The Role of Intentionality in Achieving Success

bayum hi everybody and a warm welcome to the Barakah Blueprint podcast this is the podcast where you align faith and focus to achieve success that truly lasts I'm your host Ibrahim and today we'll be exploring a topic in the name of the role of intentionality I know that I'll be very very honest I haven't used the word intentionality until now it just seems to me like or seems to me when I was searching it seems to be the best way to present the topic but basically living a life of purpose and working with purpose and producing with purpose intention basically so we'll be talking about how to live and work with purpose and how to align our intentions to not only perform better productively but also to contribute to our spiritual growth so let's dive into this topic of in intentionality and how to align our intentions with our goals in Baraka style so what is intentionality this word that I think is for the third time I'm using it in total what does it really mean it's not just about having goals it's about having a purpose or purposefully directing your actions towards the goal it's about directing your actions your thoughts to something that truly matters and that something really is decided by you that is literally the difference between being busy and being productive and effective and again referencing the the prophet sallam said every action is preceded by the intention and this simple statement it holds so much value because it reminds us that the value of what we are doing comes from why we're doing it the value of the what is directly contingent on on the why imagine somebody spending hours and hours working on something be it their 9 to-5 their projects whatever it may be but they still feel unfulfilled and compare that to another person that just completes a few tasks and they feel accomplished and the difference here is this word that we're using for the fourth time intentionality so take a moment to ask yourself today's tasks that I'm doing are they aligned with my my goals values and intentions or am I just simply moving in a pool but without really any direction to where I'm swimming let's talk about how intentionality affects productivity it's not about doing more it's about doing what matters so you have the busy worker and you have the intentional worker you have the busy worker that has a list of 20 tasks in there to do but doesn't really achieve any value or they accomplish little of value and then you have the intentional worker that has a total of three tasks that have high impact and high value and therefore achieving more meaningful results so how can we prioritize what we have on our table based on purpose and based on well the intentionality or what goal we set for ourselves use help use support be a colleague a manager whatever it could be or even prompt chat GPT we talked about that earlier in our Ai and self-development episode for example you give the chat but instructions and context of what you're doing who you are what you're trying to achieve what are your goals shortterm long-term and then ask it to help you organize your day or organize your tasks based on purposefulness or effectivity or impact use time blocks for example to organize your time as well and ensure that you're not just trying to run and catch up there are many references in the Quran and in theith about intentionality God Almighty for examples inah chapter number 20 sort of references that when he says and here the word in Arabic is both for the focus the the the concentrated focus in your Salah the spiritual Focus but also from humility which tells us that to achieve intentionality you'll need to have this balance of focus and humility and this applies to everything in your work but even in our our acts of worship now connecting that to our Iman intentionality is not just about what you're doing mostly it's about how does it connect us to God Almighty which can transform our ordinary acts such as a Time block that is focused on studying for your up and cominging exam from an ordinary act to an act of worship intentionality has the power to turn an act that you're contributing or doing from just being an ordin task to something that you can get tremendous Eder and tremendous reward from and connecting it to our IM again a practical tip here is to maybe pause a little bit between the different stations in your prayer between each between the recitation of verse by verse in FA specifically and FAA is the most important one here to reflect on what we are actually reciting which in itself aligns us with the intentionality that we're approaching and again referencing the verse from to attain that to attain that balance of focus and humility and finally to attain intentionality there is a great deal of discipline that we have to focus on again referencing the prayer because Allah says prayer is that which will prevent you from evil I'm paraphrasing and Salah is always going to be our primary focus for every single thing that we're going to be referencing Salah is going to be our number one focus and discipline is important every goal you're trying to achieve be it to succeed as a content creator I know I am not the one to talk about this with the little following that I have and the little engagement of course I'm not the one to talk about this one but the rule is still there you need to have focus and you need to have discipline discipline is a key component it's also a key component in your prayer and we learned that from the from the prayer it is a it is a written time dedication it is a time commitment from yourself towards God Almighty which means that you need to be disciplined in your prayers it means that you need to be disciplined in the amount of prayers that you perform each day and the quality of prayers that you provide for that day similarly there is a discipline of quality and timing that is required for the remainder of our work to attain that intentionality so final part intentionality and intentional living and goal setting and focus it's not just about that one act it's about habits it's about the habits that we set for ourselves so you need to have habits that align yourself your value your person with the goal that you're achieving for example saying you want to be a healthy person you are a healthy person you are a fit person okay so what habits do you you need to attain that goal maybe you need to have you need to have frequent exercising maybe you need to have a better diet or spending a certain amount of time on a daily basis focusing on skill development or getting better at a particular area let's say if you're studying F or if you're remote studying another topic it's important to have those particular habits to ensure that you attain and reach your goal and start small if you can't cover the entire day cover a part of your day if so then my recommendation is definitely the morning it's definitely the earliest part of your day focus on F focus on okay you're praying fer on time and you're doing one thing beside that Quran recitation workout whatever it is do one thing a beneficial habit and stick to that habit and the rest will unlock by time and when meeting someone new for example focus on intentional networking as well maybe it's not so much about us saying more but maybe we need to listen more which is a shift that can transform the relationships that we build with new people and just like many people wiser than myself have talked about the importance of writing things down and writing goals that you want to achieve similarly it goes for the habits so write down three habits that you want to achieve for next and also write down how do they align with your purpose and how do they align with the goals that you're trying to achieve so I'll end by saying intentionality is not just about achieving more it's about living with meaning living with purpose and aligning that purpose with the goal and vision that you have set for yourself start small stay consistent and just watch how the Bara unfolds in your life oh that is it for today's episode thank you so much for tuning in on the Barakah Blueprint podcast if you like what you've heard and seen please leave a like a follow a subscription share this with friends and family to share the benefit and share the reward and partake in the reward with me as well please leave a review if you haven't so that I know what I am doing that is good or what I can do to better improve the delivery of this crucial message until next time stay focused stay purposeful stay intentional and in Baraka style assalamu alikum