Between Struggle and Stillness

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While sitting alone in my room, I try to bring meditation into my daily life. Life is truly difficult. Challenges keep appearing one after another — my motorcycle engine oil is leaking even after spending money to fix it, the expenses of raising a teenage son, his lack of focus on studies, people ignoring you, and situations that make you feel small and worthless. Yet somehow, I am still surviving.

Financial struggles are another heavy burden. But even then, I keep moving forward. I struggle, focus on what I can control, set goals, and put effort into the next action in front of me. Again and again, I remind myself of Amor Fati and what the Gita teaches: detach yourself from the outcome and focus only on your actions. These ideas help me keep going.

There is a book called The Practicing Mind. It explains that no one can master a musical instrument by practicing only a few times. A musician may repeat the same tune fifty times a day before being able to perform it beautifully on stage. During practice, the mind keeps making noise — telling us to stop, to do something else, to escape discomfort. Many times, we become bored, restless, and frustrated, yet we continue practicing anyway.

Maybe that is the real lesson of life: stay with the present moment, focus on what needs to be done, and keep practicing your path, no matter how noisy the mind becomes.

Focus on whats matter.

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One of the simplest yet most powerful ideas I learned from Stoicism is this: focus on what you can control.

Interestingly, this idea was always around me. In Buddhism too, there are teachings about detachment, acceptance, and awareness. But over time, many traditions became more religious and complex in their expression. Stoicism presented the same wisdom in a much simpler and more practical way.

I also came across a similar idea in The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey. He explains it through the concept of the “Circle of Influence” and the “Circle of Concern.”

The Circle of Influence contains the things we can change, improve, or directly impact. The Circle of Concern includes the things we worry about but cannot truly control.

Most people waste their energy in the Circle of Concern — politics, other people’s opinions, the past, or the uncertain future. But growth begins when we focus our attention on the Circle of Influence.

I often wonder whether Covey’s idea was also influenced, directly or indirectly, by Stoic philosophy. The similarity is striking. Thinkers like Epictetus and Marcus Aurelius repeatedly emphasized the same principle: some things are within our control, and some are not. Wisdom lies in knowing the difference.

Be hopeful

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If you want to move forward in life, the first thing you need is hope.
Life will always bring challenges, adversity, and uncertainty. When we go through difficult times, we often become overly realistic, and that realism slowly turns into negativity. We begin to expect the worst before it even happens.

Many people believe that our thoughts shape the direction of our lives. In simple words, what we constantly think about begins to influence us. What we seek, in some way, also seeks us.

In Desi culture, this idea is close to the law of karma:
“Kar bhala ho bhala.”
Do good, and good eventually returns to you.

The best way to move forward is to first accept life as it is, and then continue hoping for the best. Acceptance does not mean giving up. It means understanding reality without losing faith in tomorrow.

There is a beautiful idea often repeated in philosophy:

“If you take care of today, the future will take care of itself.”

Most of our fear about the future comes from imagining problems that have not even happened yet. Instead of living in the present moment, we suffer inside our minds.

As Seneca said:

“We suffer more often in imagination than in reality.”

Hope does not mean sitting idle and waiting for life to change on its own. Hope means staying positive while continuing to take action. It means moving forward even when the path is unclear.

Marcus Aurelius expressed this beautifully:

“The impediment to action advances action. What stands in the way becomes the way.”

Many times, we do not suffer because of reality itself. We suffer because of the fear of what might happen. The mind creates storms long before life does.

That is why the antidote to fear is hope.

Be hopeful.
Take action.
Focus on today.
And trust that small steps forward eventually create a better future.

Secret to unstuck any problem in life

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There are moments in life when I feel completely stuck—unable to solve the problem right in front of me. No matter how much I think about it, nothing moves. I feel tired, even a sense of quiet frustration, almost like betrayal by my own mind.

In those moments, I remember a simple but powerful idea: rewrite the problem.

At first, it feels strange. How can writing the same problem again help? But when I actually do it—when I slow down and define the problem in my own words—something begins to shift.

My mind starts gathering scattered thoughts. Pieces that were disconnected begin to come together. I start seeing patterns, relationships… the dots begin to connect.

Once the problem becomes clear, I take the next step: I write down step one.

That first step is always the hardest. But after that, something interesting happens—the rest of the steps start to unfold more easily.

It’s as if clarity creates momentum. And momentum makes the path forward visible.

Master Your Time, Energy, and Tasks: A Simple Rule That Works

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We usually have many tasks to complete. To get work done, we rely on three key resources: time, money, and energy. Money and energy can be regenerated with effort, but time cannot be recovered. That’s why we must learn to work effectively within the time we have. Everyone has the same 24 hours in a day.

To complete tasks, we constantly make decisions. An average person makes around 1,600 decisions daily—what to eat, what to cook, whether to pick up children from school, and many other small choices. These may seem minor, but they still consume mental energy and affect task completion.

Task Threshold

In life, we often handle multiple tasks simultaneously. However, everyone has a different capacity for managing parallel work. A useful rule of thumb is:

Maximum parallel tasks you think you can handle – 2

For example:

  • If you believe you can handle 7 tasks at once, focus on 5
  • If you can handle 3 tasks, focus on just 1

This helps prevent overload and improves effectiveness.

Task Saturation

Task saturation occurs when too many tasks come in randomly and its seems all task are equal importance at the level of priority , and you feel stuck. You become unable to decide what to do next, which lowers your confidence.

The best way to overcome this is simple:
Start with the task that takes the least time to complete. Finish it, then move to the next shortest task.

This approach creates momentum. As you complete tasks, your confidence grows, and you naturally come out of the stuck state.

Our mind is designed for survival. When overwhelmed, it pushes us to avoid, escape, or delay. But that is not a real solution—it only postpones the problem.

If you want to thrive, you must take action regardless of what your mind tells you. Focus on the smallest task, complete it, and keep moving forward. As tasks get completed, your confidence increases, and momentum builds.

Perfection is enemy of good

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In life, we find many people who are waiting for the perfect moment to change their lives.

They wait for the perfect job so they can succeed.
They wait for the perfect life partner.

But in the end, they never move—they stay stuck in life.

In software development, there is a term:
“Ship it — imperfect is better.”

Let’s see how we can apply this idea to our personal lives.

Hello friends,
My name is Ali Raza Zaidi. I am an ERP consultant, software developer, and part-time content creator.

When I was relatively new in my career, I worked at a place where Oracle was implemented. One of their ERP implementations had failed. Then a new IT manager was recruited, and he started working on fixing things.

He decided to develop a custom warehouse management solution for the organization. With three months of effort, we were able to build a solution.

At that time, the solution was working, but it had many bugs.

The IT manager decided to launch it anyway.

We were afraid—what would happen?
There were issues in the system. We thought end users might lose confidence in the software.

But we launched the product, and users started using it.

We found many issues, but with another three months of effort, we fixed them one by one. Slowly, things improved, and the system became stable.

They called it a mature system.

💡 What did I learn from that lesson?

Sometimes, perfection makes us stuck.
We become unable to deliver.

When we keep seeking perfection, we end up delivering nothing.

I saw a similar example in real life.

One of my college fellows came from a wealthy family. When we graduated, I couldn’t find a job in a big company, so I started with a very low salary.

Meanwhile, my friend kept complaining:
“The salary is too low. I’ve spent a lot of money on my education.”

He never started his software career.

Eventually, he moved to the US and ended up working as a cab driver. I believe he is still complaining about life.

⚡ The reality is:

In life, we need momentum, not perfection.

We don’t need the perfect time to go to the gym.
We can start small—just go and begin.

If you miss a day, go the next day.
Keep trying.

I have another friend who is a very good writer.

One day, he shared his diary with me. His writing was excellent.

But he never started a blog or a YouTube channel.

Why?

Because he was waiting to write something perfect.

🧠 What I believe:

A not-perfect post that is published
has more value than a perfect one that is never posted.

As a software architect, I have faced many situations where things didn’t go as planned. There is always negative feedback.

But in reality, customers don’t want a perfect feature after three months.
They want something useful that works today.

That’s why in software we use Agile:

  • Decide a small portion
  • Build it
  • Test it
  • Deliver it

Delivery is important. Until we deliver, we cannot get feedback.

And feedback is the source of improvement.

There is also a possibility that the paragraph you delete
might have resonated with a reader.

There is an 80/20 rule which says:

80% of progress comes from 20% of effort.

Perfection usually takes much more time than “good enough.”

🚀 What does “Ship it” mean?

It does not mean you ship garbage.

It means:

  • Functional over flawless
  • Useful over perfect

We need a mindset shift for that.

Instead of waiting for the right time,
set a clear deadline.

Instead of focusing on being flawless,
focus on being useful.

Instead of worrying about critics,
focus on early adopters.

Instead of polishing the edges,
make sure the core works.

🔥 The bottom line:

Done is better than perfect.
Momentum is far better.
Momentum is a better teacher than stagnation.

When you deliver something imperfect,
you are not failing—you are starting.

So:

  • Write the draft
  • Write the code
  • Do basic testing
  • Send the proposal

The world does not need perfection.
It needs your contribution.

From Gautama Buddha:

“An idea that is developed and put into action is more important than an idea that exists only as an idea.”

Overthinking is a trap.

Presence + Action = Progress

There is a Japanese concept called Wabi-Sabi, which means finding beauty in imperfection.

It teaches us:

  • Nothing is perfect
  • Nothing lasts forever
  • Nothing is ever complete

The thing you are spending too much time perfecting
may not be as important as you think.

And after delivering it, you might discover something even better.

🌿 Final Thought

Flaws are not mistakes — they are character.

How we think, and how actually happens

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During the Eid holidays, I had set out to accomplish a few things — most importantly, finishing the custom module I had been working on. But as always, when the time actually came, laziness crept in. Family obligations started to pile up, and I found myself wanting to simply enjoy the company around me. After all, these were Eid holidays.

Still, I pushed myself to stay disciplined and put in the effort. In the end, I managed to complete about 70% of what I had planned.

And that, perhaps, is the gap we rarely talk about — the distance between how we plan things, and how they actually unfold.

Saying no is choice

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Many times in life, we feel, depress low and disappointed. not because you did not welcome a lot things in life, but not due to saying no what is not important too.

Is it life really all about saying No or yes. Or all about priority Lets discuss this.

If we talk about Stoic Philosophy
Seneca said that
“It is not that we have a short time to live, but that we waste a lot of it.”
It means, we waste a lot of time in task or things, which has no value. If you want to live well, you have to restrict a few things.

“Part of the perfection of one’s Islam is leaving what does not concern him.”

(Hadith – Tirmidhi)

In my life, there was time, when I said everything yes. As result I become some ones else life priorities. The mental stress I face, when I try to make happy those people who think and prove that they are better than me. And I feel very low after that. Its natural. That is not a problem. In some sense they are right. Their sense of superiority lies in suppressing mine.

Later, I realized that life is really about priorities.

But something interesting happens when we set our priorities: we automatically start saying no to many things.
Buddah said that
“You yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe, deserve your love and affection.”

The truth is that all of us have limited time and limited resources. Because of this, we must learn to organize and use them wisely.

Similarly there is hadith

“Your body has a right over you, your family has a right over you.”

(Hadith – Bukhari)

This hadith also remind us the balance and boundaries.

Sometimes people come to us asking for help. If we have the time, we should help them. But if we don’t, it is perfectly okay to say sorry. We should not sacrifice important tasks that truly matter to us just to avoid saying no.
Buddisim teaching
“Better than a thousand hollow words is one word that brings peace.”
When we say no to something, we are actually saying yes to many things that are more important to us.

The reality of life is simple:

  • We cannot say yes to everything.
  • We cannot accept every opportunity.
  • We cannot do everything.

But there are a few things we can do extremely well if we focus on them.

In the end, saying no is not rejection.
It is simply a way of saying yes to what truly matters.