Make Decisions with Precision at Ninja Speeds
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In 2002, it was only 14 days from the point I knew my wife existed to the point I was proposing to her at her house with my parents. (She & her family accepted the proposal 2 days later 
)
Often times, making quick decisions is attributed to to those who are impatient and don’t think things through. When in actuality, it isn’t about how much time you give to the decision but what actions you are executing.
People are often delaying huge life decisions, and ignoring gigantic problems in their life for 20 – 30 years. They think about it and push it under the rug. They might talk to a friend about it but thats it. They might pray for guidance but don’t take any steps themselves. All these things lead to stagnation.
The G.P.S. method will get you started in taking giant steps forward.
GOD (Allah)
Execution Time: less then 5-7 minutes
Performing Salat al-Istikharah is a must. Don’t save it for only 5 or 6 major decisions in your life. Use it often and frequently. Also, it is pretty straightforward but is often complicated. You can do it anytime of the day & it isn’t true your decision has to come in a form of a dream. Its main purpose is to help you guide your heart in the right direction. Here is how you do it:
| Jabir bin Abdullah (RA) said: The Prophet (SAW) used to teach us to seek Allah’s Counsel in all matters, as he used to teach us a Surah from the Qur’an. He would say: When anyone of you has an important matter to decide, let him pray two Rak’ahs other than the obligatory prayer, and then say:
“اللَّهُمَّ إِنِّي أَسْتَخِيرُكَ بِعِلْمَكَ، وَأَسْتَقْدِرُكَ بِقُدْرَتِكَ، وَأَسْأَلُكَ مِنْ فَضْلِكَ الْعَظِيمِ، فَإِنَّكَ تَقْدِرُ وَلَا أَقْدِرُ، وَتَعْلَمُ، وَلَا أَعْلَمُ، وَأَنْتَ عَلَّامُ الْغُيُوبِ، اللَّهُمَّ إِنْ كُنْتَ تَعْلَمُ أَنَّ هَذَا الْأَمْرَ- خَيْرٌ لِي فِي دِينِي وَمَعَاشِي وَعَاقِبَةِ أَمْرِي- عَاجِلِهِ وَآجِلِهِ- فَاقْدُرْهُ لِي وَيَسِّرْهُ لِي ثُمَّ بَارِكْ لِي فِيهِ، وَإِنْ كُنْتَ تَعْلَمُ أَنَّ هَذَا الْأَمْرَ شَرٌّ لِي فِي دِينِي وَمَعَاشِي وَعَاقِبَةِ أَمْرِي- عَاجِلِهِ وَآجِلِهِ- فَاصْرِفْهُ عَنِّي وَاصْرِفْنِي عَنْهُ وَاقْدُرْ لِيَ الْخَيْرَ حَيْثُ كَانَ ثُمَّ أَرْضِنِي بِهِ”. 74. Allaahumma ‘innee ‘astakheeruka bi’ilmika, wa ‘astaqdiruka biqudratika, wa ‘as’aluka min fadhtikal-’Adheemi, fa’innaka taqdiru wa laa ‘aqdiru, wa ta’lamu, wa laa ‘a’lamu, wa ‘Anta ‘Allaamul-Ghuyoobi, Allaahumma ‘in kunta ta’lamu ‘anna haathal-’amra-[then mention the thing to be decided] Khayrun lee fee deenee wa ma’aashee wa ‘aaqibati ‘amree – [or say] ‘Aajilihi wa ‘aajilihi – Faqdurhu lee wa yassirhu lee thumma baarik lee feehi, wa ‘in kunta ta’lamu ‘anna haathal-’amra sharrun lee fee deenee wa ma’aashee wa ‘aaqibati ‘amree – [or say] ‘Aajilihi wa ‘aajilihi – Fasrifhu ‘annee wasrifnee ‘anhu waqdur liyal-khayra haythu kaana thumma ‘ardhinee bihi. O Allah, I seek the counsel of Your Knowledge, and I seek the help of Your Omnipotence, and I beseech You for Your Magnificent Grace. Surely, You are Capable and I am not. You know and I know not, and You are the Knower of the unseen. O Allah, if You know that this matter [then mention the thing to be decided] is good for me in my religion and in my life and for my welfare in the life to come, – [or say: in this life and the afterlife] – then ordain it for me and make it easy for me, then bless me in it. And if You know that this matter is bad for me in my religion and in my life and for my welfare in the life to come, – [or say: in this life and the afterlife] – then distance it from me, and distance me from it, and ordain for me what is good wherever it may be, and help me to be content with it. Whoever seeks the counsel of the Creator will not regret it and whoever seeks the advice of the believers will feel confident about his decisions . Allah said in the Qur’an : “And consult them in the affair. Then when you have taken a decision , put your trust in Allah.” Reference: Al-Bukhari 7/162. and Aal-’Imran 3:159. Source |
PEOPLE (Talk to the right people)
Execution time: Conversation time with people; max 2 hour, ( Major life decisions, 2 days )
You probably already talk to others when you are about to make an important decision but not all advice is equal. You must talk those who are;
1) Key stake holders. Key stake holder is someone who will be directly effected by your decision or has the authority to say yes or no. For example, when you are ready to go propose to someone, you must have your parents involved, they are key stake holders. You are about to buy a new car, you need to have your wife involved in the process. Without having them on board, you can want something real bad but it wont move forward without their buy in. Early on, identify who your key stake holders are and keep them in the loop.
2) Already Successful. As I mentioned in my mentors post, you must talk to selected group of people. Their advice, their experience is worth ridiculous amount of money. Remember, don’t just pick someone who you have easy access to but someone who has the most similar circumstances as you. For example, if you are about to start a medical family practice in the Indian-Pakistani community in the Chicago area, who do you talk to ? Most commonly, you talk to your classmates who gradated with you. Wrong. They are in the same boat as you and are in the research process also. Should you talk to your neighbor who has a very successful pharmacy in the area? He’ll be of little benefit but he can’t make you hit a home run. Now, there is this one guy who you know has 3 family practices in the Desi community in Houston who has done very very well for the last 10 years. You don’t know him but he is your cousin’s good friend. That is a relationship you need to reach out and make.
3) Jack-of-trait. Now a days people skip this step and just rather Google for such people. It is hard to tell in the crowd of the WWW who knows a lot and who just talks a lot. Jack-of-trait is a person who knows mountain of knowledge on a very specific subject. You are about to buy a Nissan, call your buddy who knows every trivial detail about cars’ makes and models. Take advantage of such people. Another example could be if you are about to move to a new city across the country, call up that one friend’s friend who has been living there for 25 years. He could answer the most fundamental questions about what, where and how faster and better then Google.
SELF (Think it through, structurally)
Execution time: Max 1 day.
You have to take a structure thinking approach in decision making. Too often your thoughts just keep rolling and marinating in your head and nothing comes out of it. The answer to this is structured thinking and no structured thinking can happen just in the head. It is only done by WRITING-IT-DOWN. It is always FASTER, BETTER. Three powerful approaches that work with nearly all scenarios are;
1) Freestyle: Take a blank piece of paper and just start writing about the topic. Don’t stop for anything just write, write and write. Don’t stop to reread what you wrote or check grammar/spelling. Do that and you’ll quickly get some insight about what you are thinking about the topic.
2) !?! : On a blank piece of paper, write a powerful question. Powerful questions are 1) positive and 2) forward thinking. After you write it, just write non-stop on answering this question. You’ll make huge steps towards making the right decision, inshallah.
3) Pro/Cons List 2.0: You might already do this in your head but it sucks compared to doing it on paper. Usually, you have your decision boiled down to a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ or ‘option a’ or ‘option b’. So it would look something like this;
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In this example, ‘features’ are the factors you have to consider. After you have filled it out, I do one additional step that makes it 2.0. No doubt, all factors you’re considering aren’t equal. So at the end, don’t just count if you had more ‘yes’ or ‘no’. Rank your factors by priority and only look at what your results were for those. That’ll help you make a better decision.
To bring it all together, you can make important decisions in just few hours with great accuracy. The 3 steps don’t have be done one after another. They can be done all at the same time. Once you start this, you will be addicted. Grab that decision that has been lingering in your head and put it in its place.
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