Salaam ‘ilm seeker,

a few days ago, I asked you on my Instagram -

“what is the biggest thing stopping you from reaching your goals?”

and an overwhelming majority of you said one thing…

procrastination.

the thief of time.

why is it that we know what to do,

we know how to do it,

but we still can’t get it done?

we feel a sense of laziness -

it’s easier to scroll on tiktok and IG,

or maybe the goal is too big that we’re afraid of failing.

You’re not alone.

From an Islamic Perspective

1. It is from shaitaan.

one of the early scholars of islam mentioned,

how can we give a clear enemy power over us?

"Surely Satan is an enemy to you, so take him as an enemy. He only invites his followers to become inmates of the Blaze." [35:6]

understand that procrastination is a tool of shaitan that leads to hellfire.

May Allah swt protect us.

From a Scientific Persepctive

On my journey of memorizing the quran,

I had to fight my procrastination (shaitaan was working overtime).

that’s where I came across this book which helped me understand the root cause of procrastination.

Here’s Why We Procrastinate

1. Procrastination is Rewarding

   • occasionally a postponed, boring task is completed by someone else

   • difficult decisions eventually resolve themselves if we wait long enough

   • procrastination often goes unpunished; say we didn’t study for a test and the stress builds up - until we realize school is cancelled because of the weather (we procrastinate, hoping for future miracles like that)

2. Fear of Failure

   • if you have high standards for your performance & are critical of your mistakes - you need to defend your self-worth which is done with procrastination

     • ie. if I start this project late, that means I didn’t do my best, and if I do badly it’s because I had less time to do it

3. Fear of Success

   • although we think we want to be successful, a part of us doesn’t believe it’s possible

   • the perfectionism within us leads to procrastination

   • end result = no action taken.

If you find yourself procrastinating, chances are you’re not a lazy person,

you just have one of the symptoms outlined above.

The Solution

1. Seek refuge in Allah swt from laziness

2. Remind ourselves that our self-worth does not depend on our work

   • start that business, give it your best

   • remember that success comes from Allah swt

   • even if it doesn’t succeed, you’ll learn skills that can transfer to another business idea

   • failure is the stepstone to success

3. Be proactive

   • if we know we waste time on social media - delete it.

   • if we stay up late, we know it’s difficult to wake up for fajr - sleep early.

4. Plan our day according to how Allah swt wants

   • use salah as anchor points when planning our day

   • use the Suhbah Planner to actively use techniques found in the quran to increase barakah in our time along with scientific-backed ways to tackle procrastination

   You can find that here

May Allah swt put barakah in your journey of self-improvement.

JazakAllah khair for your support always.

fi amanillah,

hamza navid

P.S. I’m working on creating a free community filled with modules on growing closer in your deen,

scientifically-backed ways to beat procrastination, develop winning habits,

and how you can make your first $1,000 online as a complete beginner.

keep an eye out, more details coming soon…