Slowing Down to Speed Up: Review the Past Year and Build Forward with Intention - Part 1

As-salamu alaykum,

To slow down or to speed up? This is a question that I find myself grappling with around the winter holiday period and the beginning of the new Gregorian calendar year.

During this time, I often volunteer to cover the peak holiday clinical shifts with the thought that I am paying it forward so that my non-Muslim colleagues can take time-off this season such that when the last 10 days of Ramadan (May Allah SWT make us witness the next series and beyond. Ameen) or Eid come around, I do not bat an eye when I take off to maximize Ibadah and to be true to my Islamic identity and nurture the same with my family.

I did the same this winter break so you can imagine that it's been a busy period - a time of speeding up to deliver on clinical duties and a host of physician leadership challenges that came up in the same period among other non-work related interests and family obligations.

This type of “speed”  or what some may refer to as a ‘cluster’ or even as 'chaos ', is inevitable every now and then but should it be the case on a regular basis? Should busyness be the metric of productive pursuits? Or Should we be mindful of these times and seek a more measured pace? 

Many of us struggle with this, and while its a ubiquitous challenge, the healthcare worker experience is associated with an added layer of complexity given the responsibility to those we serve and the altruistic tendencies that many of us share making it sometimes difficult to chose to be away from the bedside long enough to recover…to slow down before speeding up especially at an opportune time such as the turn of the year. 

Over the years, I have learnt that we all do need to be intentional about slowing down because it gives us clarity and a perspective that we would otherwise not appreciate when we do not take advantage of it. 

We learn from the Qur’an that hastiness is not a desirable quality and yet we are all prone to it as Allah SWT says in Surah Al-Isra (Ch. 17): 11; “And humans ˹swiftly˺ pray for evil as they pray for good. For humankind is ever hasty.”

Prophet Muhammad PBUH also explains to us in this famous hadith narrated by  Sahl ibn Sa’d reported: The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said, “Clemency (Calm) is from Allah and haste is from Satan.” Source: Sunan al-Tirmidhī 2012 Grade: Hasan (fair) according to Al-Suyuti

We learn from these divine and prophetic wisdoms that not only is Hastiness an undesirable trait, it is from the Shaytan. The hadith also directs us to seek calm instead, to pursue clarity before proceeding, to gather insight before we jump and essentially to slow down before we speed up to engage the year ahead of us by Allah’s permission.

To help us slow down meaningfully, I will share 2 key steps to consider.

1. Annual Review 

2. Praiseworthy planning

Today, we will consider the Annual Review looking at the why, how and what for a busy healthcare worker.

Why should you do an Annual Review? 

Consider this your annual pause for the Gregorian calendar year! The annual review is your unique opportunity to make space for yourself amidst the chaos of life and your healthcare work; for you to reflect on the year gone by so that you can identify missed opportunities for gratitude to Allah SWT; to do a deeper dive into your challenges and missteps; to recognize wins and gaps in how show up for your patients and colleagues and therefore,  glean insights to build forward upon. 

How do we get to the annual review as a healthcare worker? 

The essential thing here is to hit the pause button intentionally. Like me, you likely have a long list of things to get done around this time of the year, (not to mention, patients depending on you) so you may fail to prioritize this as it is not imminently urgent.

Having understood the value from our discussion of the “why” above, I hope you can appreciate that this is a key step to propel you to greater successes in the new year and nurture your resilience with a deeper sense of clarity.   

1. Take a look at your calendar and Block out 60 - 90 minutes of personal distraction-free time 

2. Avoid hastiness - remember that this from the Shaytan 

3. Ask Allah SWT for guidance through the process

What do you do in the 60 - 90 minute focus session? 

The Productive Muslim Company has a great tool that provides a framework for systematically appraising your experiences over the course of that past year. Explore the following 4 areas using this free resource and the accompanying short video tutorial!

1. Start with gratefulness

2. Learn from your challenges in the prior year

3. Evaluate yourself across different areas of your life

4. Look ahead (More on this next week in sha Allah)

In our last newsletter, we shared some insights about starting with gratitude and how to build forward in 2 key areas of your life. Please check it out here if you missed it.

The key message is to take time to do this annual review as it does have the potential to transform your overall outlook and successes in the new year.

There are 2 key annual events for us as Muslims that have a transformational potential on cultivating spiritual resilience when we engage them intentionally; the first is Ramadan and the second is a once in a lifetime requirement that comes around every year - Hajj - please take some time to think about these 2 key pillars of the Muslim life and in particular the struggles we healthcare workers face in executing on them because of the very nature of our work commitments.

I pray that Allah SWT blesses you with a meaningful annual review and look forward to hearing your thoughts on this. 

Sincerely

Sulyman