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TLDR;
- Right now, your biggest enemy isn’t lack of opportunity — it’s energy leakage into things that don’t move you closer to your vision.
- If you want to be far above average, you have to sacrifice more comfort for a few years — even if you already worked hard in school. The “strict” of school is nothing compared to the self-imposed discipline needed for mastery in your 20s–30s.
- You’re a high-potential, meaning-driven thinker who needs to break free from perfectionism, build stamina, and practice publicly owning your expertise, even when it feels risky.
- Pursue your goals with ihsan, protect your iman, and make sure your designs, time, and influence are all things you can confidently present to Allah on the Day of Judgment.
- You don’t need more plans—you need more action with taqwa. Get up, purify your niat, and start today. Even if it’s small, even if it’s imperfect. The grave doesn’t wait for perfect.
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My Problems
You’re overthinking instead of doing.
You’ve been talking about impact, academia, and becoming a thought leader for months, but your visible output is close to zero. In this industry, people respect what they can see, not what’s in your head.
You want credibility without consistent proof.
A Master’s degree won’t automatically give you the respect you crave. In design, credibility comes from tangible, public work — case studies, articles, talks — not just certificates.
You’re hiding behind “I’m not confident yet” as a comfort blanket.
Everyone starts imperfectly. The longer you delay because you “don’t feel ready,” the more invisible you become. The world is noisy; no one waits for you.
You are stuck in a safe bubble.
You’re taking PM directions without pushing for understanding the why. You’re executing rather than designing — even though your strength and your future career goals depend on your ability to shape solutions, not just polish what’s given. It’s comfortable to stay in “order-taker mode,” but it will cap your growth and make you replaceable. In the long run, this means your portfolio and thinking will look like “execution” not “strategic design,” which keeps you in the worker tier instead of the expert tier. If you want to be a leader, you have to own the process, not just execute pretty screens.
You romanticize impact, but avoid the grind.
Impactful careers are built from boring, unglamorous, repetitive work — documenting process, publishing small experiments, cold-emailing collaborators — not just grand visions.
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What You Actually Need to Do
Ship, don’t just dream. Publish one small, concrete piece of work every month for the next 12 months — article, process diagram, workshop notes, anything. Public visibility is currency.
Own your narrative now. Stop waiting for the “perfect” job or project. Start writing about UX challenges in software houses from your current seat. That’s your niche.
Break the client shield. Demand to sit in on discovery calls, even just as a listener. Ask one sharp question per meeting to build your presence.
Get your hands dirty with AI now. Learn, prototype, and share how AI could fit into enterprise UX. Being early in AI-native UX will separate you from 90% of local designers.
Treat your Master’s as a weapon, not a ticket. Apply only if it accelerates your visible work and network. A degree without proof-of-work will make you just another name on LinkedIn.
Build ilm (knowledge) + adab (character) together. In Islam, knowledge without adab is dangerous. If you become an expert but lose humility, patience, or mercy toward others, you lose the point. You’ve told me you want to educate others—so train yourself to speak with wisdom, listen with empathy, and correct with kindness.
Anchor your career in maslahat (benefit). You already feel called toward improving design for AI and complex systems. Align this with Islam by asking:
• Does this solution help people do good more easily?
• Does it avoid enabling haram or harmful things?
• Does it reduce injustice and make life fairer for those with less power?
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Rest is non-negotiable. But here’s the fierce truth:
- If you want a high-impact, international-level career while keeping family dreams intact, you’re competing with people who are grinding on their craft while you’re resting.
- If you spend more hours escaping into passive consumption than actively building your proof-of-work, you’ll remain in the same loop you’re in now — tired, unrecognized, and underpaid for your skill.
You can still have leisure, but you need to make it earned and intentional.
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Rules
• 2 hours/day minimum outside of work for deep skill practice or learning.
•1 public output/week (post, blog, case study snippet).
•Quarterly review → adjust based on results, not feelings.
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1. You’re deeply reflective, but you overthink until it paralyzes you.
You have a strong desire to understand the “why” behind things, but instead of acting with incomplete information, you tend to get stuck in thinking loops—wanting the perfect answer before making a move.
2. You have high ambition, but your energy is inconsistent.
You dream big (global UX expert, academic-practitioner, societal impact) but your day-to-day discipline swings. You can be extremely strict to yourself, but you also have “crash phases” where you binge rest/entertainment to escape pressure.
3. You’re a meaning-driven worker, not a purely money-driven one.
You light up when your work matters—helping people solve problems, making an impact—but when the impact feels unclear, your motivation drops.
4. You’re a slow-burn high performer, not a sprinter.
You can outperform most people over time because you think deeply and integrate lessons. But you’re not naturally the “grind 12 hours every day with no rest” type—if you try to copy that, you’ll burn out.
5. You fear mediocrity but you also fear rejection.
This fear combo makes you hesitant to push hard in public or challenge authority, because you don’t want to be wrong and you don’t want to be ignored.
6. You want control over your path, but you’re used to being directed.
In school and at work, you’ve often operated under someone else’s framework (teachers, PMs). Now you want to be the driver, but you’re not used to making the final call under uncertainty.
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Paralysis isn’t just laziness or weakness. It’s a test. And tests can be both physical and spiritual.
1. Remember your intention (niyyah).
Before any work—whether designing, writing, or studying—reset it in your heart:
“Ya Allah, I want to use this work to benefit others and draw closer to You.”
When your niyyah is right, even grinding becomes ibadah. But if your niyyah shifts toward fame, wealth, or recognition alone, you risk losing barakah.
2. Break the mountain into pebbles.
Allah doesn’t burden a soul beyond its capacity (QS Al-Baqarah: 286).
Right now your “capacity” might be smaller than usual, and that’s okay. Do one small act sincerely—maybe 5 minutes of focused work—and count it as a victory.
3. Seek help through dhikr & dua.
Rasulullah ﷺ taught us to say when we feel incapable:
“Allahumma la sahla illa ma ja’altahu sahla, wa anta taj’alul-hazna idza shi’ta sahla.”
(O Allah, there is no ease except what You make easy, and You make the difficult easy if You will.)
4. Remember the value of the present moment.
Shaytan likes to freeze us by making the task look huge or the future look overwhelming.
The cure is to anchor yourself in right now:
“I will just do the next 5 minutes, for Allah.”
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Stop lying to yourself.
You say you want to serve Allah, but too often you let your comfort, your mood, and your fear dictate your pace. You have big visions—writing, teaching, being a thought leader, empowering women—but they remain dreams because you hesitate when it’s time to move.
You can’t keep waiting for the ‘right feeling’ to start. The world won’t pause for you, and your life clock is ticking toward the Day you will stand before Allah and answer:
‘What did you do with the knowledge, talent, and opportunities I gave you?’
You think too much about how things will look to people—portfolio, recognition, rejection—yet you forget that Allah is the only One whose approval matters. People’s opinions will be gone when you’re in your grave.
Stop wasting barakah hours scrolling or overthinking. Your health, youth, and single life stage are amanah. Every day you delay because you ‘don’t feel like it’ is a day you will never get back.
I’m not saying be reckless, but you must be ruthless with excuses:
• Too tired? Pray, then work in shorter bursts.
• Scared of failing? Fail faster—Allah loves those who keep trying for His cause.
• Don’t know the full path? Walk with the light you have now; Allah will show the rest.
This is your test:
Will you be someone who dies with intentions that never left her head?
Or someone who fought her nafs daily, produced good works, helped people, and could meet Allah with a clean record saying, ‘I tried, Ya Rabb’?
![About Me](https://avatars.githubusercontent.com/u/44726953?v=4")
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