselves. We never jump, never fall. Always resorting to somebody else bringing us the money and benefits. We are willing to work for somebody else who can bring us a better retirement home. That is it.

We never really live and one day we die. We never really create amazing architects, vlogs, products and speeches. We just die one day living in prison. Some spikes do come in our life where we want to break these cuffs, tapes tied to our mouths. But after a little spark we go back to ‘living safe’.

Why we underestimate ourselves?

Consistently resorting to fear, makes us feel low. Not good enough to inspire and create fire. Just resorting to fear for so long has convinced us we are ‘not good enough’. We become really good managers in our career, but when we want to invest on an idea, we resort to safety. We are really good developers, but when it comes to marketing our product, we are afraid of talking on camera. We have patches of energy, skills and inspiration to work on 1 part and miss out the other important part. We always underestimate ourselves before every decision. The most safer way is actually the worst way. The hardest route to battle is the best way.

How do we walk on hard path?

We need fire in ourselves. Passion is another word for fire. We need enormous passion to walk on harder paths. We need to define goals that define us. We need to find purpose of our lives. If you see Steve Jobs’s above speech, try to feel the passion in his voice. He moved blindly to his goal. More people did not fear him. They made him richer, more fire-ly and brave-ly to run faster and harder towards his goal.

There is no other way of enjoying our lives. Luxurious cars and bigger homes do not bring enjoyment. They only bring in more luggage to maintain. We end up living miserably. Fighting with our wife to fix a socket and forgetting “where did i place her tea pot?”

How do I create fire?

Now I am going to become that awkward rude bearded person, who talks Quran and gives credit to Allah (swt).

But I did not mention any religious person up there?

Honestly speaking, these people really walked on the path the Quran speaks about. They did not really care about investing their money into their goals. They did not really fear losing their money.

Follow these steps:-

1. Change your desires. Refrain from smoking, running after wealth and hotter girls.

2. Create discipline. Make a clearer environment around you. Muslims have an advantage here. They can go to a mosque 5 times a day to meditate in a cleaner place.

3. Look towards your goal everyday. Practice daily on traits that move you towards your goal. Write daily, code daily, speak daily.

4. Jump. Spend your wealth, gold, silver, fine branded horses, cattle and tilled lands in achieving your goal.

5. Iterate. I have read this book on iterating more often and faster. “The Lean Startup” by “Eric Ries”. It tells to iterate sooner.

Interesting twist

If I spend all my wealth, gold and silver in achieving my goal the first time, how do I invest it the second time?

I have done it in 2016. I sold my MacBook Pro mid 2015 to the lowest bidder and paid my debt. It freed me of my dependance on my wealth. Today, I have a Macbook, iMac, Apple TV, iPhone 8, Fitbit watch and an ADF Epson Printer. I gave myself all out, but still I have everything. How is this possible?

The moment we give ourselves all out to our goals, we make it easier for ourselves to invest in future opportunities. We avail more opportunities and we become rich sooner. We lose some but the pace of losing and winning is so fast, it hardly matters.

Running away from wealth and stupid desires creates fire. What is Quran’s take on it?

Beautified for people is the love of that which they desire - of women and sons, heaped-up sums of gold and silver, fine branded horses, and cattle and tilled land. That is the enjoyment of worldly life, but Allah has with Him the best return.
- Surah All Imran verse 14

Allah has with Him the best return. Not in hereafter but here in this life. If this world is beautified after walking on Quran, why should not I walk on it?

Quran is not boring. It is a bright book that tells us to live a richer life. Invest in your goals with all your energy, you will find fire that makes living fun.