Consistency. The Mark of Greatness.

Assalaamu alaikum,

Ramadan is almost over?! AH! Where did this month go? It is amazing how on the 5th day my stomach is rumbling and I’m thinking “ohh boy 25 more days.” But now it is the opposite, when I’m full my stomach actually hurts! This is the first Ramadan where I lost weight. Maybe I’m doing something right……or I’m too tired for sahoor!

You might be thinking what does Ramadan have to do with consistency? Well, everything! Imagine what you’ve done in the past month. On the simplest terms we did not eat until a designated time. Digging deeper, what we did is reformed old habits and created new habits. That, ladies and gentlemen, is consistency – changing habits.

Imagine what you may be very consistent at: procrastination, hanging out with friends, watching TV, facebooking?! These are all things we are consistent at because they are our habits. I found out that I have a habit for pretty much everything, I did not even realize it until I started thinking about this post. For example, every time I get to a computer after not being on one for a while I do the following:

1. Check my gmail.
2. Check facebook.
3. Check MT stuff.
4. Get to my task at hand.

Looks familiar? Well, the MT part might not. The point is I do this consistently without thinking. Changing this, or any, routine (a set of habits) is hard because we have to let go of old habits. It is uncomfortable because instead of just ‘doing’ we have to ‘think’, then ‘do’.  In effect, you have to stop being who you are currently and be who you want to be.

This is just like Ramadan, at first it is tough because we can not just go to lunch, take our coffee break, pop in our gum, or any other food habit we have. After we think about what we are going to get at lunch or the morning coffee break we remember it is Ramadan – doh. But near the Eid those new habits are formed and strong, making lunch easier to forget.

Think about this. Researchers say that it takes from 3-4 weeks to establish a new habit. Ramadan is 4 weeks. Just enough time to create new habits…I do not know if this is related or just a coincidence. If you are curious you have to ask someone who knows aka not me.

I know that this post is titled consistency and I have harped on about habits this whole time. I did that because if I talked about consistency you might be consistent for a week, two weeks top. After that period of time you will go back to your old habitsbecause, well, you will forget this blog post. But if you change your habits in the next 3 to 4 weeks, then you will still get the benefits of this post. See my plan? Now if I could only make one of you habits to come back and buy shirts without thinking about it…think man, think!

Remember greatness, and by extension consistency, are tested by time. Warren Buffet is not famous for making one big wise investment, but many smaller investments over a long period of time….. I can’t think of other modern day example – but they are plenty (actually, post some if any pop in your head). On the ultimate level Prophet Muhammed (S) provides the best example of consistency in his relations with people, devotions, and other good deeds.

I end with something I will, consistently (inshAllah), do. It is called Z3 and will be 3 simple steps that you can do to extract actionable benefit from a post.

1. Evaluate your current habits.
   • What habits actually hurt you?
   • What habits would help you?
2. Implement ONE habit that you want to change.
   • Let’s be real, one habit will be hard enough. The small success of changing one habit will help you change bigger and harder habits.
   • Plan it out – when will you start and when will your desired habit be your habit?
3. Get support.
   • Tell your friends and family what you’re doing, get their buy-in so they can cheer you on.
   • Avoid people or environments that trigger your bad habits. Change is good, but hard.
   • Make dua that Allah makes the difficult easy for you.

That’s all the Z3 you’ll get. As always if you need help just contact us (aziz@muslimtees.com), we’ll help you with you plan. We have seen it only takes you 3-4 short weeks to change your habits. The benefits however, will last a lifetime.

Salaam. Z.

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