The #1 Reason Entrepreneurs Fail: The Clarity Trap

Bismillah. Assalamu alaykum. Welcome to the Baraka Blueprint podcast. This is the podcast for you who wants to excel in their life. Who wants to excel in their efficiency, who wants to learn how to project manage their life while remaining balanced in their spirituality and their faith. This is the podcast for you who wants to become the best possible Muslim. meaning that you are the most efficient, the most productive while remaining true to your connection to Allah subhana wa ta'ala. My name is Ibrahim Sharif and today's episode is about the framework on how to project manage your life. I'm going to talk about the trap of requiring clarity. I'm going to talk about the importance of movement and momentum and I'm going to talk about the importance of accountability. This is the framework of the podcast. I have met so many Muslims from my friend circle and even aspiring entrepreneurs that feel like they need to have full clarity of what they're trying to build their brand, their company, their product, whatever it could be. And that somehow doesn't lead them to movement. they they are stuck for whatever reason. I find that highly problematic because I feel like people think that they need to have that clarity before they start. That's actually not the case. And this is something that I have tested myself in the companies that I have built and even in the brands that I have built, including this one, the Baraka Blueprint podcast. When I thought that I needed clarity and I kept insisting that my idea is not perfect, we fall into this perfection trap. Meaning many of your projects will die before they come to actual fruition. What we learn is we actually need to start doing before we achieve that full clarity. And spoiler I would even say you don't even achieve full clarity. For example, a recurring theme that we find in books like Atomic Habits or The War of Art by Steven Presfield is the importance of learning or the sorry the importance of movement and movement creates that product. meaning movement and the habits that you're setting and the continuity and consistency will set the frameworks for what you're trying to build. Because what happens is that you're starting first so that you get the ball rolling and as you are doing that only then you will be able to see certain things and areas of improvement that you wouldn't see when you're stuck on that creating the idea or drafting the idea mode. A parallel that I want to draw is the importance of movement in our faith as Muslims. For example, we are taught that when you take a step towards Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, he takes multiple steps towards you in the metaphorical sense. Meaning that movement creates divine movement in the form of you get the baraka, you get the blessings. Of course while remaining grounded in understanding that nothing is possible without the power of Allahhana it is only Allahh that allows the and the success the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam raised a nation of doers raised a nation of efficient Muslims men and women and this is the blueprint that we should stick to which is why it saddens me that most people finish before they even start. As in most people give up before they even start, which basically means that they don't finish. They never reach the finish line. And I think people confuse full clarity or that full clarity they think they need to or to see the full picture of the product or the brand or the company or the idea that that they're trying to build and they're conflating that with definition of done. What do I mean by this? Definition of done is something that is specifically related to well project management. Speaking as a project manager I mean definition of done is something that is related to tasks and activities and milestones not the holistic image of the project. So what you should be doing is you should be creating tasks. You should be setting up even a highlevel project plan something with a few activities and a few milestones and basically you focus on what truly matters. You start there and from there you can create different tasks. Like for example, the book essentialism covers it very very splendidly about the importance of focusing on what truly matters because being stuck on further elaborating on your idea without even moving and without even starting and without even completing necessary activities. It's just noise. Which again takes me to the book Deep Work by Cal Newport. The importance of removing that noise. Everything else around you that distracts you from the movement towards your goal. Again, emphasis on movement. It's noise. And this needs to be it needs to be it needs to be eliminated. I think also if we're going to tie this to or tie this with an Islamic bow. Many people confuse the idea of or they don't I I feel humbly speaking I don't feel that people fully comprehend or understand the concept ofan meaning is excellence but excellence doesn't necessarily mean that it needs to be fully thought out the idea that you're working on or the product that you're building whatever whatever it is, insert whatever you're working with. It doesn't necessarily mean that you sit and you're stuck on brainstorming mode as we call it. It's about actually moving, actually doing and excelling and perfecting as you are going. Meaning you need to be brave enough to take that step. Like for example, what does the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam say about when he was asked in the hadith found in the second hadith in the 40 noi collection narrated by or the prophet sallallaihi wasallam when he was asked by about he replied you worship God as though you're as though you see him for even though you don't see him verily he sees You again, you you perform the act of worship. You're doing you're not like the people that sit and say, "Oh, I'm not good enough to start praying." No, you start praying. You have no choice. It's a non-negotiable. You start praying. You start with the iada. And along the way, you're going to learn because if you don't start praying, you're not going to realize that, hey, I'm reciting my fat or My sjud needs to be correct in that way as in I don't hold my hands a certain way. I need to prostate prostrate accordingly. Accordingly. Goodness, I'm losing my English. Um what I mean by that is you won't have insight on what you are trying to achieve unless you actually move towards that achievement. The importance of movement is very very strong and very very important. This is something that I even tried to apply to myself to the Baraka blueprint. Compare the first video, compare the first content and how it was to now. And inshallah, a year down the line and a year from now, I'm going to look back at this episode and say the exact same thing. We're always on a path of improvement. Or even look at my engagement rate in my videos. I'm going to look forward inshallah tala or further in the future. I'm going to look at this and say, "Hey, there was an improvement." Alhamdulillah. But I need to start moving and I need to continue moving. I can't stop. So in order for that to be possible, we talked about again the the trap of supposed clarity or pseudo clarity, the importance of movement. And now let's tie this into accountability. For example, take take the example of the book measure what matters. uh we learn about the importance of setting up OKRs and KPIs and different metrics of measurement measure and see our progress. So once you've started moving, once you're moving towards your goal, this is where muhass and accountability comes in. Once you're doing that, this is where you're refining your accountability system. For example, I had a very interesting conversation with with a good friend of mine, a brother that Allahbar also an entrepreneur and a personal trainer and coach and I was telling him about an upcoming pro uh project and product that I'm building and I told him I was complaining about how I was stuck with my notions. set up and by setting up my systems and everything. And then he just asked me the question point blank and he says, "Ibraim, did you start building the product actually?" And the more he asked the why and did the root cause analysis and the more questions I was asked people honestly I I couldn't help but say, "Well, no, technically speaking, I haven't started building it. I've only been planning it. And then he just tells me, well, there you go. You need to you need to start with your product. Then the systems are going to come because you're going to understand, okay, what do I need to measure? Uh, this is where I measure my qualified leads. Okay, perfect. This is how I'm going to measure them. This is where I track my um task progress. I haven't even technically set up any tasks for this project. So, I guess I need to be the first recipient of this advice that I'm giving. That being said, I think this is the way and this is the framework that needs to be implemented in order for ideas to actually succeed. So again the importance of just okay planning is important definitely but this is not where perfectionism comes in perfectionism shouldn't or even some people even call it I call it pseudo perfectionism even but the the the idea of perfecting is not something that you should be stuck with in one instance and then you would say okay well now everything is going to be simple because I have perfected the idea now I have the perfected tasks and the perfected list and the perfected activities and then the road map is perfect and then I just need to follow it. This is what many people think. It's actually not the case. Perfectionism again. You know what? Let's leave the topic. Let's leave the perfectionism. Let's call it what it is. Excellence. Because we want excellence. As Muslims, we should strive for excellence. So excellence is a mindset. Excellence is something that you need to have with you wherever you go. Meaning you have the intention, you have the nia, you have the goal that you set up for yourself. Sure, maybe it's not clear exactly how you're going to get there, but the most important thing is to figure out step one. Once you have that, you start working on it. You take that first step because the goal is and this is also what you can find in the book the seven habits of highly effective people. I even misqued the title I think. Um you start with the end in mind meaning the goal. You start with your goal. You understand what goal you are trying to achieve. Plan it to the extent that you have step one, perhaps even step two. And then you start working. You start moving. With that momentum and with your consistency, you're going to refine your path. So this podcast and this podcast episode is dedicated specifically to you who feel stuck. me and whoever feels affected by this or feels you know can relate to this. We also learn in the end of the final verse the end is meeting Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala in a good state in an everlasting paradise. May Allah grant each and every one of us that goal and that end. And whoever wants that they need to do righteous actions. Do you do my friend? Movement is important. Continuous movement is important and only that nothing else only that will help you reach your goal. However much you try to plan and with that comes the accountability of course with that you can set up your systems and you can work on improving your path improving your method. So my dear listener, if there's one thing you can take with you from this episode, inshallah is I hope that if you feel stuck because of your pseudo perfectionism and planning, leave it start and ask Allah subhana wa tala to give you to give you success in your endeavors, in your affairs and in your goals Before I end this episode, I want to tell you about something that is truly truly important and personal, which is and tying it to the topic of this episode, the Baraka blueprint started as something and is now something completely different and will inshallah continue to develop and will be completely different from now. It started off as a podcast where I honestly believe that the majority of the content would purely be reminders again with the focus on balancing faith and focus to create the optimal Muslim with the Quratic blueprint and the prophetic blueprint in mind. Now, Subhan Allah, it's a community. It's a movement. It's an organization. It's developing. Subhan Allah. It's developing and helping Muslims, especially in the West, in many different ways. With that, I have alhamdulillah been able to create a 5day blueprint. It's an email education course that I'm giving out to people free of charge. where I give you these steps and the content that I'm spreading in these long videos be with myself or with my guests but in a more digestible format in a written format so it is more actionable. This you can find in a link that you will find in the show notes and in the description. Startyouhra.com because many people ask me about the how. Many Muslims are interested in the and I need to check the recording first of all. Yes, it is working. Perfect. There we go. Now I'm back. Many Muslims ask me in the west in Sweden in particular but also in other countries in the west. They ask me about the how they they are super passionate and interested about taking these steps to do hijra. And many people find it difficult because well they're stuck on a dead end job or they really have no idea how to build the framework that is required for the hijra to happen because hijra is difficult people. It's not a one-step solution. I am very sorry to say that it will require work on your end. So, I believe that the 5-day blueprint is a good first step for most people to take and that is why I decided to give it away free of charge. Again, the link is startyouhra.com. I've also decided to create a community I show people the steps I take to develop my framework as it is right now. The process to start my company and to now it is started. Alhamdulillah. the process to grow my company, the process to acquire clients, the process to developing the Baka blueprint and developing the personal brand because I believe many people can do this but they're afraid to take the first step. So I created this community that is growing alohabak again a school community that is free of charge for now and if you're interested you can enter my school community hijra hackers in the link in the show notes. So that being said thank you very much for tuning in to the Baraka Blueprint podcast. If you like what you see, make sure to leave this video a like if you're on YouTube and subscribe to the channel if you want to see more of this and share it with people so that more people can take benefit from the wisdoms that we're sharing in the baraka blueprint podcast and so that you my dear listener can get part of the reward in for those of you on Spotify or Apple Podcasts or any of the other podcasting applications I used to like Overcast for some time. Make sure to leave this podcast a review so that I know what I am doing that is beneficial or what I can do to improve the delivery of this crucial message. That being said, my dear listener, remember your mission. Remember where this mission is going to take you and remember that the end goal is to reach Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala with purity and that nothing is possible without the will of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala but you need to take action and you need to start moving and hopefully in baraka style. So that being said,