Hate Mondays? Align Your Work with Your Purpose
Do you live for the weekends?
Do you get the dreaded Sunday night blues?
Much of this is often how you feel about the work you do.
Does your work drain you? Or does it energise you?
Well, here’s some food for thought…
“…to most people in the West, their everyday life is a heavy load from which only Sundays can release them. Sunday is no longer a day of rest but has become an escape into the unreal, a deceptive forgetfulness behind which, doubly heavy and threatening, the “weekday” lurks.
To the Arabs (Muslims), on the other hand, Friday did not seem to be an opportunity to forget their workdays. Not that the fruits of life fell easily and without effort into the laps of these people, but simply because their labours, even the heaviest, did not seem to conflict with their personal desires. Routine, for the sake of routine, was absent; instead, there was an inner contact between a working man and his work: and so respite became necessary only if one got tired. Such a consonance between man and his work must have been envisaged by Islam as the natural state of affairs and, therefore, no obligatory rest had been prescribed for Friday.” — Muhammad Asad, The Road to Mecca
I absolutely love this quote as it encapsulates the way things are ‘supposed’ to be when you’re truly living by your purpose.
The author, Muhammad Asad (born Leopold Weiss), was an Austro-Hungarian-born Jew but later ended up converting to Islam. His autobiography, the bestselling book “Road to Mecca” documented his travels and launched him to prominence.
What Asad is saying about his observations is that in the West, Sunday is the day of ‘escape’ — not just rest — but the day that saves people from the dreaded working week. That is because in most cases, they hate their jobs and only do them to make a living.
Whereas he noticed that in the Muslim lands, people were so energised with their work and found it fulfilling, so did not need to rest, and they only did so when tired. And then he noticed within the Islamic tradition, Friday is not even specifically considered a ‘day of rest.’
What this meant, was that he realised Islam recognises the kind of work Muslims must busy themselves with is work that fulfils a higher purpose — and that this is the ‘natural order’ or how things should be.
This, my friends, is the power of fitrah. When you’re on your fitrah, work and purpose are aligned. You’re great at what you do, you love it and it energises you in every way. It satiates the soul, it gives you growth, it fulfils you fully.
As Muslims, we should not view the aspects of this life in a dichotomy… therefore every action that we do should be in unity with our purpose.
As Rumi famously said:
“Let the beauty of what you love, be what you do.”
I honestly couldn’t agree more.
Is aligning your purpose and work something you need help with?
If so, check out the free training and book a call with myself or my team and we’d love to assist in any way we can.