2020 September 20 – AJ – male age 15 – Class Notes

Today was my second week in green star academy, and I started off the day by greeting everyone with AsSalamu Alaikum WaRahmatul-lah wabarakaatuHu. Then I prayed my two rakats and then meditated for about 5 minutes. Once that was done I tested Al-Fatihah and everything above it, my next assignment was to memorize and recite in english and arabic Al-Asr, Al-kawthar and Al-Lkhlass. Once we had all finished and tested our own assignments, the teacher then called us into the main room where we would then start a lecture. Which was something I was excited about because these lectures would always teach me something new and it was beneficial not just for me but for everyone listening as well.

The first topic the teacher wanted to discuss was made up of many separate subsections that would all lead back to one main idea. We first discussed determination and what that meant. The teacher gave an example and asked the class how did the Washington football team win, at first I had no idea what he was talking about because I thought this had no correlation to discussion but it did. The teacher went to explain that they were done 0-17 and it seemed like nothing was going their way. The coach, John Rivera was trying everything to try and get the opposing team to play by their rules but it wasn’t working. On top of that the coach had cancer, so when half time came in the coach had to go get his IV but he told his quarterback, Dwayne Haskins to go into the locker room. The teacher then went on and said that the quarterback had gotten the team so hyped up that they were able to come back and win the game 17-27. The point was that it doesn’t matter where you are if you have the determination and will to push on from any drawbacks you will be able to succeed. This would then lead into our next topic which was discipline which would basically tie in with the determination topic.

 At first I didn’t know what the teacher meant by this but as he explained I understood. The teacher said that any one thing we build a discipline on whatever that may be, we have to the tiger woods of that thing. In other words we had to be the best of the best. You must be able to pick up something and be so incredibly good at it, that you become the beyonce or the Jay Z of that thing. The second topic the teacher went on to explain was something called paralysis by analysis, this meant the smarter you are the less riskier you are. The teacher then went on to explain that paralysis by analysis happens when an individual or a group is unable to move forward due to a result of overanalyzing data or overthinking a problem.

One main point I learned from this was without a set discipline in mind whether that be for sports or anything, you don’t know what you will be doing with your life. It later occurred to me that I was one of those people as I didn’t really build discipline on any one thing, which is why I can’t figure out who I want to be. The teacher then explained that the reason for this, was actually the third topic which is procrastination. The teacher went on to say we surround ourselves too much in procrastination, whether that be for school, home, work, etc. For example, I could have been writing this essay earlier but instead I procrastinated and here I am writing it at 7 P.M

The fourth topic we were discussing was creating this sense of ownership and culture for yourself. The teacher gave an example by saying that if a boss of a business walks at 9:50 A.M when work starts at 8 A.M. What time do you think all the employers of the company would come in, well it would after 8 A.M because there is no sense of culture. They essentially are just a batch of mindless followers and when they see one person do they think that it’s acceptable if they follow what they are doing as well. The main point I learned from here was not only do you have to show up before your boss arrives and after your boss leaves. You yourself have to forcefully take charge because if you strive to become the boss you must work harder than the boss themself. When you do this you create the sense of ownership and culture that wasn’t there before but is now.

Another topic of discussion that the teacher brought up today was the idea of how people are always in a state of consolation. The teacher then went to explain that a state of consolation was when someone has achieved all they want in life and they don’t have that desire to chase even more. For example let’s say someone starts off with 50,000 thousand a year and starts working really hard to be able to pay bills or whatever they need to pay. Then let’s say that person works hard and after 6 years makes 80,000 a year, they have a good house, nice car, etc and then they stop working hard they just stay where they are. The teacher was trying to say that we shouldn’t be like, we should always be willing to chase more. We can’t sit around being comfortable all day once we reach our goals, we must always set higher and higher goals for ourselves. We must keep pushing and pushing ourselves to better, that was the main point I felt like I was able to learn from this topic. The teacher then ended the lecture on telling what our job was not just a muslim but as human, our job was to make this world a better place not only for the muslims or the christians. It was to make this world a better place for all of mankind.