There’s a single antidote to the 8 barriers to success

There’s a famous prayer that Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) used to repeat often, and one that he taught his companions:

اللَّهُمَّ إِنِّي أَعُوذُ بِكَ مِنْ الْهَمِّ وَالْحُزْنِ وَالْعَجْزِ وَالْكَسَلِ وَالْبُخْلِ وَالْجُبْنِ وَضَلَعِ الدَّيْنِ وَغَلَبَةِ الرِّجَالِ

It translates as “O Allah, I take refuge in You from anxiety and sorrow, weakness and laziness, miserliness and cowardice, the burden of debts and from being overpowered by men.”

I have always thought about these specific eight elements that the Prophet sought refuge from, and over time, I realized that these are the eight barriers to success. Let’s examine them here:

ANXIETY AND SORROW

Anxiety is worry about the future and sorrow is sadness over the past. How many times have we been stuck worrying about tomorrow and lamenting for the day before? How productive were those thoughts in helping us achieve success?

When you’re sad or anxious about something, you cannot be productive, as your mind is taken over by what’s bothering you. Your thoughts are not devoted to anything except how to get rid of your anxiety or sorrow. Whether these worries are big or small, the moment they take over your life, they blur your vision and don’t help you think clearly about how to move forward.

WEAKNESS AND LAZINESS

Weakness is when you cannot do something because you’re physically or mentally unable to do it, and laziness is when you do not want to do something because you don’t feel like it.

The two are usually inter-linked; most people who are lazy end up being weak. What started off as something they do not want to do soon becomes something they cannot do. Imagine that a person wants to write a book but keeps postponing it. Over time, their laziness will bury their dream completely, and they’ll tell themselves, “I cannot write a book”.

Compare this with the opposite, someone who is not lazy, who’s willing to strive hard and work hard, despite their challenges and weakness. They are almost guaranteed to succeed; we’ve all seen videos and stories of people with physical disabilities or illnesses achieving much greater success than many able-bodied, lazy individuals.

MISERLINESS AND COWARDICE

When you’re miserly and stingy with your money and wealth, you’re essentially saying that you’re a coward and cannot trust yourself to earn enough in the future. You’re not willing to take risks or try something new because you’re scared of the unknown.

Here’s what we know about success: achieving it in life is all about courage, taking risks and spending in the way of achieving your goals. No one achieves success by not taking risks.

BURDEN OF DEBT AND BEING OVERPOWERED BY MEN

There’s nothing more crushing than the burden of debt. And sometimes, in our hurry to achieve our goals faster, we spend beyond our means, expecting more significant results. However, with one wrong investment or expenditure, we can find ourselves deep in debt. 

This is a powerful contrast and balance to the miserliness we talked about before. It’s almost as if the Prophet Muhammad is telling us to take calculated risks: Don’t be so miserly that you don’t spend anything, but don’t go so overboard with your expenditure that you end up in debt.

Moreover, debt can lead you to being overpowered by men: your creditors could take hold of your personal property, or you could serve jail time for not paying off your debts.

This is a powerful supplication and a reminder of the eight barriers to our journey towards success. If you want to achieve any goals in life, watch out for these eight, and remember that prayer!

Mohammed Faris is an international coach, author, and speaker who helps executives, professionals, and entrepreneurs rebalance their lives spiritually, physically and socially to achieve peak performance and live meaningful lives. He’s the founder of ProductiveMuslim.com and author of The Productive Muslim: Where Faith Meets Productivity.

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