What Makes You Do What You Do

         What Makes You Do What You Do

Never have I dealt with anything more difficult than my own soul, which sometimes helps me and sometimes opposes me.

                                                                                                                                      Imam Al-Ghazali

1.   How does the title sound like? Simple, or mysterious, or really enthralling, taking you through a fascinating exercise of self-discovery. Or taking you through the intricacies of psychology of exhibited behavior. There are two parts of the following individual workshop on self-discovery-cum-self-improvement. An effort has been made to reduce the number of words and instead increase diagrammatic, pictorial and picturesque explanation.

a.           Part one, deals with what makes you do, judging all by yourself through a hands-on help. A brief explanation of a type of decision-making (DM) prime mover is given. So be sure about the type and category of the DM. Do you fall in this category; fully, no not at all or partially? This step is followed by ‘Yes, No’ and an estimate by ‘percentage (%)’; to help you award yourself. Next is the box, where you award yourself, Y or N or xx%. Life is not in shades of black and white, and it is neither fixed for good. That is the source of hope that men of prudence will ponder, amend and change. I do plan to run it as a workshop, as and when I get a chance to. May I mention for our new readers, that the author of this contribution is Chairperson and Head of Department of Management Sciences at HITEC University, Taxila. He is also a regular trainer and guest speaker at NIM Islamabad and Quetta. He has run training for the officers of NAB; and for the development of faculty at COMSATS, and HITEC University.

b.            Part two and the last part, deals with how much the values set by leaders of mankind govern your DM and affect what you do. We will examine how much those values act as a reference line. He sent His prophets to teach us, what should be the basis of DM, and what would be the ideal way to act. Like previous part you will award yourself out of Y, N, and if none of these then a measured %. It will show the degree to which these values are deciding and motivating force in the DM.    

2.    Part One: Seven Situations. First six type-examples can be grouped under one sub-category while the last one forms another. It is not an exclusive list, however majority of decisions and major part of your life would be covered in these.

a.    ‘I do as the majority is doing. After all, all can not be crazy; there must be some extra-ordinary incentive ahead’.   

b.    ‘I hate to follow the crowd. I am not like them; I am not a commoner or among the street people. I follow the elite, or fly my way’.

d.    ‘No, way over my dead body. I will see how he/she/they:

                                                 i.      Get this marriage proposal through, or

                                                ii.      Buy this piece of land, which is our ancestral land, in fact; or

                                               iii.      Build a house next to mine. I will buy this plot whatever be the cost. How could I allow the killers of my father and brother to be my next door neighbor?’

e.    ‘I have great ideas. Usually I have superior and novel ideas, but do wait till some one or at least a few chosen show inclination and take a start. My spearheads are no less than two-star generals, and or out of celebrities, or my seniors; family big-wigs or at least party (political) or community leaders.’

f.     ‘How come these (two) are ahead of me? I will beat them any time; I have been winner all along, and second to none. Whatever it takes me to win the race…to richness, getting gold medal, to become chief, leader of the house, or… winning an auction. I have always made my critics to lick. Nothing succeeds like success. This world bows to winners and winner only. Discussion of right and wrong and rules is all bookish, Unhh!’

g.   How do I decide what is success, or what was being successful? Here are three situations.

(1)     I got commissioned in the Army in 1968. I was a young captain when war broke out with India. I was at Comilla; escaped through Burma and reached West Pakistan, without being taken as a POW. War ended in one of the biggest military defeat. Fifty thousand laid their arms, and East Wing of the Country was lost. I got ‘A grades in all my courses, kept moving from good to better postings and topped it with better to best ACRs, later OER. War course qualified, I could have made two-star general easily, but for one three star in my Promotion Board.

(2)     After retirement from Army I became the CEO of a production unit, in one of the Army-founded business houses. The factory was already down the hill, three and a half years later; about a year before the end of my tenure it was sold out half its real value. My rank had made me chief executive of a business unit, so I kept it first and foremost. My pay and monetary perks increased every year and on a growing scale. My last pay was almost double as compared to the one I had started with. My car also grew from 1200 to 1800 CC.

(3)     God gave me a son and a daughter. Daughter led and joined Foreign Service after her CSS. I had to pursue her to get married to a leading Pakistani-Australian businessman; son of a three-star general, and my course-mate. She is now an Australian citizen. Son became doctor through Army Medical College. Later he went for his specialization to UK. He is now a medical specialist at Heart Hospital, Harefield, London. He will be a British national, shortly.

3.    Part 2: Their Way. This is the part, where universal and eternal values shaped and formed the ideal lane for conduct and exhibited behavior. These were the ways (sunnah) of His chosen men. They persistently came down to each and every people for good eight to nine centuries (10:47 Quran)[i]. They performed the role of a role model. Allowing us to choose out of the preferred way and the cursed way. God Almighty left it to us to pick either of the two. He was patient to see how His vice-regent behaves and exhibits. For His prophets, had since warned of bad ending and foretold of happy tidings. And last of His scripture was available to all, in its pure and original form (15:9). And Creator had made this life a test (67:2 & 76:2) to try us.

4.    One could turn around and say, why and how could we act and behave like His chosen people. They were prophets; we are not.  I respect your opinion and leave His books (2:213, 3:84-85 & 16:124) for you to decide for yourself (2:113). When He leaves the matter of judgment to the Day of Judgment, why should we be the managers of mankind. Even the prophets were to convey His message, clearly and vividly; only. He (himself) was the evaluator and the judge (2:210), to reward and award. Our job was to strive to our best (6:135). Here are just a few examples out of the conduct of the prophets of Islam. Let us see how much the sunnah (ways of prophets) has helped you do what you do?

5.    Conclusion. An article cannot fully replace an interactive workshop. As a reader you will have to go through this workshop all by yourself. I hope the crux and essence of the exercise on what makes you do what you decide and evaluate your success has come to a successful end. It  should have met following objectives:

a.    Discovering what actually matters in your life.

b.    What are the major prime-movers and over-riding clauses in your day-to-day and long-term DM.

c.    How successful were your successes for His world, countries and people?

d.    Have you been improving and learning over your past life?, and

e.    This exercise in introspect has been able to goad and restart the process of sifting bran from grain, hypocrisy from truth and taking you to a brighter and happier morning.

6.    Enjoying your right of being wrong will help you grow; whatever be the age, social and statutory status.  Select your values and value system.

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