17th April, 2018DYNSEARCH
INTRODUCTION
The crave for success in all human endeavors has led to emphasis or condemnation of one way or another in the pursuit of Success. Among the ways to success that have been tried, some are identified to be reliable and further testing them has revealed characteristics that make some ways more successful than others. These characteristics are traditionally identified in virtuous acts as in “Hard-work”, “Dedication”, and “Knowledge”, “Skills”, “Good Attitude” among others.
Generally, not all activities require meticulous attention to attain success; activities such as commute to work, visits to friends, buying fast food and some daily and routine activities, most often, are carried out with no specially painstaking quality at play. However, some activities are more complex and require crafting and management of a process of some sort in order to deliver the success needed.
In this handicraft, some characteristics including, “Dream”, “Knowledge”, “Skills”, “Planning”, “Implementation”, “Hard-work”, “Dedication”, and “Prayer” have been identified as essential to the attainment of success in every personal endeavor. An emphasis is placed on the scope of this guiding principles, as being limited to the attainment of success by an individual (as opposed to a team). However, the reader could easily notice that most, if not all the characteristics considered, when taken singularly have a “universal” applicability (i.e. not limited to success at individual level only). Even then, the case for the scope lies in the consideration of the whole characteristics as a set “The Success Toolbox”.
THE SUCCESS TOOLBOX
Figure 1: The Success Toolbox Principles
The success Toolbox is a set of virtuous qualities/characteristics of man that facilitate the attainment of success by an individual. Each of these characteristics has been identified, tried and tested overtime, in one formulation of success or another; and as such The Success Toolbox is a collection of various key qualities that are essential to an individual’s success.
This formulation is born out of application and close observation of various postulations on success: the outcome of the observation was that most of the formulations afore postulated are necessary for the attainment of success, but only that they fall short of sufficiency for the end results. That is to say, if one was to follow a proposition that HARD-WORK = SUCCESS, very obvious, one will notice that questions such as “hard-work on what?” or “How?” would need to be answered by a desperate young man yearning for success. Why? Because many assumptions (such as the “the person must know what he is aiming at”; “He must know how to do what he is aiming at?”, “And that only sacrificing, overcoming laziness, etc. are left to reach his goal” and other assumptions) have been made in the initial proposition and are now far from being traced by the novice.
As such, this formulation has painstakingly considered some very basic characteristics/qualities that are more pertinent to the success of an individual, taking into consideration, even as a child, trying to find his way top along the success process. It is these characteristics that have been boxed together as a success toolbox. And thus The Success Toolbox has been formulated as:
Figure 2: The Success Formula
The observation is that Success is equal to the combination of qualities of good Dream, Knowledge, Skills, Planning, Implementation, Hard-work, Dedication and Prayer. The journey of success begins with sound dream, and then with knowledge whereby most of the “What” questions about your dream are answered. Then from these set the tone for the kind of skills needed to accomplish your dream, what and how you plan and implement your dream, the need for you to be hardworking in the implementation of your dream from acquisition of knowledge and skills, to planning and actual execution of your dream. Then, throughout your journey for success (herein referred to as the Success Process) the need for dedication and prayer is emphasized in order to achieve your dream (goal).
The Success Toolbox is further assorted into Preparation, Action, and Facilitatory components which are also staged into Preparation stage, and Action stage. The following representation classify the components and stages:
(Knowledge + Skills + Planning) –> Preparation Principles
(Implementation + Hard-work + Dedication) –> Action Principles
(Dream + Prayer) –> Facilitatory Principles
With a broad overview of the Success Toolbox now covered, the following parts delves into the details of each tool in the box.
SUCCESS
Success has been defined variously as in the following definitions:
Table 1: What do we mean by the word success?
| DEFINITION | AUTHOR |
| “The accomplishment of an aim or purpose. › the attainment of fame, wealth, or social status” | Oxford electronic dictionary v.6.4 |
| “An event that accomplishes its intended purpose” | Wordweb 8.1 |
| “ A state of prosperity or fame” | The Sage VII English Dictionary and Thesaurus |
| “The achieving of the results wanted or hoped for” | Cambridge Advance Learners Dictionary 3rd Ed. |
Each of the definitions above highlights some key dimensions of success critical to our analysis of it. So, in the pursuit of success we look at success from the direction of our particular goal at any point in time and strive to achieve it. That is to say, if our goal today is to attain some wealth, and so we follow the Success Process and achieve it; but “tomorrow”, our dream might be to attain some social status and consequently, we can still follow the Success Process and achieve it. Whatever your dream is, as a matter of urgency, seek knowledge concerning it—it might not mean doing it; it might mean knowing who can do it or how to manage the process. Let’s now see the Knowledge principle in perspective.
Knowledge Principle
Knowledge has been defined as “understanding of or information about a subject which a person gets by experience or study, and which is either in a person's mind or known by people generally” (Cambridge Advance Learners Dictionary 3rd Ed.)
From this definition we understand that knowledge is a property of the brain (“in a person’s mind”), and that it is as such an understanding and information about anything. It further assets that knowledge is obtained through experience and study.
“The psychological result of perception, learning and reasoning” (The Sage VII English Dictionary and Thesaurus). This definition emphasizes on the processes of acquiring knowledge through intuitive understanding of the world (“perception”), experience, and observation (“Learning”) and rearrangement of existing information (“reasoning”) about anything.
Going by this formulation of success, a person must place special emphasis on seeking the authentic knowledge, in the endeavor that he strives to be successful. You must study from and or read the works of authorities in the endeavor you choose. This is just as saying, enroll in accredited educational institutions, and or undertake professional studies, ask relevant authorities in the field, or as a simpliciter, undertake some coherent investigation in whatever you want to be successful in (say you want to buy a plot of land in a city and you fear being swindled. Conduct some investigation on the sale of land in that city. You can ask individuals, make enquiries from land agencies, from traditional authorities etc. Then from your set of information now, you would be clear about land tenure in the city). Seeking knowledge may mean studying from the works of the scholars in your particular chosen endeavour (that's the aspect of life you want success in— for example, publications/scholarly articles in GIS, Digital Marketing, Medicine, Banking etc.). The works of the scholars and stagers could be as in a simple maxims (e.g. “Failing to plan is planning to fail”), articles (e.g. scholarly articles), or books (e.g. books published by scholars in the field); where you get the salient information that can help your thinking success.
Following the footsteps of the scholars, you are highly encouraged to unleash your ingenuity by meticulously analyzing the works of these scholars or information providers; for doing this is the only way to realize your unique success or being discerning in following the foot trails of the scholars/information providers; you are thus not expected to blindly agree with any observation of any person (including this article, since that would make you lose sight of your own destined worthy perspective). As Abdelhamid I. S. (2003) cited Ibn Hytham, father of modern optics, having observed:
Thus the duty of the man who investigates the writings of scientists, if learning the truth is his goal, is to make himself an enemy of all that he reads, and, applying his mind to the core and margins of its content, attack it from every side. He should also suspect himself as he performs his critical examination of it, so that he may avoid falling into either prejudice or leniency (Abdelhamid I. S., 2003).
A lecturer once shared his experience with us concerning his professor saying: "I will not award a (university) Degree to a student who has not added to my understanding of the subject he is writing about. If he was to state what is already obvious from me, I do not get any benefit from that".
The emphasis is that you must be discerning and genius in your pursuit for knowledge. The knowledge principle, is not exclusive to the other principles in this formulation of success. It is the starting point, the ignition to all the other principles in this formulation. Once started, it underpins all the other principles, and it does so, serving as the crucial reference to them all. For example, you may have come across statements such as "The average CEO reads at least 60 books a year". What does this mean to the discussion? It means, apart from having Studied to be CEO, they still have to study to be what you know and cherish them to be.
Knowledge, in this formulation, is also to be seen as a General and Specific principle: The General aspect of knowledge, refers to the basic and fundamental knowledge upon which your further knowledge is possible. For example, knowledge of literacy, and Critical Thinking are crucial to all endeavors. Using the analogy of a fully-fledged Tree, this aspect of the knowledge is akin to the Root part of a Tree. The role of the root to any plant is not limited to the initial firmness of the plant but continues to be so essential to its sustenance, thereof. A professor once implore us to imagine "When you see a big tree standing... what kind of root may be underground sustaining it?”
Figure 3: A lot underneath the tip of iceberg
Figure 4: Root necessary to keep the tree firm
From Figure 3, you can see the tip of the ice in comparison to the underneath body supporting it. And so it is with the network and platform of roots in Figure 4, sustaining and holding firm the erected stem of tree.
Having seen that, let us now see the other perspective to knowledge in this assertion; Specific aspect of knowledge then is the endeavor related information, you need to Succeed. For example, knowledge of Mathematics, Geography, Communication, Astronomy, Banking, International Trade and the list goes on and on. Specificity of knowledge as espoused here is hierarchical, with each preceding hierarchy being crucial to the succeeding hierarchy. Again, using the analogy of a Tree, this aspect of knowledge is akin to the Branch of a Tree; from these we can have main and Sub branches and then Sub-Sub branches and on and on.
Skill Principle
The next principle in the Success Toolbox, is Skills: the skills you need to have for your success. Skill has been defined as “An ability that has been acquired by training”, “Ability to produce solutions in some problem domain” (Wordweb 8.1); and also as, “An ability to do an activity or job well, especially because you have practiced it” (Cambridge Advance Learners Dictionary 3rd Ed.).
Notable parts of the definitions can be restated as: Skill is a problem solving ability acquired through training and practice. Here you are advised to see Skills in two forms: Pre-Action Skills and Post Action Skills.
Pre-Action Skills is a Preemptive Skills you need to afore arm yourself before engaging in your chosen endeavor (as though you're going to war, right? It sounds like being successful is akin to going to war, right! Life is a war between Failure and Success). You need some Preemtive Skills because, most likely, you're not the first person to tread the path, or even if you are, you may have to apply experience from other fields. Because of this you need the tried and tested (T&T), knowledge-- the pieces of advice, principles, laws and approaches, that are crucial to your endeavor/dream. From the Knowledge principle, you may have been aware of most common issues in the field, and the work-around, documented from the experience of your predecessors in the field. Those are what you need to afore arm yourself. You'll still need to read though, more importantly here is, to 'Learn about them'. Learn from the experience of forbearers, in order to equip yourself before jumping on to pursue Success.
As you have studied or known a lot by following the Knowledge principle, so with the principles of Pre-Action Skills, you need to narrow down to the endeavor specific information, whereby you focus on internalizing what you have learnt. For example, taking experiment as in physical science studies, ‘practicals’ as in vocational and technical studies, excursion/field-trip as in geography and other studies, and taking professional courses, whereby the focus is on acquisition of Skills. The focus here is to let you share in the experiences of your forbearers. It sets you on the path of thinking and being like the successful ones who had strode the field. In the nutshell, this is about application of your knowledge or experience on a small scale practical enough to be applicable; otherwise understood as prototyping.
So now with "Quality Thoughts" and "Adequate Preparation" you can start the Action Phase of your Success Endeavor.
The next partitioning of Skills is Post-Action Skills. This principle requires that you take time to learn from your own experience. It also implies reporting on the experiences of others' after applying those to your own situations. In real life, you will meet lots of variants of Challenges you have been aware already, as well as completely new challenges. This principle requires that you still go ahead and Experience these variants and new challenges and then learn from your experiences of them. This principle is iterative; some endeavors need more repetition of this than others do. From the principle of Knowledge (seen early on), you would have studied the art of "Reporting" and you are good to go! For example, after every experience, you may ask "How did it go?” “What or how or why did it work out so well or bad?" The goal is to "Keep asking until you find the perfect answers" that can serve as applicable references. Note that Skills can also be viewed as general and specific.
If all is well, Alhamdulillah, now your thoughts being aware of the "Success Toolbox", Your Actions in the pursuit of Success can benefit from the following "Tools": Dreams, Planning, Hard-work and Dedication.
Dream Principle
A dream has been variously defined as,
| Author | Definition |
| Oxford electronic dictionary v.6.4 | (“1) a series of thoughts, images, and sensations occurring in the mind during sleep. 2) a cherished hope or ideal; a fantasy.” |
| Wordweb 8.1 | “A state of mind characterized by abstraction and release from reality”, “Imaginative thoughts indulged in while awake” |
| Cambridge Advance Learners Dictionary 3rd Ed. | “something that you want to happen very much but that is not very likely” |
Table 2: Different Perspectives to the Dream Principle
Critical to this analysis is the definition given by the Cambridge Advance Learners Dictionary 3rd Ed.. that sets the tone that by nature dreams require a lot of mental and physical efforts to realize. So it is for you to be mindful beforehand as you set to see your very dear dream come to reality. Good dreams, whether in sleep or daylight have one common denominator of inspiring you. Even though the former is most commonly far removed from possibility (as is rarely affected by the reality of knowledge).
Nonetheless, critical to dreams, even in sleep, is quality thoughts, which are products of authentic information. (Notice how the dream principle directly feeds from the knowledge Principle). A good knowledge and Understanding of your endeavor gives you a clear Foresight, literally, a fore-site, on which you can build your edifice of aspirations. It is your dream, having being guided by your general Knowledge, in turn guides your acquisition of specific knowledge and Skills. Dream, on its own becomes the guiding principle to your further actions in the Success Process. Notice that in the previous principles, I've used expressions such as "Your (chosen) endeavor"? Yes, they infer from this dream principle. You have to foresee something you have or want to have, before pursuing it; isn't it? This is your Dream and may become clearer as more knowledge about it is accumulated. For example, as a child, your dreams were hazy, but with more knowledge and skills, from additional studies and experience, your dreams become clearer. And you gain more control over your dreams as a result. The link between knowledge and Dreams is, Precise Information and Quality Thinking. Always get the best of knowledge about your dream and think critically over it.
When your Dream is sound and achievable, you can set goal(s) out of it with the Planning Principle (yet to see in the following principles). Achieving your goals determine stride to your noble Dream, which in turn, and at the end of the Success Process, gives you the ultimate Success you are in pursuit.
So now with sound knowledge of dream, together with the requisite skills, you can apply the next principles. Let’s first see the Planning principle.
Planning Principle
The Planning principle is critical to all the other principles (tools) in the Success Toolbox. Consider the following common definitions of a “Plan” and its derivative, “Planning”:
| Author | Plan | Planning |
| Wordweb | “A series of steps to be carried out or goals to be accomplished” | The act or process of drawing up plans or layouts for some project or enterprise” |
| CALD 3rd Ed.; | “a set of decisions about how to do something in the future” | “the act of deciding how to do something” |
| Oxford Dictionary | “Decide on and arrange in advance. make preparations for an anticipated event or time” | -- |
Table 3: Planning as a way of Coming out with a Plan (Making a Blue Print)
The Oxford Dictionary gives a definition for a plan that is critical to this analysis; stressing on the preemptive nature of plans. But from all the definitions, planning is about making preparations in advance in order that you will follow to realize your dream. That is, a kind of visual or vivid mental image of the roadmap to your cherished dream.
Planning is the tool that offers you the opportunity to transform your Knowledge and Skills into an action-ready state (think of it like the bridge between your Sound Ideas and your Positive Actions). Your plan serves as a reference mark by which you guide your actions towards your dream. It is always good to get your plan ready and documented before you enter the action (implementation) stage; because most of the time the travails of the implementation stage are overwhelming and getting you as though confused (especially, whereby many failures have to be crossed before reaching your targets). In such situations, having a good plan and being able to look up to them come in handy, and serves as refresher to boost you up (at least that you are on track, and this or that way ahead!).
Let's take a breather with the Voice from the Quran:
And consult them in the matter. And when you have decided, then rely upon Allah. [Koran, 3:159]. This Quranic verse underscores the need for consultations at the planning stage.
A cursory view of the foundation of Islam and the battles fought by the Prophet (SAW) reveal a great schema in him. You would recall in a Hadith, herein a narrative by Al-Islam.org:
When the Prophet heard what a powerful army was advancing against him, he held a council of war with his companions, who were in all seven hundred men. Salman the Farsi observed, “A small force cannot withstand a large one.” “What shall we do then?” said the Prophet. Salman replied, “Let us entrench ourselves in such a manner that we can be attacked only in one quarter.”
Jibraeel descended and pronounced the plan of Salman excellent and declared it must be executed. The ground was then marked out from Uhud to Rayah, and divided into sections of twenty or thirty feet, each section being assigned to a particular party for excavation. The Muslims began the work with spades and pickaxes, the Prophet himself laboring in a section of the Muhajireen.
(Battle of Khandaq, From Al-Islam.org).
This was a kind of battle in which a smaller number of army was to face a foe of bigger army. But, the religion of Allah, Islam, even with Muhammad, the main conduit of wisdom from Allah then, could not encompass every strategy needed to conquer the foe, but yet still as a genius he (SAW) was, he new where to find complement. And that was through consultation. Would you begin seeking or offering good consultation for the betterment of the Muslim Ummah (in Ghana)?
In the Success Toolbox, the closest principle to Hard-work (yet see principle) is the Planning Principle. That is to say, for a meaningful Hard-work, a good Plan, that is the blue-print, precedes. Critical to the Planning Principle is an Action Plan. This is action oriented and requires you to think beforehand, what specific actions you would direct your efforts into. You are required to match your planned dream to practical (doable) actions first.
Okay! Now we your Planning upright, you can benefit from the following principle; the Implementation Principle.
Implementation Principle:
Implementation has been defined by Wordweb 8.1, in three parts:
A. “The act of accomplishing some aim or executing some order” and also as
B. “The act of implementing (providing a practical means for accomplishing something)”
C. “Carrying into effect”
Oxford Dictionary succinctly defines it as: “Performance of an obligation.” And critical to this analysis is that “obligation” part of the definition. That is, once you have set your plan, you deem it as an obligation to “go by/as plan”. Of course, you as the individual have the most up to date intellect as far as your dream is concerned; and as you pursue your dream and gained more experience, your roadmap may feel some ‘twist’ from your knowledge touches; and always feel free to do what is necessary (make some modifications).
The Planning and Implementation Principles are intertwined
You may benefit this from me, that "Planning is relevant to our discussion, only if there is Action at stake". Planning serves to reduce the risks of your Actions, improves your chances and keep you on course in the Success Process. A plan will lay out your roadmap in a way friendly for you to follow to reach your dream. Implementation of your plan propels you along the roadmap towards the dream. You must note that you need not know it all before you start the Planning, nor have everything captured in your Plan before you start Execution of your plan. It will do you well to remember that "Man improves himself as he follow his path; if he stands still, waiting improve before he makes a decision, he'll never move."(Paulo Coelho)
And so it is to keep in mind that after certain level of confidence in your planning is attained, you need the courage to walk out of the planning room (As if saying "Enough is enough!!"), and to the open field to feel the freshness of Action. Still remember the Voice:
And when you have decided, then rely upon Allah. [Koran, 3:159]
Do not fear failures from the starts, but rather keep the Iterative nature of this principle in mind, that you can and should always go back to the drawing-board whenever necessary. Plus remember the Post-Action Principle under the Skill Principle, whereby you are expected to learn from every experience you encounter in the Success Process (i.e. make your observation of why it did not work and how it can be made to work. Feel free to learn more in order to do this when necessary). With these in mind, face the real action stage with Confidence.
Quick Note: The Planning and Implementation Principles do not require you to be perfect (as it were), but rather, that you do your utmost best in the Planning and Implementation of your Dream. I must emphasize: Allah is the only All-Knowledgeable of Everything and Anything, He is the Master Planner for everything and anything, He Supervises the Success of everything and anything ( thus, He is the Al-'Aleem, He is the Al-Badee', He is the Al-Muqtadr and He it is, Who is Al-Qadeer). You are not a cosmos planner, Allah is; you are but only a part of the planning, so must know what you are let to know to plan your path with. And by Devine Wisdom, your success does not depend on knowing it all, before you act (because your mistake and corrections; sins and repentances, are but, part of your natural mission, Worshiping Allah (Quran, 51: Verse 57: And I did not create the jinn and mankind except to worship Me.). So as He (Allah) reveals your path to you bit-by-bit, Plan and Implement your Dream day-by-day.
Dedication.
The Sage VII English Dictionary and Thesaurus gives a comprehensive definition of dedication: “The act of binding yourself intellectually or emotionally to a course of action. 2 Complete and wholehearted fidelity”. Meanwhile, CALD, 3rd edition sees dedication “when you give a lot of time and energy to something because it is important”.
It is the unrelenting spirit to continue pursuing your chosen endeavor. In real life, so much is occluded from your vision (foresight) no matter how profound your knowledge is of the endeavor you chose. So there would be unforeseen challenges that would push you out of your comfort zone. In addition, most of the times, your success depends on the successes of others; that is to say you need other people to help you succeed. This help may not be reliable always. And failures from them may frustrate your dream. But your dedication to your dream- the commitment you have to it that you always redevise or restrategize your plans, renew your resources (human, natural or financial commitment) in order to see your dream come true, is a hallmark in your success endeavor. Notice that a meaningful dedication is linked to sound knowledge of your dream; a more precise knowledge is necessary for a strong and meaningful dedication; get a clear dream and you can dedicate your life to it. Also, notice the link between Dedication and Skills: you will not have the Skill from Planning, plus you will not know it all from Planning (the Knowledge principle), but rather, you need to experience the Knowledge by practicing it so you can identify what is missing and fixing them in order to lead to your dream. Your dedication will inspire you to move from one or two failures to Success. And remember, your ultimate goal is Success, so it better come last. In other words, the 'failures' are part of the Success Process.
Hard-work Principle
The effort you put on achieving your Dreams is essential to your success. Hard-work is the principle you must keep in mind; and as you walk towards your dream, you must be hardworking. Hardworking has been defined as undertaking “Characterized by hard work and perseverance” Wordweb.
If Success is all about Planning and implementing your Dream, then Hard-work would be most valuable tool in the Action Stage. Your activities of Studying, Learning, Planning, Execution, require a great deal of efforts that you must apply in order to succeed. Each of the principles in the Success Toolbox, has set of activities/undertakings that define it. All these activities require some amount of efforts, which must be applied enough, in order to achieve your Dream (your chosen endeavor). They are the minute-by-minute, and day-by-day, work that you do so well towards fulfillment of your Dream. Remember you have to do, and do the work well!! Some works you need to do are direct from your Planning Principle, while some would be eventual: The direct ones require work that have already being planned, while the eventual ones require work-around, that are usually, harder works, that may require you to apply the post-action skills principle as many times as you need the work done well. It is worth noting that you must "Work around the clock", "Leaving no stone unturned" in order to live up to the expectation of the Hard-work principle.
It is worth noting that most of the time when comparing effort needed for your dream, you take an analytical look at the following Iceberg image in Figure 5:
You can figure beforehand what amount of Hard-work you need to put in order to archieve your dream. So, a lot of background work go into producing whatever you see around you as accomplishments(SUCCESS).
 |
| The Role of Hard-work in the Equation of Success |
You can figure beforehand what amount of Hard-work you need to put in order to archieve your dream. So, a lot of background work go into producing whatever you see around you as accomplishments(SUCCESS).
The Prayer Principle
Echoing that Voice again at length: “And consult them in the matter. And when you have decided, then rely upon Allah [Koran, 3:159].
The Prayer Principle serve to let you acknowledge your weakness before the Most Powerful, and set you to beseech Him for whatever support that is necessary and essential to realizing the success of your dream. This Principle should manifest in your daily duas (prayers), especially, in your lots of Nawaafils (Supererogatory prayers, since Islamic scholarship attests that the Prophet (SAW) had always said his personal duas in the Nawaafils – though this is not limiting).
And consult them in the matter. And when you have decided, then rely upon Allah. Indeed, Allah loves those who rely [upon Him] [Koran, 3:159].
This principle set it that you will never Fail, pursuing the Success Process, in that even if something went wrong and the outcome is not as expected, you are certain of reward with Allah, as a result of your “duas” along the way. Remember, “Ad-Dua” is part of worship; and that a true Muslim always seeks the best in the two Worlds-- in his life (in this world and in the hereafter, Koran, 2:201). Again, why diminish yourself to only the material Success, when you can secure the more important spiritual Success in addition.
Conclusion
The Success Toolbox when set together are in constant motion; and thus forming an iterative process. The tools (principles) are Mutually Inclusive: Each tool relate with each other tool, and it thus, exert influence on, and is in turn influenced by each other tool (principle). What this means is, that your Knowledge is constantly being affected by your new Experience, which in turn affects your dream. Your dream determines what Work you do in order to have Experience that accomplish the dream. Your knowledge and Experience affect your Plan, which in turn affects the Hard Work you put to implement the plan.
Each of the principles is not necessarily dependent on any other principle. Each is a 'standalone', that is self-exiting (that can trigger itself automatically) in the Success Process. For example, a fresh idea(Dream) can trigger the Success Process; Planning can trigger the Success Process through planning to explore by reading or adventure( New Idea(dream)); an Experience may trigger the Success Process through new ideas(dream); Dedication( commitment) can trigger the Success Process through new ideas(dream), since you become versatile in the struggle to implement your dream, just as, Hard-work can trigger the Success Process through Experience( new Skills) or New Ideas( Dream).
You notice that no matter the Principle that triggers the Success Process, the Dream Principle (through New Ideas) stands out as the defining Principles. What this means is that any of the principles (other than the Dream Principle) can trigger a new Success Process and that is all. But, it is the Dream Principle, whereby you are required to have a clear vision of your Endeavor that defines for example, what further Knowledge, Skills, or Plan or how much Hard-work or Dedication you should have following the Success Process.
The knowledge and skill principles serve to build your ability to realize your dream on one hand, while Hard-work and Dedication on the other hand, serve to determine your efforts towards realizing your Dreams. Planning and Implementation, and Prayer Principles serve to guide and match between your Ability and Efforts that lead to Success.
It is important to note that being able to dream or have a noble dream is natural to all men, possibly, due to their desire for happiness or sense of goodness at all times. However, Dream that produce true happiness, in themselves, become complex as you live your life; and require sophisticated mindset to dream noble. Then consistent education and training of the mind is needed to keep up to this complexity of your dream. What is furthermore, is the very complex nature of the actions you have to put in order to realize this your 'Complex' Dream.
Provided you have a Dream, you must seek the “How-to” translate the dream into Success. Remember, whether you have knowledge and Skills of it or not, or have a plan for it or not, or you are hardworking and dedicated to it or not, you still have to Act towards your Dream (for if your internal processes (pressures) do not excite you to, the external processes would). Just that your actions in this case would be so risky, and far removed from Success.
Practical Ways to Imbibe the Success Toolbox
Table 4: Practical ways of implementing the Success Toolbox
| PRINCIPLE | PRACTICAL EXAMPLE | NOTE |
| Dream | Dream Big | |
| Assess the feasibility of your thinking | ||
| Make Goal out of your Dream | ||
| Make objective(s) out of your Dream Goal | ||
| Acquire the Skills necessary for it or get others onboard | ||
| Plan for your Dream | ||
| Implement the Plan for your Dream | ||
| Be Hardworking throughout the Implementation process of your Dream. | ||
| Be dedicated to the cause of your Dream | ||
| Pray to Allah for; Guidance, Wisdom, Foresight, Ease of affairs, Steadfastness, reinforcement, against misfortunes/ impediments to set Goals and Objectives, and for grant of SUCCESS. | ||
| Knowledge | Do Research/ Acquire Search skills/ Be Information seeking | |
| Critical Thinking | Take inspiration as from Ibn Hytham (as quoted above), always be critical of things by first establishing evidence of their veracity. | |
| Logical Reasoning | No that logical reasoning is not anti-Islam. What rather is the case is that whereas scientific basis for logic is largely Empiricism, the basis for logic in Islam (especially as espoused by Suni Philosophy) the Quran and Authentic Sunnah in addition to Science. | |
| Critical Observation | Always seek to find possible alternatives to what you see as that would give you broader view of things. | |
| Critical Analysis | Try looking at things from different perspectives that is usually common. Find alternative explanations to issues and always based every conclusion on evidence (factual, ‘Quranic’, ‘Sunic’) | |
| Keep Reading/ Keep Studying/ Keep Learning | Sometimes effective even trying to find the ‘other’ meaning of the word “Reading” can see you reading more and more from different perspectives. | |
| Skills | Do Research | Cultivate the habit of doing research even if the word is “Research”. Always try using the internet to as the “How to” questions and build or improve your skills from there. |
| Undertake professional Studies online or offline | There are many useful and free or proprietary online educational materials that you can use and learn a wide range of skills. | |
| Learning online or offline | ||
| Practice what you have learnt/ Be part of professional Networks | ||
| Planning | Have some basic understanding of Project Planning | |
| Have some basic understanding of Project Management | ||
| Implementation | Always put your plan into Practice | Once your plan is at some level of assurance to you, leave the unforeseen to Allah and start executing your plan. |
| Be Proactive | ||
| Have basic grasp of implementation in Project Management | ||
| Hard-work | Avoid Procrastination: Direct your energies into | |
| Sleep less: Always work around the clock and get things done as scheduled for the day before going to bed. | ||
| Direct Efforts into Positive Energies | ||
| Take care of your personal Health, hygiene, and allow time for resting | It’s very easy to get carried away by engagement of your dream such that you little time for any other essential things such as your health, hygiene, house chores etc. | |
| Hard-work means Sacrifice and Perseverance. | Be prepared to make lots of sacrifices and endure hardships as hard-work is only thought of when more than just pleasantries, or commonsense or routine task, is needed to accomplish. | |
| Dedication | Commit to Dream and Plan: Swear to yourself that you have to carry your dream through no matter what until Allah decides your fate in the ‘matter’. | Know that Allah will never deny you the success of whatever you set to achieve. |
| Be Versatile: be opened to new ways of doing things that accelerate the achievement of your dream. | ||
| Be Smart: Take advantage of unplanned opportunities when they pop up without losing track and be sure they add to plan. |
Further Reading
| ID | Material | Note |
| 1 | Islamic Finder Quran web service | The Noble Quran |
| 2 | The Project Management Life Cycle | Project Management |
| 3 | Project cycle | Project Cycle |
| 4 | BASICS OF PROJECT PLANNING | Project Planning |
| 5 | Stage 4: PROJECT IMPLEMENTATION | Project Implementation |
| 6 | Capacity-Building Student Development Training | Personal Capacity Building |
| 7 | How to Find Information Online | How to Conduct Quick Searches for information |
REFERENCES
2. Battle of Khandaq. Retrieved April 4th, 2018, from Al-Islam.org website: https://www.al-islam.org/hayat-al-qulub-vol-2-allamah-muhammad-baqir-al-majlisi/battle-khandaq#block-search-form
4. Abdelhamid I. S. (2003). Ibn al-Haytham: Brief life of an Arab mathematician. Havard Magazine, 2. Retrieved from https://harvardmagazine.com/2003/09/ibn-al-haytham-html
