My 9 Non-Negotiables for 2025

Author

Saufiyah Ali
January 15, 2025

Before we begin:

___________________

It's been a while friend.

Life has been life-ing.

The first newsletter for 2025.

And it's been 1 year since I left my 9-5.

I'm actually in the same exact spot in Medellin where I quit my job last year.

It's my 3rd time here in in the last 12 months. I mean can you blame me?

It's a full circle moment right now.

Whats happened so far?

— Retired my parents.
— Hit my first $100k/mo in revenue.
— Realized all limitations are mind games.
— Found that dhikr & salawāt bring divine blessings.
— Built 100k+ email subscribers across 2 newsletters.
— Created a Muslim creator community w/ 250+ beautiful souls.
— Grew to 1M+ followers across socials without showing my face.

Alhamdulillah. Alhamdulillah. Alhamdulillah.

I grew up in a 1-bedroom Brooklyn apartment with 4 siblings.

This current lifestyle isn’t how I spent my childhood which makes me appreciate the journey even more.

When I reflect on how it all came to be, 3 things stand out:

1) The help of Allah.

2) Mindset.

3) Social media.

It's not a fast process, but I promise you:

If you start today, you’ll thank yourself in a few years.

Time is going to pass anyway. Why not start now?

Let’s get into my non-negotiable principles for the next 12 months.

This is the mindset I’m going into the next 365 days with.

The goal? Scale to $1M this year.

1) Your inputs determine your output

Your mind and body are feedback loops.

Garbage in → garbage out.

Are you not getting a certain result in life?

Ask yourself:

  • What are you consuming?

  • What are you reading?

  • What are you watching?

  • What do you preoccupy yourself with?

Discipline your inputs and your results will reflect it.

I came across a quote on a viral reel the other day:

"If you're not changing it, you're choosing it."

Let that sink in.

Align your consumption with your creation.

If you constantly consume irrelevant, mindless content, don't expect your output to be anything more than noise.

Your heart is like a mirror.

What you expose it to, it reflects.

Expose it to darkness, it becomes dark.

Expose it to light, it will shine.

The same goes for your mind.

We live in a time where endless inputs surround us. Most of them junk.

→ News cycles designed to keep you anxious.

→ Content designed to keep you hooked.

→ Entertainment designed to keep you numb.

If you don't actively filter what comes to your mind, you are letting others control your thoughts and emotions.

Reprogram your mind with inputs relevant to your goals.

What you feed your brain determines the quality of your thoughts and ideas.

If you eat lots of sugar and fast food → you feel sluggish and become fat.

If you eat lots of fruits and vegetables → you feel energetic and healthy.

If you mindlessly scroll → you end up anxious and depressed.

If you watch educational content or read interesting books → you get smarter and start getting cool ideas.

Inputs matter.

It's like planting seeds in a garden.

Good seeds grow into beautiful flowers and plants.

But if we don't take care of them or plant weeds instead..

We don't get pretty flowers.

You reap what you sow.

2) Worship Allah with ihsan

Everyone talks about creating a life around your highest purpose.

For a Muslim, that purpose = worshipping Allah alone.

You don't just worship through prayer.

You worship through how you spend your time.
You worship through how you treat others.
You worship through how you pursue excellence in the mundane.

I'm a big advocate of the last one.

  • Taking a shower? You're purifying yourself for prayer.

  • Eating a meal? You're nourishing your body for worship.

  • Going to sleep? You're getting rest so you can wake up for Tahajjud and Fajr.

Ihsan comes from حسن (hasan) — to bring something to its best state.

Modern self-help talks about being present in every moment.

Ihsan takes it further:

Be present with Allah in every moment.

Every choice has eternal consequences.

If you remember Allah before every action, you can’t go wrong.

You're in a divine theater. Play your role well. Everything else is just a test. 

Worship Allah as if you see Him, and know even if you do not see Him, He sees you. [Muslim]

This is the highest mindset and perspective of life we can operate from.

Know that He watches your every move.

Ihsan is playing the ultimate long-term game: the Hereafter.

3) Your body is an amanah.

You don't own your body.

Just like any trust, you're responsible for how you use it.

When you honor your body, you honor the One who created it.

Most people forget that caring for your physical well-being is a form of worship.

The way you move, eat, and rest directly affects your ability to worship, think, and live with ihsan.

i) Sleep

Rest is a weapon.

If your mind is a tool for creativity and problem-solving, sleep is how you keep that tool sharp.

The Prophet ﷺ taught us to:

  • get up early

  • rest after Dhuhr

  • sleep with intention

Sleep is the foundation of high-performance.

If your sleep is messed up, the rest of your life will be messed up.

If you struggle with sleep, create a bed-time routine.

It will be the cue for your body to unwind and fall asleep naturally.

Take it from someone who used to pull all-nighters, thinking they were productive.

It doesn’t work.

Proper rest = sustained energy + mental clarity.

ii) Nutrition

We are commanded to eat what is halal (permissible) and tayyib (pure, wholesome) [2:172].

It's not just about what's allowed, it’s about what is beneficial.

Soda is halal but is the 32g of sugar good for you?

Eat for energy, not just indulgence.

Overeating dulls the mind and weakens the body.

Ramadan is coming soon.

Allahumma bal-lighna ramadan. O Allah let us reach Ramadan!

I don't know about you guys but I am so sharp and focused during the fasting days. 

The secret hack to productivity is fasting. 

-Saufiyah

You want ihsan in nutrition?

  • Start with bismillah

  • End with alhamdulillah

  • Eat in moderation: 1/3 food 1/3 water 1/3 air

  • Choose whole, natural foods

  • Stay hydrated

iii) Movement

Your body is a tool for serving Allah.

Movement is a part of a balanced life.

Sedentary living drains your energy, clouds your mind, and makes worship harder.

Take a walk. Better yet, take a dhikr walk.

Even just 15-20 minutes a day will change your life.

Longevity is not just a long life but living better. Movement is not about getting a “workout in”. It’s about staying mobile and maintaining vitality for life’s essential activities.

Don’t you want to perform Umrah and Hajj without a wheelchair?

Don’t you want to be able to pray standing even when you’re 70?

Don’t you want to chase your kids and grandkids around with ease?

Your body is an amanah. Honor it.

Consistent sleep, mindful nutrition, and intentional movementare small daily actions that compound over time.

When you live with ihsan in how you treat your body, your entire life transforms.

4) Protect your mind and creativity.

Attention is finite.

In a world designed to hijack your mind, your greatest power lies in choosing where to focus.

Scrolling endlessly is like throwing your attention into a void.

Instead:

  • Use it to learn something meaningful.

  • Use it to build something meaningful.

We are living in a spiritual war right now.

I’ve mentioned this before but no one seems to take it seriously.

The internet is the new society — school, work, education, shopping.

Every time you're on social media, everyone is competing for your attention.

And what’s most apparent on social media?

  • Filth

  • Music

  • Western ideologies

  • Zina

  • Soft p*rn

It's not even entertainment at this point.

It's part of a larger deception designed to make haram look cool.

Places once untouched are being plagued by culture colonization through the internet.

Where the Muslims at?

Why aren’t we battling this filth?

It's our duty to purify social media.

If you're just a consumer on social media, stop scrolling for 1 minute and think:

  • What if you used that time to create something beneficial?

  • What if you shared something you learned?

  • What if you shared your story so others can relate?

You don't need millions of followers to make an impact.

If you help just 1 person, that's enough. The ripple effect of that single benefit can multiply in ways you'll never know.

For every bad deed, do one good deed.

For every bad social media post, there should be a good one.

My mission is to help 1,000,000 Muslims become an intentional creator.

We're living in a digital dunya.

  • Protect your mind.

  • Purify your attention.

  • Create for the sake of Allah.

This is how we battle the distractions of the modern world.

5) Invest in knowledge

Knowledge comes in many forms.

Knowledge through reading.

Knowledge through experience.

Knowledge through spiritual gifts.

Knowledge is power. But learning is not enough.

You must act on what you learn. 

The Prophet ﷺ said: The best of you are those who learn the Quran and teach it. [Bukhari]

Notice: It's not just about learning the Qur'an.

It's about passing it on, applying it in your life, and helping others.

Don't fall into consumption loops. The trap of endlessly consuming knowledge without ever applying it.

You feel productive but in reality you are stuck.

Allah says in the Qur'an:

Those who believe and do righteous deeds..." [2:25]

Belief (knowledge) is paired with action.

One without the other is incomplete.

You can believe in Allah but if you don't pray:

Do you really believe?

Food for thought.

True knowledge is what transforms you.

If what you're learning isn't changing your actions, it's useless information until it does.

You don't need to know everything.

Just enough to take the next step. 

Knowledge without action is a wasted currency.

Saufiyah

6) Be confident, not arrogant.

Confidence is knowing your worth.

Arrogance is forgetting Allah's greatness.

There's a fine line and you need to walk it carefully.

Confidence comes from doing hard things.

Confidence comes from effort, struggle, and recognizing Allah's help in your success. 

And whatever blessing you have — it is from Allah.

[16:53]

Be confident in your abilities but always acknowledge that every blessing comes from Him.

Gratitude grounds confidence and prevents arrogance.

Before you share a blessing, ask yourself:

  • Am I sharing to inspire or to impress?

  • What's my intention behind this?

Intentional sharing = sharing with purpose, not for validation.

7) Choose quality over quantity

Less is not lack. It's intentional abundance.

Value lies in scarcity.

Surround yourself with what expands your mind, not drain your energy.

This applies in all spheres of life:

  • Less restful sleep > more unrestful sleep.

  • Few good quality, deep, trusted friends > many shallow friends.

  • Few high-quality abayas & hijabs > a wardrobe of cheap polyester.

  • Fewer high-quality, purposeful posts > flood your feed with low-value noise.

Less is more when you choose quality.

8)Your circle is your mirror

Take a close look at your closest companions.

Good friends remind you of Allah.

Bad friends distract you from Allah.

Don't be the person who says: 

Oh, woe to me! I wish I had not taken that one as a friend.

25:28

الصاحب ساحب

The companion pulls (or drags).

The people you surround yourself with shape your mindset, habits, and future.

You want to level up?

  • Be friends with people who are more fit than you

  • Be friends with people who know more qur'an than you

  • Be friends with people who make more halal money than you

  • Be friends with people who have more discipline than you

When you surround yourself with people like this, you have no choice but to rise to their level.

You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.

They're not just your mirror.

They're your future.

9) Be grateful and don't complain.

Gratitude unlocks abundance.

Complaints trap you in negativity.

Trust in the qadr of Allah.

Trusting in qadr means accepting that life won't always go your way but knowing that His plan is always better.

Redirect your energy from complaining to du'a and effort.

See someone with what you want? Say Allahumma barik (may Allah bless them).

Make du'a for them. Angels will make the same du'a for you.

Du'a is the weapon of the believer.

It's not just asking. It's trusting that Allah holds the power to change your life.

Du'as transformed my life. It's why I created Quranic Du'as.

I didn't get everything I asked for but Allah gave me better than I imagined.

The formula is simple:

Make du'a + take action + trust Allah.

He provides, but you have to take the first step.

Thats all I got for you folks.

Thanks for reading through this.

And as always:

مع حبي (with love)

— Saufiyah ♡

P.S I've been working on editing my new youtube video. It's taking me longer than I anticipated but I am not going to fight the timeline.

Good things take time.

P.P.S. I’m also working on a mini-guide to help you get started with your first online business. It’ll be affordable for those who can’t join the community right now.

Stay tuned!