This is the 2nd episode of the 3 part series on Thinking wealthy.
Today it is hard work redefined—not as a relentless grind but as the cornerstone of true wealth creation.
This episode we deal with misconception around hard work to reveals healthier, more sustainable approach to labor. For wealthy, hard work is about long-term growth and meaningful accomplishments. We break free from societal pressures that equate hard work with strain and sacrifice,
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If this podcast has benefited you, imagine the value of a one-on-one meeting with me! Click below to schedule your FREE consultation. Discover solutions with no obligation.
https://www.islamiclifecoachschool.com/appointments
This is the 2nd episode of the 3 part series on Thinking wealthy.
Today it is hard work redefined—not as a relentless grind but as the cornerstone of true wealth creation.
This episode we deal with misconception around hard work to reveals healthier, more sustainable approach to labor. For wealthy, hard work is about long-term growth and meaningful accomplishments. We break free from societal pressures that equate hard work with strain and sacrifice,
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If this podcast has benefited you, imagine the value of a one-on-one meeting with me! Click below to schedule your FREE consultation. Discover solutions with no obligation.
https://www.islamiclifecoachschool.com/appointments
Welcome to Islamic Life Coach School Podcast. Apply tools that you learn in this podcast and your life will be unrecognisably successful. Now your host, dr Kamal Aftar. Hello, hello everyone. Peace and blessings be upon all of you.
Speaker 1:We are continuing to talk about the mind gap between wealth and poverty. These are the three principles that we are unlocking in the three series podcast. The series is called Thinking Walthy. First concept was about passive income. Second one and today's podcast is about hard work and your relationship with it. And the third one, in the next episode, is going to be about leveraging.
Speaker 1:Wealthy individuals avoid the trap of quick money schemes. It is not like they are not enticed by it. They are humans. They want easy and fast money. They have a primal brain, just like the rest of us, who has three basic driving forces, and those are to conserve energy, avoid pain and seek pleasure, and any offer that promises quick and easy passive income checks all of those boxes. So, of course, people are enticed by it, wealthy or otherwise. But the only difference is that wholesome wealth is based on thinking that supersedes the commands of the primal brain. Thinking wealthy is about disciplining the primal brain and letting your prefrontal cortex dictate the show.
Speaker 1:So passive income was the topic of the last podcast, but today we will talk about what your relationship looks like with hard work. I mean, I seem to be harping on about you can't have passive returns without upfront effort, but what do I really mean by that? What do I mean when I say hard work? So people who are able to think wealthy and therefore have wealth, their approach to hard work is very different from an average person who might not have as much wealth. So today we are talking about your relationship with hard work, and when I talk about your relationship, let's say, with time, hard work or money, I'm talking about your thoughts about these things. Your relationship with anything or anyone is your thoughts about them. There isn't a physical hard wire running between you and another person that you can call a relationship. A relationship with your money is just your thoughts about it, and the relationship with your hard work is your thoughts about hard work. What quality of thoughts are you having when you're spending time doing your work or when you're thinking about your work? Hard work does not mean hustle or burnout, although that's what people commonly make it mean.
Speaker 1:People living in scarcity mindset are taught that their income potential is the amount of work they do, which is dependent on the time they spend working, and on top of that, the society encourages hard work. So then, no wonder that you don't have any time for any joyful activities left, because you're grinding yourself trying to earn the money in the maximum amount of time spent doing the work. And don't get me wrong, I work hard. I am not saying don't work hard, but deciding to love the hard work you do versus dreading the work you do. The difference between the two comes from your mind. What are you thinking while you're doing the work? How are you feeling while doing it? If your work is physically taxing or if your work is mentally taxing? Maybe it's both. Work being tiring is one reason you're tired and you call it hard work, but it's a different thing entirely that you're dreading it because you can choose to enjoy what you do.
Speaker 1:Currently, we are used to a very competitive mindset which sounds somewhat like oh my god, I've been working so hard for 8 hours, I don't even have time to take a bathroom break and you're here sitting and eating lunch. That must be a luxury. We've all been envious of those people who seem to be enjoying lunch, especially those of us in healthcare. This kind of mentality of non-stop work has become about bragging rights and it's instilled in us from a young age that if you don't work this hard, then you'll have to live in your parents' basement and you cannot become an independent human being without the grind. To be able to repair your relationship with work, you have to change how you see yourself during it. Do you feel sorry for yourself when you're doing it? Are you frustrated that you have to do it? Are you burdened by the sense of obligation? Are you feeling forced or pressured to do it? All of this is what creates the extra unnecessary burden that you're adding onto your original work. Your body is designed not only to withstand hard work. It's designed to grow and thrive because of it. What your body and mind are not designed to do is to fight the constant internal battle, the badgering that you're doing while your body is trying to do the work. This is what makes the work hard.
Speaker 1:Effort, dedication, persistence, waking up every day to do the work is not the actual hard work. That's the work that I'm actually talking about. That's the effort that you have to put in in order to gain passive income. When I refer to hard work, I'm talking about the clean effort that you put in. I'm not talking about the hustle and the grind. I'm not talking about working with the extra layer of pain that you've added compliments to societal programming. People who enjoy hard work do not take on that extra layer of work. They do the hard work that needs to be done with focus, and I've already said passive income cannot come without some initial investment of money, effort or hard work or all of the above. But the effort I'm talking about refers to the work that you're doing without making it painful for yourself, and you make it painful because of all of the stories that you tell yourself about the work.
Speaker 1:The point is to change your relationship with hard work as you're defining by borderline burnout, constant sacrifice, overstretching yourself when it comes to hard work. Changing the relationship with it is to make it mean that you're working for long-term results and rewards. The pressure or performance that you put on yourself is a privilege. The challenge isn't working to the point of burnout, but shifting your perspective to see hard work as a journey towards meaningful long-term achievements. You get to change your relationship with hard work. So it's not hard. If you enjoy what you do, you don't work a day in your life, even though, by someone else's standards, you might be working hard. People tell me that I work hard. I don't feel like I work hard. Redefine hard work in terms that lifts the extra emotional and mental burden off of you, because, trust me, that's what exhausts you more than the physical work. If your relationship with the work you're already doing is the kind that makes you sigh and check the clock every five minutes, you're working without any return on that investment.
Speaker 1:When you think wealthy, you're starting to talk about hard work in a whole different way and it shows, in a sincerity of your actions, the focus that you have when you do the work. That's what shifts in your mind at the notion of hard work. If you're thinking wealthy, elevate your thoughts towards work. That's going to change your relationship with it. It's all about what glasses you wear when you look at the world. If you see time as a strict boss that's always looking over your shoulder, you'll feel stressed and under pressure. Now, if you switch those glasses to a pair that sees work as a source of your creativity, it will be a game changer, regardless of if you're working for someone else or working for yourself. If you see work as a never-ending race. You're always going to feel like that you're behind. But if you see it as a tool to shape your life, help others and create future passive income opportunities, your work will become your calling.
Speaker 1:Your work can be a 9-to-5 grind or a way to express your passions, and every day is just a practice of going between the two. It's all in your mind. And no, you don't have to change the job that you have just to find your passion. It's doing the work of a coached mind to exactly find what you have always wanted. While you're exactly doing what you're doing, are you working for a paycheck or are you working to contribute? Create your relationship with hard work. Passive income and wealth will follow your relationship with time, money and work is a reflection of your innermost thoughts and beliefs. It's time that you shift that perspective. View your work as your ally, not your enemy. See money as a tool to serve your purpose, not the purpose itself.
Speaker 1:Instruct your brain to find a way how you can express your passion through work. Depending on how far you are on the hating your work spectrum, your brain will give you a lot of objections about this goal, about how there's no way you can find any calling in what you do. But I challenge you, I implore you, I urge you. I'm even ready to make a bet with you. If you instruct your brain to see some benefit, it will follow suit, because changing your job and starting somewhere new is not going to change your relationship that you have with your work. Because you haven't worked on elevating your thoughts. Because then your brain will go to the new place of work and it will start finding all of the flaws in your new job.
Speaker 1:Start small, but start somewhere. Start finding what you're grateful for about your work. With time you will expand your thoughts to include how this work feeds your talent. And this is your contribution to the world, not just a means to an end. The quality of your thoughts shapes the quality of your life. So start today. Envision a life where the time enriches you, where money empowers you and your work fulfills you. This is not just a dream or a fantasy I'm talking about, although it might seem like that to some of you, but if you start working, it will become a reality. If it does feel like a fantasy, it just means that you have some practice ahead of you.
Speaker 1:You are already working hard. Why not enjoy it? Why think painful thoughts about it? If you change your relationship with the hard work you do, you are well on your way to thinking wealthy. All it takes to rise above the societal definition of hard work, which glorifies the grind and the restless hustle, is for you to take a pause and start enjoying what you're doing. Stop wearing sacrifice of personal time as a badge of honor. Yes, hard work is important, but self-sacrifice while doing that is optional. A self-deprecating way of hard work is not a sustainable path to success, and that is not how wealthy think.
Speaker 1:Even if you don't like the job that you currently have, you might only need a few extra thoughts to help you lift the extra layer of pain. You might want to think. This is the mean to something more. This is going to lead me to something bigger, better, different. This is something that gives me experience in the field so I can go apply for other jobs using my skill set. This is something that can go on my CV and look good. This is what makes me a more competitive candidate. This is a job that I'm using to learn my skills, even if that skill is how to manage a difficult team or how to deal with a boss with a scattered thought pattern.
Speaker 1:There are so many ways you can be creative with your mind, to change your relationship with your work. Don't let the societal norm of overworking define your worth or your journey. You're not here to live your life of endless exhaustion. You're here to make an impact and you will find the balance that works for you. The biggest and the most profound outcome, when you're able to change your relationship with hard work, is that you're able to become an expert contributor in your field. You might already have a set of talents and skills that makes you unique, but with ongoing work on those set of skills is exactly what the world needs and that's what sets you apart from the masses.
Speaker 1:It's not enough that you have unique set of talents. You have to be exquisitely skillful in them To be able to produce a high value so that you can make a proportion and amount of money. Scale comes with repetition and you do the same thing over and over again Because you enjoy it, because it gives you depth and insight into the matter that other people, even in your same industry, might not have. Dedicating yourself to lifelong learning, to mastering your craft, to understanding the needs of those you serve. You will see that these are the qualities of everyone who thinks wealthy, and wealthy people are highly skilled at their craft. Whatever gets them in that highest tax bracket and what keeps them there is the use of their skill level. You can't deepen your skills if you hate your work or if you have an extraneous amount of mind drama around the hard work that you do. As you develop your skills and deepen your knowledge, you'll find that your craft is needed, and when you receive this positive feedback, you will start to love what you do even more and what seems like hard work to others will become easy for you.
Speaker 1:Remember, every expert was once a beginner. Every leader was once a learner. Your hard work, your dedication, your willingness to grow is what sets you apart. Embrace that with enthusiasm and confidence, because it's not about grind. It's never about the linear relationship of time equals money. It's about creating a nest egg that provides ongoing value to you and the world around you.
Speaker 1:A woman that creates a course on how to sell products on Amazon, if she's an expert enough to become a valuable resource in this industry, somebody who's highly sought after, who people pay money to because she shares with you all she's discovered through her own journey and hard work. That is the hard work that she's put in the front end. Now the course she's selling is the passive income. That is not easy income. That is not free money. If she has the highest level of skill set in that industry and she's willing to teach that to other people, she is selling gold. Of course people would buy it, but that overnight success came after years of hard work.
Speaker 1:To become an expert level contributor in any industry, you have to scale up to be an expert and you don't have to work hard like in the common sense of the word, like that's exploitative of your time, working after hours, sacrificing time with family and weekends and never taking vacation and not even going for a bathroom break but you have to do hard work. In a sense that's rejuvenating. That requires effort, energy of a good day's sweat, focus, time and commitment. The kind of work when you lay down on your pillow at the end of the day. You're exhausted but you also love it. You rest and you work hard because you know you changed your relationship with how hard you work. That will create passive income and streams of wealthy thinking.
Speaker 1:A woman that creates a course on how to find happiness after breast cancer survival. That woman found meaning in her life after going through immense trials and tribulations of her own journey. What makes her an expert at teaching other women how to thrive after surviving breast cancer? The hard work that she had to put in to create that passive income from the digital course is the pain of surviving the actual disease, of fighting that cancer and coming out the other side strong. If she's teaching how to build a support system, how to advocate for yourself as a patient, if she's teaching other women who are diagnosed with breast cancer how to find the right providers for them, this is extremely valuable information.
Speaker 1:How can anyone slap a label of easy passive income on this digital course when she paid for it with the most monumental price price of her own health? There is always effort and investment at the front end of passive income. She had to do the work, she had to pay the price one way or another. She paid it with her health and mental well-being and came out of it stronger and now she's able to teach that to other people. She might have paid a different price, but she paid it.
Speaker 1:I take a serious issue with people who popularize easy money. Easy is not the norm for this life, but hard work also does not have to break you. Hard work of writing a book, developing a mobile app, building a blog or YouTube channel All these aspiring creators dedicate months or even years of their life and their efforts before they start to see any fruit of their labor. They can see that fruit in terms of royalties, affiliate marketing or in terms of value to their customer. If you license an invention that brings you passive income, you put in effort in the beginning in creating that invention. There was time, resources and money spent in creating this product and technology. Then you went through acquiring the patent so that you can license the patent to companies and earn royalties.
Speaker 1:Passive income takes hard work. Becoming passionate about that hard work is the skill. Don't just count the hours. Make every hour count.
Speaker 1:You always have the power to change your life, not by how hard you work, but what you make that hard work mean about you, about your future, about how it's contributing to the foundation on which you're building your wealth. Insha'allah, the fruit of the labour will come to you. Let's shift your mindset of a relentless toil to one of meaningful effort. Hard work can be rejuvenating. It should challenge you, yes, but it can also excite you and bring you closer to your goals With the hard work that you do. If you are thinking wealthy, you will not work a day in your life and that does not happen by default. The default brain wants no pain, it wants to conserve energy at all cost and it only wants to seek pleasure. You would have to be actively involved in unlearning that pattern. You would have to actively learn to love your hard work. Changing this relationship with hard work will change your life completely.
Speaker 1:With that I pray to Allah swt. O Allah Al-Hakim, the wise, guide us in understanding the true essence of hard work. Help us to see that it is a journey towards meaningful achievements. Grant us the wisdom to work diligently and sustainably. O Allah, protect us from futile hard work, of second-guessing our circumstances. Make every situation work in our favour and make our mind work in our favour. Make our labour and effort work in our favour. On the Day of Judgment, o Allah, infuse our hearts with tranquility and our minds with clarity, and our bodies with the ability to work hard. O Allah, allow us to love the work we do on this earth. Ya Allah Ar-Razaq, the sustainer, I call your name to provide us with barakah in our hard work so that the return on the investment is exponential. Through your mercy, ameen Ya Rabbul Al-Ameen, please keep me in your door as I will talk to you guys next time.