How to Find Consistency in Life and Serving Allah (swt)
Salam,
I remember a few years ago I heard a presidential debate and one president said to the other “The only thing consistent about you is your inconsistency”. Clever. Putting politics or politricks aside, this quote had meaning to me in other parts of life. 
Especially as Muslims, we’re supposed to be extra conscious of our time as Surah Al Asr (the time) highlights and while it’s a reality our eman increases and decreases, it should always be our goal to aim high like the heavens and carry this mindset through life, not just isolating Ramadan and forgetting about it the rest of the year. I’m not saying everyone does that, but those of us that may be influenced by this approach need a reminder insh’Allah (including myself first)
This is a gateway into my article about how we can find consistency in serving Allah (swt). There is no better set of words that capture this theme. Our beloved Prophet Muhammad said in a hadith:
“The most beloved of deeds to Allah are the most consistent of them, even if they are few”
(Al-Bukhari no. 6464 and Muslim no. 2818).
So how do you find consistency? It all starts with self reflection and creating habits. Many studies have shown that it takes 18+ days to create a habit depending on the individual.
Self evaluation is the only way you’ll be able to improve as a Muslim. Ask yourself what small deed can I start with everyday that can be easily be done throughout the rest of the year, it can be something simple as spreading salaams and a smile to making dua for humanity at every salat. See there are Muslims who wake up and pray the voluntary prayer in the last third of the night just before fajr. They didn’t get there suddenly, they set their standard high and slowly but surely worked their way towards that. This puts them on a whole another level, in retrospect many of us are still finding our way to pray our 5 daily prayers on time.
It’s important we don’t become slackers and don’t burn ourselves out. At the end of the day, we’re still humans.
Cutting down on sin in your life is a key in finding consistency. You can’t expect to be a better Muslim if you keep regressing. Imagine a race to Jannah and the finish line is in your sight, but every-time you are close you sin and run back. We wouldn’t want that would we?
So how can you find consistency? I made a list of 5 quick tips:
- Figuring out your purpose in life. It’s to serve Allah!
- Getting your priorities straight, that’s a self assessment you must consistently do. Ask yourself where is Allah on your list of priorities?
- There are many productivity apps/tools available where you can track your daily activities.
- Think about your daily lifestyle or habits, make time in the day even if it’s for 5 minutes to do a good deed. Starting with your home then spreading to the community.
- Figure out what your good at, alhumdulilah we all have talents. Once you figure out your key strengths, ask yourself, how can you help others who are suffering? Remember it’s not always about money. You can donate your time, skills, however you think you can help. Just help.
May Allah (swt) allow us to be consistent with his deen and give us the strength, consciousness to be better Muslims as life goes on. Ameen.