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VisionWeavers with Dr. Tawfique Chowdhury

December 18th, 2009 Nahyan Leave a comment Go to comments

Ultimate Vision - Toronto

Ultimate Vision - Toronto

[Read Time >> 5 minutes]

Note: This is my summarized notes from a workshop by Dr. Tawfique Chowdhury with VisionWeavers. Any inaccuracy and lack of depth in explanation is from me, it was a great workshop.

This event was only 2 hrs, more info on the 3 day seminar below.

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Why bother with goals?

It’s absolutely essential to pursue goals consciously and appropriately; because otherwise 2 problems can arise

1 – Romanticizing about goals – You know those da’wah goals that is so ‘nice’ to talk about…but has no substance or real meaning; like “I will bring khilafah back” or “I’m going to study Islam…going to, not yet. But when I do I will…” and of course “”My goal is to change the ummah.”

2 – Life regains the attention – there’s a strong motivation to do something, but then it dies down. Then comes another one – that person is directionless

It’s a terrible thing to see, but have no vision”

Rocking Horse

Rocking Horse

Even when going after goals and working really hard at it, it may just be the “rocking horse” approach.

Especially in da’wah, sometimes the goal is “lets just do something…something ya’nee”. Of course it’s good and their reward is with Allah, however it is just movement without significant progress.

Why Visions

Clear Focus, knowing it’s this way and not that way. That clear focus on a powerful vision will energizes people.

Example: Shaykh Tawfique’s goal when starting AlKauthar Institute was: launch, then reach 5 continents in 2 years. Alhamdulillah that happened.

What do visions Do?

Vision = the ability to see the invisible

“Vision guides to today towards what you see tomorrow”

The ability to close your eyes and see the world after you’ve passed away, how your family remembers you, the legacy you’ve left behind…Now is the time to get clarity on how your family will be, what kind of house do you want to live in, what you want to pursue in life. And a good place to start as well is to write what you don’t want and see what options are left.

Planning

The Planning Myths

Let’s plan when we get there or it takes too long so let’s just start without it.

Example - if you’re travelling and plan on crossing a river by the bridge, what will you do when there are 4 options. 3 of them are broken, being repaired, while only 1 is open…the trial-n-error method wastes more time than planning ahead.

“Don’t confuse Distance with Displacement”

this is huge, read it again.

[Note: There were some excellent images to illustrate this] Just because there’s a lot of movement doesn’t mean there’s progress. Like the people crossing a bridge may have driven 10 KM to check each bridge, instead of thinking ahead and only driving 2 KM to cross the river.

9 Parts of a Vision: (can’t get into detail, but here’s the list)

  1. Attainability
  2. Lucidity
  3. Concreteness
  4. Clarity
  5. Complexity
  6. Scale
  7. Nobility
  8. Loftiness
  9. Correctness

The big question: WHY

It’s critical to have the why before the what…because the why will guide you to the where. Example: Travelling – Why can be (i) Vacation (ii) Business (ii) Alone time   –  Each one leads to a different destination

Jannah (Paradise) is a “why” and not a “where” because it’s the reason why we do things. And when there’s a weak “why” there won’t be any perseverance towards reaching the goal.

“If the why is strong, the what is easy”

What vision will you have and what legacy will you leave behind?

Other topics:

  • Linear vs. Exponential growth
  • Vision + Roles + Sub-roles
  • Balance point with each sub-role

If you’re not driven towards your vision, you haven’t found the right vision

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YOUR TURN:

This wasn’t light information, so what did you get out of it? Lemme know below

If you did benefit, but don’t want to comment…just write “More” below and I’ll get that your way. InshaAllah.

  1. J
    December 18th, 2009 at 08:01 | #1

    Very good aricle. I liked the Planning Myths part, it really does save more time in the long run.

    More!

  2. Halatou
    December 18th, 2009 at 08:57 | #2

    Assalamoualeykoum

    Thanks for this summary. It is SO important to set up life goals, so many people dont even bother about that… I would have loved to attend the 3 day seminar, Im sure it will be a very beneficial event !

    Wassalam

    Halatou

  3. Asmaa
    December 18th, 2009 at 08:57 | #3

    Hmm..thinking about it..

  4. December 18th, 2009 at 09:36 | #4

    Very useful notes. I’ll make note of them.

    Hope you’ll be going to the full seminar.

    Wish Sheik would run such course in UK sometimes soon.

  5. December 18th, 2009 at 10:14 | #5

    @Halatou – wa alaikum assalaam, May Allah make it easy to attend a future one.

    @Asmaa …that’s a start :)

    @Azizur Rahman – ya the UK crowd would really benefit from this as well. Alhamdulillah we got him here in Toronto.

  6. Mohamed Somali
    December 18th, 2009 at 15:21 | #6

    awesome…finish exams and straight into the real juice

    =)

  7. Mouneimne
    December 18th, 2009 at 21:11 | #7

    Salaamu Alaikum,

    More.

  8. December 19th, 2009 at 08:55 | #8

    Assalamu Alaikum,

    JazaakAllahu Khayran for posting this bro.

    These were the descriptions that he had provided for the nice dimensions of a vision btw:

    1. Attainability – What is the possibility of achieving your vision within the available resources

    2. Lucidity – An articulation of the vision which explains the main idea in clear and unambiguous terms.

    3. Concreteness – The number of quantifiable elements and degrees of qualification in those elements.

    4. Clarity – Having high lucidity and appropriate concreteness.

    5. Complexness – How complex or simple is the main concept behind the vision.

    6. Scale – The scale of your vision in terms of geography, time, and depth.

    7. Nobility – Nobility is the degree to which your vision touches the lives of people other than yourself for a greater good.

    8. Loftiness – The minimum cost required for the success of the vision.

    9. Correctness – The correctness of your vision is directly proportional to the soundness of your ideology.

  9. December 19th, 2009 at 11:57 | #9

    @Mohamed Somali – ya man :)

    @Mouneimne – wa alaikum assalaam, jazakallahukhair for the comment

    @Arif Kabir – wa alaikum assalaam Arif, great description of those parts. Jazakallahukhair.

  10. December 19th, 2009 at 15:40 | #10

    Assalaamu alaikum wa rahmatullah,

    JazakAllahu khairun for the beneficial article. May Allah put barakah in the work that you do for His sake and accept from you. ameen

  11. Sana
    December 23rd, 2009 at 14:26 | #11

    Really awesome stuff mashaAllah. I wonder if you can share your Vision Weavers notes with us! :)

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