“Singleness of purpose is one of the chief essentials for success in life, no matter what may be one’s aim.”

John D. Rockefeller (1839-1937)

A quick warning: Some people won’t like this post.

John D. Rockefeller, had he still been alive today, would be worth over $700 billion dollars. Bill Gates by comparison is worth about $50 billion. Almost every oil company you see around today, over 37 companies including ExxonMobil, Chevron, and BP is pretty much a successor of his legacy. The reason they exist is because the government stepped in and broke it all up.

Rockefeller had a conversation with a Priest when he was young, who told him that it was his duty as a Christian to make as much money as he possibly could, and to give as much of it away as he possibly could. He was devout. He believed oil was Gods gift to the world and saw it as his duty to control and provide it all to the world.

“He is a master of war; a friend of death. He has the dash
of a lion and the patience of a cat”

Amr ibn al A’as, another famous general of 7th century
Islamic conquest, said this during Ridda wars when Caliph
Abu Bakr asked him about his opinion regarding Khalid
(632 A.D)

Khalid Bin Waleed, undoubtedly one of the greatest Generals in recorded history, the Prophet Muhammad’s (sws) Right Hand Man, and known as the Sword of Allah throughout Islamic Culture, victorious in over 100 battles, and one of just four Generals who have ever executed the double-pincer movement whilst hugely outnumbered.

Sun Tzu in the Art of War, advised against it due it’s sheer difficulty to pull off against overwhelming opposition. One of the other three being Hannibal – who took elephants from Africa and rode them through freaking mountains all the way to Rome – and kicked some Roman ass.

“I am the noble warrior, I am the Sword of
Allah, I am Khalid bin Waleed”

These are the famous verses that Khalid
used to recite in the battlefield.

You know that feeling when you’ve just been on a total roll? Then you burnout? Ultimately, everybody is trying to live a Good Life. You are the Hero in your own journey. Your own story. Some end on page 81, some really begin on page 82, some become classics transcending time, most are mediocre.

Whatever happens, don’t you think you should increase your chances to
do what you were put on this Earth to do as much as possible?

Before I start anything, I make a short prayer. I pray to what divine power could be out there, whether or not it exists in the way you, I, or anybody else believes is a completely different question. I’ll call it Allah, you call it whatever you want.

This is my prayer before getting to work on my daily hustle.
Adapt it to yourself, and I hope you find it useful.

Muses, sustain for me this song and channel
Your limitless power through me.

Protect me as I learn, Act by Principle and Do what I must
in order to do You the greatest service.
Protect me from the Resistance that holds me back.
The enemy is nameless and faceless, a small hearted bully.

Protect me from the Resistance that says do it tomorrow.
The enemy is within me.
Protect me from the Resistance that paralyzes me with fear,
envy and desire.

Let my Fear be the guiding force in showing me what to
tackle first. With Your aid, no force on Earth can stand
against me. Let the Important be First, and the Urgent be
Second.

I have suffered, yet suffering is daily and I am learning to
enjoy it. Let it exist. The day will never come when I wake
up pain-free. Let me play hurt.

The Success I seek is only a byproduct of work.
Push Your power through me.
Give the work created through me Life.
It exists in a higher plane already.

Let me be the spirit, the genius, the hard working, effort
making Channel by which you give it Life in it’s every form
so that I may contribute and touch the lives of other people
fighting their own hard battles.
Give them Strength as you give unto Me.

I am here, now. I recognize my limitations.
Send unto me your most effective angels to bolster the
effort, for I am your humble servant.

With your aid, I will sleep content tonight, my final
thoughts steeling myself against the Resistance I will wake
up with tomorrow.

If You Will, I set this timer.
Let me be wrong in order that I learn what ends up
working best.
Let it be Adequate.
With Your aid, I begin.

- Azeem Ahmed
Monday 28/11/2011

PS. For those wondering about the timer, I use the Pomodoro Technique. Just get an egg timer and time it like this:

25 mins – work
5 mins – break
25 mins – work
5 mins – break
25 mins – work
5 mins – break
25 mins – work
15 mins – break
and repeat.

Every 25 minutes is a Pomodoro, mark each one completed on a piece of paper. Providing you keep in mind what you are aiming to achieve, just start the timer, and get started, your body will catch up when your mind hears the clock ticking away.

Meekness is not for other humans. Play for keeps, and remember:

Call on God, but row away from the rocks.
- Indian Proverb

Most people spend their days in fear of the future. Ending up serving what they fear. Serve success, not failure. Define specific actions to take and do what you got to do to move forward just a little bit every day.

Set your goals wisely, focus on 3-5 main areas, and keep track on the progress of each over 90 days. Feels too slow? You’re doing it right.

If you wish you can brainstorm ways to enhance the growth of any area in magnitude over that period without expending more time and effort, achieving 80% growth with 20% effort.

This should take 15 minutes of randomly writing down ideas, 5 minutes to select the 3 most obvious and simple yet effective ideas and expand on them some more, then 20 minutes to take the first 3 steps.

Then write down a domino order of actions to complete til its done. One step at a time.

EDIT: I have updated this to show you how you can achieve your goals even better with the assistance of mentors. This is in response to a post by Seb Marshall, an entrepreneur I highly respect, on his website: http://www.sebastianmarshall.com/hi

Firstly, you need to figure out how to connect with a potential mentor. With the internet, much more is possible than 20 years ago.. What this means for you, is that you have more opportunities and less excuses to put off creating your life. Mentors can help you do that, so find them online, people with experience in your goals, and just shoot them an email.

To connect with them and benefit from a relationship that provides lessons for both parties, whilst keeping it short and sweet, here is a quick 5 step method:

1- Introduce yourself and explain how you came across him.
2- “Would you mind answering a quick question?”
3- Define the problem. Shortly, please no verbosity and fanciful eloquent language. It just makes you look like a joker. Keep it short and sweet.
4- State what actions you have taken so far to tackle this challenge.
5- Give your potential mentor some room to breathe, just ask them for their thoughts.

This is how you do it.

Do let me know how you used this and what results you got!

Listening To:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E0lY3kpFzd4 Tool – Vicarious