We spend so much time worrying about succeeding without accepting that the journey is one that will encounter struggles. These struggles help us appreciate the success we achieve as well as keeping us grounded and modest towards our achievements.

We should spend time looking at how we spend our time. Because often, while stressing about success, we fail to actually do the physical and mental requirements in order to achieve the goal. We are creatures that like to look at the beautiful pictures yet are slow in taking the steps to create the picture.

Success has different meanings for each individual. Money, family, career, job, stability, inner peace – these are just some areas of life people seek to be successful in.

Islamic teachings remind us that the successful is not the one with mountains of wealth or status in the world. Yet, it is the person who tries to fulfill the obligations set out, in the Quran and the life of the Prophet.

If we google “habits of successful people”, we find a range of ideas and thoughts of famous businessmen, musicians… However, when we look to the Prophets, the companions and pious predecessors, we can find a number of Islamic habits for success that we can apply in all aspects of life.

 Understanding Purpose

Though not strictly a habit, it is the key component to developing Islamic habits for success. If we see our sole purpose in life to earn money or have babies, our mind set is focused on task. Sadly, that task may be something that we never attain, regardless of how much energy we use in trying to.

Understanding that our life is to worship our creator and to struggle to stay upon the path that is defined as the “straight path” is so important in helping us succeed in worldly aspects. When we understand there is more to life than what we are struggling with, we are able to put this difficulty into perspective. In doing so, we are able to spend more energy on the task at hand because the level of worry we had is reduced.

Punctual

In one day, five set periods of time fall upon us in which we are to detach ourselves from the world and pray. Each prayer has a time that it is to be performed. A person should remove themselves from what is distracting or stressing them to spend a few precious moments in seclusion.

From performing these prayers on time, Islamic habits for success that we gain is punctuality and focus. Being on time makes a massive difference to how we perform at school, work, exams and in family life. Being late often leaves you in a heightened state of worry and stress because you know you have somewhere to be.

Work on praying your prayers at the time they are set, as early as you can regardless of where you are. Actively work on developing the habit of punctuality to all aspects of your life.

Wake Early

Following on from the above, Fajr is the first prayer of the day. It is performed at sunrise, getting you out of bed and awake to see the sun brighten up the morning. Getting out of bed early and utilizing the morning is among the fundamentals of Islamic habits for success.

We live in a time where sleeping and laziness is the norm. Oversleeping achieves nothing and harms greatly. Not only are you missing key hours to spend on reading, studying, researching, exercising… You are also having a detrimental effect on your mind set. Planting trees of laziness is not an Islamic habit, so pluck out the seeds and stop watering their growth!

Consistent

You may wake up one or two mornings bright and early however sleep till the mid-afternoon most other days. You may spend 6 hours in a day revising yet fail to do anything for the rest of the week.

This is great however, another important Islamic habit for success is consistency. Big gestures of productivity may seem great on the external but they fail to produce the same result day in day out.

Self-restraint

There are many things in Islam that are permissible and there is a small list of things that are not. Self-restraint is a core Islamic habit for success in religious practice.

However, you should apply this same habit the rest of your life. Self-restraint and controlling desires is what will stop you from reaching for the cookie jar. It is what will keep you from watching TV when you should be revising.

Look at all the weak things that you do in your life and spend time finding ways to combat them. Train yourself!

(This article is from Reading Islam’s archive and was originally published at an earlier date.)