It is not in December that you know you wouldn't make rent

Would Imam Bukhari have been more useful by being a very present husband and father at home or travelling the world to collect thousands of hadith?

Hi guys,

Hope you are well. I'm doing okay, Alhamdulillah.

I write at 8:37 pm on a cloudy Friday evening and feel oddly energized. It's been a while. I just checked and realized it has been about 2 months - two whole months! - since I last wrote here. Between then and now, each of us has probably heard the phrase ‘generative AI’ three hundred and seventy-five times. 😅

Many people have asked why I stopped writing Hameed's Newsletter. In all honesty, I had no intention of stopping. Out of the last 9 or so weekends since I last published here, I went into 6 or 7 of them fully intending to write. Many times I even had the topics and story ready! But each time, for one reason or the other, I needed to deprioritize it.

I used to pride myself on being able to churn out content week in and week out regardless of whatever else was going on. Now I pride myself on understanding what aspects of my life are most important, and allowing myself the breaks and compromises I need to allow me prioritize them. It has been a tough pill for me to swallow, but ah well.

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Two things I'm thinking about today. Let's dive in!

The inputs determine the outputs. (Almost) always.

Over the years (and especially in the senior years of my undergraduate degree in Nigeria), people regularly asked me, 'Hameed, I want to finish with a 1st class. Do you have any advice?’

My answer was always the same - 'Read 6 hours a day. And not including the time for classes, assignments, projects, or lab reports. If you can find a way to read 6 hours every day apart from everything that is compulsory from the first day of the semester until the last day before exams, then 1st class is sure for you.'

** side note: For the unindoctrinated (i.e. if you were fortunate enough to not study at a Nigerian federal university), graduating with a 1st class is not beans. Of the 7,799 graduates from the University of Lagos in 2022, only 238 (about 3% of the total student population) managed it.

Regardless of who asked the question, their faculty, course of study, level, interests, or personality type, my answer was always the same. And while it was not perfect (I know I did not always read 6 hours every single day myself 😂), it was meant to illustrate a simple point - your habits drive your output.

Actually studying for 6 hours every single day throughout a semester is difficult - after all, there would be multiple distractions like strikes, co-curricular activities, Moremi hall week 🌚, and even days when there is seemingly not enough academic work to do to justify 6 hours of reading! But if you had to force yourself to study 6 hours daily over an entire semester, then you would probably be quite competent at every aspect of the syllabus that was relevant to your academic success.

In an imaginary example of someone who still had excess time left after reading the notes and doing basic assignments for a sample course on a particular day, they could practice the class exercises. If they still had time afterward, they could read the recommended textbook. If they still had time afterward, they could read the second recommended textbook (the one everyone says the lecturer doesn't use). If they still had time, they could practice past questions for the past 5 years. Etc etc.

Multiply this sort of thinking across 5+ courses, then there is quickly an infinite amount of academic work to do to completely cover the syllabus and 6 hours daily might not even be enough time!

** side note: By the way, I don't think a 1st class degree is anywhere near as valuable as it used to be, or that academic achievement is any determinant of future success. And I think the time spent at uni could be much more about having amazing experiences than being holed up in the library 24/7. But if you decided that it was what you wanted, then my advice for achieving it has not changed.

Do you genuinely think there is a chance in which someone has this level of dedication to their studies and does not achieve their academic objective?

I don't think so.

Just as somebody who lifts weights at the gym for 3 hours every day will be ripped after 6 months, and somebody who memorizes a page of the Qur’an every day will be a Hafiz after 2 years, then a student who commits to 6 hours of daily personal study will inevitably graduate with the highest honors possible. It is (almost) always the input that drives the output.

While watching an interview by Peace Itimi of Yomi Adedeji, CEO of Softcom, he said something along the lines of, “It is not in December that you know you wouldn’t be able to make next year’s rent. Your actions and saving plans (or lack thereof) throughout the year are what determine whether you will make the end-of-year payments without hassle, or start running helter-skelter.”

Founders Connect interview with Yomi. Strongly recommend 💯

What is the best way to use your time?

Every once in a while, I see someone make a critical comment about another person’s inactions.

• “Tolu o tie serious, gbogbo igba ti mo man pe, ko kin gbe phone. What type of niece is always missing her Aunty’s calls and never being the one to call first?”

• “I don’t know why Abdullah does like this. He never joins us to play ball after Madrasah. What is he always doing gaan that is so important?”

• “Billionaires are just narcissists. Politicians are even better, at least they volunteer at food banks just before elections. We know it’s for photo-op, but at least they’re helping out. All billionaires ever care about is themselves.”

I am rarely sympathetic to such takes. Why?

• Would Steve Jobs have been more useful by volunteering his spare time at soup kitchens and serving on the boards of NGOs, or using it to create products and services that changed the world?

• Would Imam Bukhari have been more useful by being a very present husband and father at home or travelling the world to collect thousands of hadith?

• Would Isaac Newton have been more useful as a pleasant senior university student at Cambridge who always helped new students settle in and ran tutorials or as an oddball student 100% focused on the problems of Physics and Astronomy?

• Would J.K Rowling have been more useful in the late 1990s by replying kindly to all her fan mail and hosting book signing sessions for sick kids after the success of the 1st and 2nd Harry Potter books, or would she have been more useful ignoring all of it and focused on writing books three to seven?

Humans are unique creatures, with unique personalities, needs, abilities, and aspirations. Even more, we are constantly changing!

As such, it is only fair that different people have different priorities at any given time. While I do not advocate that we encourage bad behaviour, we could all be more tolerant when someone else makes decisions that we do not understand.

Maybe, just maybe, that is how they might change the world.

** Jara content:

وَلَمَّا بَرَزُوا۟ لِجَالُوتَ وَجُنُودِهِۦ قَالُوا۟ رَبَّنَآ أَفْرِغْ عَلَيْنَا صَبْرًۭا وَثَبِّتْ أَقْدَامَنَا وَٱنصُرْنَا عَلَى ٱلْقَوْمِ ٱلْكَـٰفِرِينَ

“When they advanced to face Goliath and his warriors, they prayed, “Our Lord! Shower us with perseverance, make our steps firm, and give us victory over the disbelieving people.”

-Chapter 2 verse 250

Have a great week. ✨