Welcome Future Hyder 👋

This website is just to remind you when you are at your best. And in case you have forgotten, you made this in 2024 as part of the Leadership class you took at university. Oh, and also, this was your last individual assignment in university. 

Note: There are 5 parts to this website, and each of the parts is given as a menu option above. There is also an introduction and conclusion at the start and at the end. These 5 parts include:

  1. Reflection to each story
  2. Declarative truths
  3. Reflected best self
  4. Enablers and Blockers
  5. Sample Action Plan

Introduction 🔆

This is for you, future Hyder. It’s for you to come back to every time you are searching for your best self. This is for you whenever you forget certain things that help you be your best self. 

Hyder, we chose to create a website instead of submitting a document or a PDF because we know ourselves. There was no way we were going to look back at a PDF or a document. LOL! 

Also, every time you look at this website, give a big thanks to Dr. Meredith Woodwark. This assignment was given by her. At the time, you probably didn’t see its importance, but I hope every time you look back, you see how valuable this is. 

Lastly, Hyder, your 2024 version has gone ahead and put a reminder for March 20, 2027, on Google Calendar for you to come back and check this out. 

1. Reflections 🤔

Now let’s get started, Hyder. For this assignment, you were asked to send an email to a handful of people and ask them to write stories about when you were at your best. This first part is just you, in 2024, reflecting on those stories. If you want to see the stories they submitted, click here 

Personal reminder: If any of these people are still in your life, remember to cherish them, and don’t forget to thank them once more for taking the time out and writing you these stories.

Story Author ✍️

My positive behaviour ✔️

Story theme / personal declaration 🔊

Zehra (sister)

Proactive, Attentive, and solution-oriented

I try to be useful and attentive. The specific story my sister gave is from 2019, when I was in my last year of high school.

Nayla (girlfriend) - story #1

Outgoing, curious, and relationship-building

I consider myself an introvert, but I can see how valuable it is to be an extrovert, so I try to be outgoing whenever possible, but I also like spending time with myself. I also love learning about new cultures and experiencing different festivals

Nayla (girlfriend) - story #2

Curious, hard-working, problem-solving, and obsessive

I have always had a very obsessive personality since the start. In grade 12, I was very interested in promoting mental health awareness and decided to start a school club regarding it. I became it's founder and president. In my third year, I read a book called "How to think like a Roman Emperor" and loved the philosophy that the Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius used to follow, so I decided to promote it a bit.

Karman (good friend) - story #1

Cooperative, hardworking, and solution-oriented 

This story is from BU481 where one of the group members did not do their part. I am not a big fan of going to the professor to complain about group members since I think everyone looks bad in that scenerio. So I decided to complete their part and individually texted them to let them know I had completed their part, and then they informed me about some family situation that was going on, and it just stayed between me and them.

Karman (good friend) - story #2

Hardworking, dedicated, empathetic, and solution-oriented

After I got introduced to the Stoicism philosophy, I realized there were no good websites for it. The ones that were available were too academic, in my opinion, so I started creating one on my own. It's almost done and will be published soon. It's called Stoicpal.com.

Raeed (group mate) - story #1

Patient, attentive, and calm under pressure

This was during our first Leadership presentation. I think I am very attentive in certain situations, which helps me step up when the team needs me.

Gurjit (good friend) - story #1

Curious, obsessive, and relationship-building

This story may seem slightly odd, but I am very passionate, maybe even borderline obsessed, with AI. This story is about when me and Gurjit were talking about AI's implications for capitalism (since Gurjit is a finance major). I also love having friendly debates with my close friends regarding such topics, and they help strengthen our relationship. 

Gurjit (good friend) - story #2

Caring, helpful, solution-oriented, and attentive

I try to be helpful and useful, specifically to my friends. Also, my solution-oriented approach and attentiveness help me see what is required and what needs to be done a little faster than others

Hamza (good old friend) - story #1

Competitive, attentive, encouraging, and calm under pressure

I am very competitive by nature, and my attentiveness also allows me to see what needs to be done. This also allows me to remain calm under pressure.  

These were the past YOU’s reflection on the stories submitted. Remember your brother Mehbeer also submitted an entry but it was more like a thank you note for guiding him through his first year of Laurier BBA instead of a story, so you couldn’t use that. 

Also the past you wants to remind you that every time you read the stories, remember these people were for the most part the people you hung out with the most in your four years of university. These individuals were (and hopefully still are) your friends.  

2. Declarative Truths ♟️

Now, Hyder, here are some patterns and common themes of when you are at your best. If you are feeling like you are missing that spark, it may actually be that you have started to ignore one of the themes below. But don’t worry, your past self has got you covered 😉

Patterns / Themes

Declarations

Examples Given

Attentive

I believe paying attention to the people you interact with and the work you do is extremely important. I don’t think I was born with this, but I really started to improve it once I read a book by Cal Newport called “Deep Work.”

1. I noticed the family had forgotten the passports at home.


2. I was able to notice one person wasn’t comfortable answering a question during a presentation, and I came forward.


3. During the finals of ROPSSAA cricket in grade eleven, I was the first to notice the things our opponents were doing wrong and it helped us turn the entire game around and win.

Solution-oriented

I believe in looking through the surface and trying to solve the underlying problem. There was a lecture guest in my BU451 class, and he said something along the lines of “for startups, we want them to sell painkillers, not vitamins.” At that moment, I remember thinking, but neither of those solve the underlying issue!

1. When the family noticed we had forgotten all the passports and everyone was panicking, I went and asked the officers to keep the gate open for an extra 5 minutes, and I took Uber back home, grabbed the passports, and came back.


2. There were no Stoicism websites that I found were suited for beginners so I decided to create one myself.


3. In BU481, one group member couldn’t do their part, so I did it for them since we had the presentation the next day and then asked them for the reason for not completing the part.


4. When my friend couldn’t understand one of his assignments and was panicking, I went over it with him and made him understand what I thought the professor was looking for.

Hard working

I believe in working hard. I feel like luck works in my favour when I give it my best.

1. I started creating a thorough website as a solution to a problem that I faced.


2. Working hard on group projects.

Curious

I believe curiosity drives hard work and motivation. I always try to be curious about the subject at hand and how it can genuinely improve my life, and that makes working easier.

1. Being open to learning about things that don’t directly affect me, like AI’s impact on capitalism.


2. Interested and curious in learning about and being part of different of different cultures and festivals.

Dedication

I believe in being fully dedicated to things that I consider important. It helps me achieve some of my goals at a highly rapid rate and also allows me to see if I am even really interested in the subject.

1. Being dedicated on learning about AI. How AI works and its potential to transform lives especially after AGI.


2. Being dedicated to Stoicism and how such an old philosophy can help with modern problems.

Calm under pressure

I believe it’s a skill to remain calm when under pressure. This is something I had to consciously work on.

1. Calmly answering a question during a little mishap in a presentation.


2. Calmly looking at the opponent team’s strategy when we were losing the cricket finals, finding flaws in their game, and turning the game in our favour.

Helpful

I believe more in collaboration than competition. Even competitors need to collaborate sometimes. I try to be useful and provide help whenever I deem it necessary.

1. When I completed my groupmate's work without letting others know last semester.


2. By going over my friend’s assignment with him to make him see what the professor wanted from the class.

Hyder, these seven patterns are identified as really important by your past self. Get them in check. Maybe the future Hyder doesn’t agree with all seven of them, but I can assure the future Hyder that most of them are true. PLEASE DON’T IGNORE THEM!!

3. Reflected Best-Self Portrait 🎥

I know, Hyder, you would rather watch a video than read a bunch of text. So, the Hyder of 2024 has created a little video for you to watch and to remind you about when you are at your best. I have also enabled captions in case you are not able to hear me properly. Enjoy 🥳

There you go, Hyder. The old you put in a lot of effort to keep the future you engaged. But more importantly, the past Hyder just wants you to watch that video carefully and maybe even rewatch it a few times!

4. Enablers ✅ and Blockers ❌

Hold on to it, Hyder, we are almost done! This part gets rid of all the fluff and shows your core strengths and weaknesses. Your past self did not go very easy on you and has even mentioned the feeling of feeling like an imposter, which you usually don’t share with others. You can’t grow or solve a problem unless you first can see and identify the issue.

Enablers ✅

Blockers ❌

I believe hard work shifts luck in my favour (personal).

I think I lack confidence in larger group environments (where more than 50 people are involved—personal / situational).

I do not like being talked to in an aggressive tone and value self-respect a lot (personal / relational).

Sometimes I can't see the difference between my ego being hurt or me defending my self-respect. I tend to get defensive sometimes over genuine feedback (relational).

I am good at taking the lead within groups when the team is under pressure or if things are uncertain (situational).

I am highly dedicated to a few tasks, but sometimes that dedication turns into obsessiveness, and I try to aim for absolute perfectionism, which ends up blocking my creativity.

I believe I am highly adaptable and can work and deliver output in various different situations (personal / situational)

I think we have a deep rooted imposter syndrome. I sometimes think I don’t deserve certain things, even after achieving them, and feel like I get lucky. A great example of this is how I sometimes say, “I am a terrible presenter, but a good actor.” (Personal)

I am good with connecting with people and understanding their perspective, which helps me build trust among group members (relational)

I also think I feel the fear of failure quite strongly. Maybe I am too passionate about the projects I take; hence, I want them to turn out well, but this fear sometimes blocks my creativity or makes me not go for certain opportunities so I won’t look like a fool.

Great! Focus on these two categories, especially the blockers. These blockers may be holding the future Hyder back too. 

5. Sample Action Plan 🤝

Hyder we did our Sample Action Plan slightly different than the example we were given. This is mainly because the past Hyder thought these skills / strengths were the most important for the future Hyder and hence created a day’s/months/year’s chart for it.

Days / short-term

Months / medium-term

Years / long-term

What are you going to do in the coming days?

What are you going to do in the coming months?

What about in the coming years?

Being my best self with the skill of attentiveness

1. Start to meditate again.


2. Read books. 

1. Lower the social media usage, I find I gradually get more attentive when my social media usage is low.


2. Create morning and evening routines like of journaling or meditating that maximize this skill. 

1. Build a lifestyle around the idea of being attentive. It’s a skill I deeply value, and I can see the countless benefits it has.


2. In the long term, I don’t want to completely stop anything (like social media), but I just want to have healthy boundaries for everything.

Being my best self with the skill of hard work

Start going to the gym.

Continuously engage in progressive overload in the gym and in my personal life by keep pushing the limits.

Try finding joy in things I find difficult and build a long-term approach regarding the philosophy of “there’s light at the end of the tunnel” and to push through the tunnel, I may need to work hard a few times.

Being my best self with the skill of helpfulness

1. Complete the Stoicism website as a helpful source for beginners.


2. Do one thing that makes someone else’s day better every day.

Be a source of help and support for all university friends, especially as we move on to our corporate careers.

1. In the long-term, try not to blame anyone for anything and instead find solutions with a clear heart.


2. I usually say to myself whenever I get angry, “The individual(s) you are mad at are people. You are also people. And people are mortal and stupid. What will grudges do?” 


3. Genuinely have a collaborative point of view when it comes to working with others and find joy in helping others.

Your strengths / skills of hard-work, attentiveness and helpfulness are the ones that are the most important and the past Hyder won’t be happy if you end compromising on these. Hence, the current Hyder shall follow the daily, monthly, and yearly schedule set above for each strength / skill to ensure the future Hyder is on the right track. We will certainly be reading this in 2027 but the current Hyder hopes that the future Hyder of 2025 and 2026 also end up visiting this website.

Conclusion ✌️

It was great talking to you, future Hyder, and I hope we are still doing things that we are planning out right now in 2024. I hope you haven’t gone bald by now. I hope you are still attentive. I hope you meditate, at least here and there. I hope your favourite book is still The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck by Mark Manson. I hope you still follow Stoicism. I hope you are still in touch with all the people who gave you a story for this report. I hope you are getting emotional while reading this (that is the point, LMAO). I hope Dr. Woodwark forgives me for using such informal language. And I hope we are still happy with ourselves.

Current / Past Hyder over and out. 🤝

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