بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
the 4 life areas
Sometime in the early Pandemic years, I came up with the 4 areas of my life that were the most important to me.
Time was getting warped and I needed a map. Something to reassure me I was headed in the right direction, that I was spending my passing days towards where I wanted to be and not wherever the currents pulled. A foundation I’ve continued to build on till today:
1. 🌳 growth
2. ❤️ relationships
3. 💰 wealth
4. 🔥 community
Since then, I’ve set goals in each area. I’ve broken down each into different parts. I’ve accepted that various seasons of life will require reallocating priorities, time and energy to one at the expense of the others…but I’m not willing to let any of them shrivel up and die from lack of attention.
Most importantly, I’ve reflected every few months on how I’m doing, where I’d like to be and how to keep going.
It’s time to take that seriously.
building (my life) in public
Have you heard of the #buildinpublic movement?
It’s popular in the digital entrepreneur / indie hacker world. In short, you document every step of building your business online, publicly and regularly. Why?
As I consider the value of this digital space where I hope to build my life in public, there’s 3 great reasons I vibe with this and 1 warning label.
1. writing is thinking
The act of tying down abstract, slippery thoughts floating through your head with words is life-changing.
It’s not the same as talking about it (same process, less retention) or taking a photo (100% retention, less concrete). Writing forces your thinking to be directed, focused & committed to the page in that moment where the words you just chose feel right.
This is why books have not died & 80% (just vibes, no citation) of the shiny modern digital internet is made out of words.
but as I’ve argued with myself, you can achieve this through writing in your personal journal. Which brings me to the next part…
2. ideas grow in sunlight & community
every person doing great things has haters
if you’re scared of having haters, you’ll never do great things
everything greatish i’ve ever done, its been with other people. validation, critique, feedback, brainstorming, encouragement.
if i wanna build a great business – or life – its not gonna be possible without all that. publishing online makes it easy for the companions to gather somewhere at their own time.
and if I get to the point where the haters are there too? i hope it’ll hardly matter especially because of all that’s come before…
3. looking back builds muscle
remember when you started something difficult?
unless you wrote something then, we only remember the process if it was like a exceptionally emotional and challenging time. otherwise time smoothens the wrinkles out like the tide on sand.
that’s how we heal.
but is experience really experience if you don’t remember what happened, much less what you were thinking or learnt?
i read that in making decisions, its far more important to evaluate your thinking process than the outcomes.
its like football. everyone plays to win. sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. but do you know why you won? why you lost? did the things we do on the pitch mean we were more likely to win or lose? how can we make it more likely to win?
outcomes aren’t up to us. some call it random, others say luck – I say it’s God’s Will.
so to be able to do this, the writing has to happen consistently because real life doesnt have a starting whistle, half-time talk and end of season. you dont know for sure which decisions and moments are gonna be crucial and if theres one thing i know for sure, some things can only possibly make sense looking back. writing makes sure i have something to look back on.
the warning label
the map is not the territory.
the building in public is not the business.
the writing is not the living.
fame, attention and distractions have ruined many before me. while – like the haters – their presence along the path should not scare me away from walking it, this warning label serves to remind me of the ultimate point of it all.
To seek Allah’s love, by doing great things with whatever small gifts He has given me in this short time we have on this earth. Skills, resources, privilege, companions.
with His help, everything we begin is great.