Every night before I go to sleep, I lay down on my bed looking up to the ceiling or to the sky through my window… I lay down thinking about my day… How did it pass? Have I used it right? Have I accomplished anything?
Almost all the time, I imagine my funeral… I imagine that day when my life ends… How will it look like? Will there be a lot of people or just few? I imagine the moment I enter the grave… I picture myself standing at a distance looking at the whole scene.
I keep wondering… when people go and the grave judgment starts, will I find something to reply on the question of "عمره فيما أفناه و شبابه فيما أبلاه" … and a year after, will I be remembered by good or bad? Will people remember me in the 1st place?
A lot of thinking happens in such moments….
Last time, I asked you to think about a critical question… WHY LWT? Why all that? Why do I bother myself thinking about this? And I promised to answer you in here…
Well, Please close your eyes for a moment and try to imagine the day of your funeral… try to imagine it with every single detail… imagine the whole scene… The place, the people, the sounds… imagine what they would be saying and acting… take all the time you need…
Imagine how it will be when you unleash that inner leader inside you… imagine how it will be if you just trusted that potentials you have and used them…
Now, imagine the opposite! The COMPLETE opposite…
Open your eyes :)
How did you feel in both situations? Hugely different feeling, right?
Well, my friend, that difference is exactly the reason behind LWT… is the reason behind why we should take a moment and think about our vision, our mission and our goals… take a moment to think about what legacy each one of us wants to leave…
I recall now the view of the president Abdel Nasser funeral… every single person in Egypt was out there in the street… and believe it or not, in my mind, I compare it with mine!
Every time I do this, I realize that there is still a lot to do… Actually, way more! I’m not done yet! And my feeling of responsibility just multiplies by infinity!
A nice thing in the “Leader who had no title” book was written about that and I want to share it with you in here… It’s called “the 10 human regrets” and“the 10 human victories”… Simply to show WHY LWT!
The 10 Human Regrets:
1) You reach your last day with the brilliant song that your life was meant to sing still silent within you.
2) You reach your last day without ever having experienced the natural power that helps you to do great work and achieve great things.
3) You reach your last day realizing that you NEVER inspired anyone else by the example you set.
4) You reach your last day full of pain of realization that you never took any bold risks and so never received any bright rewards.
5) You reach your last day understanding that you missed the opportunity to catch mastery because you bought into the lie that you have to be resigned to mediocrity.
6) You reach your last day and feel heartbroken that you never learned the skill of transforming adversity into victory and lead into gold.
7) You reach your last day with the awareness that you ended up living the life that society trained you to want versus leading the life you truly wanted to have.
8) You reach your last day regretting that you forgot that work is being radically helpful to others rather than being helpful only to yourself
9) You reach your last day and awaken to the fact that you never realized your absolute best nor touched the special genius that you were built to become.
10) You reach your last day and discover that you could have been a leader and left this world so much better than you found it. But you refused to accept that mission because you were just too scared. And so you failed and wasted a life.
Guys, before I complete, take a look at those 10 points again… Would you really want your life to end up this way?!
I believe that Leadership isn’t just a skill to learn… Leadership is way deeper…. It’s a LIFE STYLE… That’s how I truly see it… because simply by using and infusing it into everything you do and each thing you touch, you can live remarkably… and there are rewards you are guaranteed to get if you embrace the LWT philosophy… They are the 10 Human Victories… Here they are
1) You reach your end full of happiness and fulfillment on realizing that you are all used up having spent the fullness of your talents, the biggest of your resources and best of your potential doing great work and a rare-air life.
2) You reach your end knowing that you played at a standard of concentrated excellence and held yourself to the most impeccable excellence of standards in each thing that you did.
3) You reach your end in noisy celebration for having the boldness of spirit to have reguraly confronted your largest fears and realized your highest visions.
4) You reach your end and recognize that you became a person who built people up versus one who tore people down.
5) You reach your end with understanding that while your journey may have not always been a smooth one; whenever you got knocked down you instantly go back up. And at all times, never suffered from any loss of optimism.
6) You reach your end ad bask in the staggering glory of your phenomenal achievements along with the reach value you have contributed to the lives of people you were lucky to serve.
7) You reach your end and adore the strong, ethical, inspirational and empathic person you grew into.
8) You reach your end and realize that you were a genuine innovator who blazed new trails instead of following old roads.
9) You reach your end surrounded with teammates who call you a rock star, customers who say you are a hero and loved ones who call you a legend.
10) You reach your end as a true Leader without a Title, knowing that the great deeds you did will endure long after your death and that your life stands as a model of possibility.
It’s up to YOU, now! It’s Your Choice!
Your choice to whether get those “Regrets” or “Victories”!
A question may pop out in your mind after all that… Does that mean that positions within an organization are useless? That’s a good one actually...
And my answer is, NO… Of course, they are essential.
Within any organization, you need people setting the vision, steering the boat and taking responsibility for the results. Titles and positions maintain order and keep everything running smoothly.
I’ll tell you something my dad used to tell me…
First, let me introduce him :)
My dad is a civil engineer and a university professor. He had his PHD from England. He stayed there for 8 years… 6 for the PHD and worked 2 years as research associate. In his life, he has been through a lot… and actually, he’s one of the people I enjoy talking to most and I learn a lot from our conversations.
We were talking once about what’s the difference between us and the foreign people out there... Believe it or not, but he gave me ONLY ONE reason why they are superior
That reason is… ORGANIZATION AND RESPECTING THE SYSTEM.
Those people are very organized! Once they have a system, they follow and respect it!
Don’t let that bring you down... because we have a huge superior point which is our ISLAM… Our faith in ALLAH subhanaho wa ta’ala.
If we really understood and practiced our Islam, we’ll be on the TOP OF THE WORLD… These aren't my words... These are ALLAH’s and our prophet Mohamed’s words :)
Dad invented a funny theory but extremely effective… it’s simple but yet hits the point… it’s called “The Theory of Roqaq and Salad” (نظرية الرقاق و السلطة)
Do you know the difference between “Roqaq” and “Salad”?
Simply, Salad is a mix of everything. If you want to get a piece of carrot out of it, you take a longtime… In opposite of Roqaq, it consists of layers… everything is clear and obvious and easy to access…
So, is your mind “Roqaq” or “Salad”? Is your life “Roqaq” or “Salad”?
My dad gave me an answer to that too :D
He said, if you want to know, go and open your closet! He laughed and said"اعرف شخصيتك من دولاب هدومك" :)
And that’s simply what positions within a business do! They keep it structured.
At the end, it’s true that titles bring power but the problem is with the TYPE of Power it brings! It’s that if the title is taken away, the POWER IS LOST.
But you have the power in its most REAL form inside of you waiting for you to activate it… waiting to be awakened… The power that NEVER can be taken away because it depends on NOTHING but you… it’s LWT POWER :)
Just Remember that Success is made by CHOICE not LUCK…
Success is created through conscious choices. Luck is nothing more than unexpected result for intelligent choices. When you choose to do something good and right, ALLAH facilitates everything on this earth to help you.
Anyone can be successful IF ONLY CHOOSE TO…
It’s all in your hands!
If you choose LWT, then Welcome my friend to the world of success :) The world you really deserve!
I’ll ask you to make a small exercise…
Imagine your 80th birthday party. Your children invited everyone you know and asked each one to say a word about you. What would you like your family, friends, teammates and any person who knows you to say?
Write it down.
That will help you simply to make your choice :)
LWT philosophy has 4 cores that will provide the HOW :) They are acronym and every letter means something that we will discuss insha’ALLAH
They are:
- IMAGE
- SPARK
- HUMAN
- SHINE
So get ready, because the heart of the journey is about to begin :)
