Assalamualaikum.. Alhamdulillah. I just finished reading this #unfollowtheflow book by Brother Aiman Azlan. SubhanaAllah, this book is beautifully written and truly inspiring. It is my first time reading a book related to principle, purpose, passion in relation to the career path and Islamic principle. Its simple analogy and language are totally helpful for me to understand the message that the writer intended to deliver. I would like to share 4 main reasons why I love reading this #book .
1) Own your life
This book encourages us to own our life decision by using our principle, passion and purpose. A purpose is the 'big why', a true meaning that leads to our ultimate end goals. For #Muslim , it is much related to the purpose of our creation in this dunya.
"You have asked yourself, countless times, what kind of legacy do you want to leave behind for your successors in this world. To build a legacy, the foundation has to start with knowing the purpose of your existence in this life."
- #unfollowtheflow , page 33The connection between the Islamic principle and our life decision in this dunya is something that is always been repeatedly mentioned in this book. It is a good way to remind us to always be responsible for our action. Every decision that we made should be based on the law that is defined by Islamic principle.
The writer also reminds us that dunya is not the ultimate destination in our journey. We must be prepared to face Allah in akhirah, as He will assess every action, every decision that we made in this dunya. It is truly something that we need to ponder upon. We need to always be careful in every decision that we take. All the decision will be recorded by Allah.
"... the mindset of owning your life is the mindset of thinking and believing that one day, when we stand in front of Allah SWT, we will be solely responsible for every single thing that we do in our life. Knowing and understanding that means we should not just be a passenger in our life and follow the flow of the masses."
- #unfollowtheflow , page 196At times, we tend to forget that one day, we will be questioned by Allah for every action that we've done in this dunya. We are too focused on this dunya yet sometimes neglecting about akhirah. This dunya is just a journey, the final destination is the akhirah. Thus, reading this book is a good reminder to us. It helps us to audit our iman. Are we ready to face Allah ?
2) 'Unfollow the flow' is not a selfish act
What's your perspective over a person who follows his/ her calling? Someone that is trying hard to build his/ her passion over time. Everyone has a different career journey. Some are really rigid, stuck in one place, some are always flexible in trying new things.
Yes, it is easy to just follow the social norm with 'follow the flow' terminology, but if it might be harmful to ourselves, it is not good for us.
'Going with the flow is bad advice. If you were in about in the sea, you would have to steer. Take control of the boat as you face the uncertainty of the crushing waves of the sea. You cannot just allow the boat to blend with the flow of the waves.
I do not recommend anyone to go with the flow. I recommend each and every one of us to think, to plan and execute based on a structure - a plan. Going with the flow is like gambling. Planning is like investing."
- #unfollowtheflow , page 174This book reminds us that we always have a choice in order to find passion as it is the fuel that helps us to move forward. We are free to pick a decision that is good for us based on our purpose, principle and passion, but we always need to consider our basic need fulfilment.
It also leads me to another way of thinking which is by focussing to polish our potential to help us to gain satisfaction in life thus improve our happiness level and automatically be a better version of ourselves.
"When you fulfill your need for passion, you can sense of satisfaction over your life and that sense of satisfaction will help you to becoming a better spouse, a better child, a better colleague, a better neighbour, and a better person overall."
- #unfollowtheflow , page 52 It opens my eye knowing that it is good if we are able to be the best version of ourselves and use our purpose, passion and purpose to help other people. If we are satisfied with what we are doing, we will always be happy to serve others, do better things and make things better. So, if everyone is truly following their 'big why', I am sure everyone will be satisfied and be happy with their life. This will affect the micro-level of the community. A happy individual will influence a happy family that will lead to a happy community and nations which will affect a nation as a whole in terms of the development of society.
3) Time management
It is easy to talk about pursuing a passion, but a vision without action is just a dream. One of the crucial criteria in this book is to relate our principle, purpose and passion with time management.
"All these days, all these hours, when they are added up, it becomes our life. The result of what is going to happen one month later, 3 years later, 5 years later and 10 years later. It begins today. How do you want your day to look?
This is where you start working according to your passion; that is the hope at least. You need to work according to your passion and your purpose."
- #unfollowtheflow , page 139The writer encourages us to set our long (5 years), medium (1 year) and short (1 month) term goals to reach our vision and mission. He elaborates even though 5 years goal seems far away from now, but once we write down our goals, we realise that the action starts today. It is true.
The writer also encourages us to create a daily schedule. I still remember my last time I had a timetable was during my study for SPM. As I was studying at boarding school, there was a less external disturbance outside school. So, it is easier to set a timetable. I believe I was able to manage my time well. There was a clear indication of time for study, ibadah, co-curriculum, exercise and sleep.
However, as I entered higher institution after SPM, I didn't practice any proper time management as compared to my previous secondary school in boarding school. There was only time for class, design time, assignment, co-curriculum and sleep. I didn't have a clear timetable for my daily routine. As my main design course demands a high amount of focus for the design course, I feared if I didn't put enough time into it, I will fail. It ends up I invested too much time in my design courses yet neglecting other things that I can do besides designing. I believe this is due to fear of failure. My fear and insecurity have taken too much time from me. I believe I can explore a lot of things if I am able to break the fear of failure.
However, I believe everything happens for a reason. I realised my mistake previously and now I need to manage my time well. Currently, I am working in a firm. As most of the weekday, 8am-5pm is dedicated to my job, Alhamdulillah I have the freedom to organise and manage the rest of my time. Allah has given every one of us 24 hours and we are responsible to manage it well.
4) Life is not a race
The current media social life, It becomes our daily routine to see the updates on other people life. This culture indirectly exposing us to a life comparison, which one of us is better than one another. It just makes us unhappy with ourselves and stresses us easily. This is totally not good for our mental health. We should not compare ourselves with others as everyone is walking on a different journey. In this book, the writer introduces us to a better comparative assessment.
"Take your time in figuring out your passion, but do not ever compare your journey with someone elses'. No matter how hard other people may try to compare you with other people, maintain your focus on your own journey. If it is ever needed you to compare, then compare your present self today with your past self, yesterday. The reason is because you are in a competition with only yourself, and nobody else'
- #unfollowtheflow , page 84Based on this book, it is highlighted to never allow negative comparison between ourselves and other people ruin us. Just focus on ourselves, ensuring that we are a better version of ourselves than yesterday.
"Don't compare someone's Chapter 20, to your Chapter 1. Focus on your journey. If you need more time to figure it out, take more time. It is fine."
- #unfollowtheflow , page 186 It is also important to be gentle and realistic with ourselves along the way towards a progressive journey. If we are 0.000001% percentage better than yesterday, it is still a good progress. Celebrate the achievement. It will make us feel happy.
There are other amazing points that are good about this book, but I only highlighted 4 points. I am sure you'll be amazed by this book if you read this whole book. The writer also mentioned that this book is just a guidance, not a detailed step-by-step book. It is designed that way so that everyone can think and learn to apply it according to their personal life cases.
This book is suitable for any stage of life. I am glad I found this book now, as I am in the process of building for my passion. I really encourage everyone to read this book as a self-reflection.
Saya bagi 10 bintang untuk buku ini! Terima kasih Aiman dan yang membaca artikel ini !
#bacalah #motivation #psychology #happiness #inspiration #nonfiction #bookreview #selfcare #selflove