Dr. Saadia Mian, discussion about Impossible Goals

She was gracious enough to grant me some time for this interview and I walked away with some really good gems and , inshallah , you guys will as well Excuse my voice . I'm a little bit under the weather , but I wanted to bring to you this powerful interview without any delay . So about Dr Sadia Mia ? She is an endocrinologist who works in Dearborn , michigan .

She runs an online program called the Holistic Endocrinologist as well . This is a program where she merges her passion for allopathic and holistic medicine . She got her Tajweed ijazah from Sheikh Al-Kurdi may Allah be pleased with him and another one from Sheikh Qara'im Al-Raji , and went on to memorize the Quran .

She wrote the book the Crowning Venture Inspiration from Women who have Memorized the Quran , along with a companion journal . She is also a founding member of Rabata and continues to serve on the board while also teaching classes . She has a special interest in transformational leadership and coaching to support women to bring their own visions to life .

I am very honored to call her one of my own coach . My first encounter with her was through her book , and then I went on to enroll in her tajweed class through Rabata and have attended multiple of her workshops . Inshaallah , you guys will enjoy this interview . Okay , assalamualaikum , I have Dr Shadia Mio with me . Welcome .

Thank you so much for taking your time today to come speak with me and my audience . Assalamualakum , how are you ?

Just tell me all the things .

So recently I've put together these two passions and I've started a program called the Holistic Endocrinologist . That's one of my passions and this is something I'm doing on the side while I still work full-time as a traditional allopathic endocrinologist .

My other interests , and how our paths crossed , as you know , is I am the author of the book the Crowning Venture Inspiration from Women who have Memorized the Quran , and also a companion journal , and that book came about as I shared my own journey in memorization of the Quran many , many years ago and interviewed other women who had done the same .

So those are my two , my main spheres in my life that I spend the majority of my time on . Most recently I have added on coaching , in a sense . I've been through some coaching programs and I've been a coach in some programs , and the interesting thing that I actually found is , as a physician , I've been a coach for many , many , many years .

I am very fascinated with everything that you mentioned and , alhamdulillah , it seems like you've curated a life of incredible value for yourself and something that you regard to be valuable for others .

And that kind of brings me to the topic which is why I wanted you to be the esteemed guest , alhamdulillah , and that is a topic around impossible goals , because what you've described in literally a sentence is like seven lifetimes what it would take , let's say , somebody else or somebody who thinks is an average person to achieve .

And I really wanted to pick your brain on this topic because , first of all , what makes you successful in all of these different fields , what makes you step into these spheres that you're talking about , and how can you , let's say , do it all ?

What would you say is a good mindset to cultivate for us to start considering our goals if we are currently thinking they're impossible ?

And always having this intention behind everything we do , and in my teaching of the Quran memorization class for Rabat which , again in that class , it's so interesting because I've been teaching that for a few years , after I got into some coaching , I realized I've been a coach in this realm as well , and I start with two things .

So I start with intention and vision . Which one comes first ? Sometimes I think one might come before the other . So the first one I want to talk about is is vision , and what does that mean to me ?

That means seeing a future , seeing something that someplace that I'm currently not at , or see me as somebody that I'm not as yet , but I see a very clear vision of who I want to be Now . There's a quote you can't be what you can't see . So , being very clear on who is it that I want to be , what is it that I want to be ?

What is it that I want to do Now , for example , if I take my Quran journey , I did not set out with any goal or intention of memorizing the Quran . The first time that I went to Syria many , many years ago , which was 1998 . I went with the intention of spending a few weeks there to learn Arabic .

Now , while I was there , I saw women all around me surrounding me who had memorized the Quran of all ages , from young girls all the way up to older women in their 60s , 70s , 80s . All of these women had memorized the Quran .

While I was there , I had the opportunity to attend parties where women who had memorized the Quran and girls who had memorized the Quran were celebrated .

They would be standing up there in white robes with crowns on their heads and , I think , without even knowing it , this became a vision for me , and I think , without even knowing it , this became a vision for me .

So , first of all , that's seeing something that you then decide that's what I want to be , that's what I want to do and nowadays there's a lot of talk about vision where you actually sit down and you know , sit in a quiet place and see what is your vision .

You might go through some kind of meditation , you might go through some kind of visualization , but I think what that taught me is that everywhere we look around us , there is the possibility of us latching onto a vision , and why it's so important , of course , that being very careful what we're around , who we're around and what we're seeing .

And the same goes for my life in the medical realm . From a very young age I had this vision because I was surrounded by medicine . My father was a doctor . I used to work with him , sometimes in his office .

I remember making trips to Pakistan in the summer as a family , where he would come and people from his village would line up to come and see him because it was difficult to get good medical care . So I had that vision as a child too . So that's what I would say is number one just seeing something that is possible .

And then number two is having empowering beliefs around this journey around oneself . It's so important . I didn't realize how important this was until I started working with women who desperately wanted to memorize the Quran but were struggling .

As I coached them in this journey , what I realized initially I was giving so many tips , for example , tips you can make mnemonics out of the different pages you can . This is how you can go through a page this many times . There's so many formulas out there . You could just Google and find tips on memorizing Quran .

But what I realized , what was stopping women , was the very beginning . They all the beliefs that broken record in their minds , hearing things that either somebody had told them that they had internalized , or their own thoughts about themselves and their abilities internalized , or their own thoughts about themselves and their abilities .

From there I started with intention , vision , and then let's go into these limiting beliefs that made a huge impact . Starting from there , women would say things like I don't have a good memory , I don't have time , I can't imagine doing this . I have . I'm afraid of X , y and Z happening . I'm afraid of forgetting it .

You know , I'm afraid that it's a worse sin to forget it . There's a whole chapter in my book , by the way , where I address this , so I'm not going to talk about that . But so really deconstructing these limiting beliefs and then exchanging them for empowering beliefs , and not in a nowadays there's a cat , another catchphrase toxic positivity .

So just being careful not to get into that . But the biggest challenges ? Awareness is catching myself . Oh , every time I have this thought , asking myself okay , is it true ? No , it's not true . Who said it's true ? Where's the proof that that's true ? So , just working through that .

So what I would say is , even without ever going through any formal quote , unquote , coaching or anything , when I look back at my life , it started with vision and then it started with believing I can do something .

And the interesting thing is , after I had gotten my Ijazah , which is a certificate to teach the Jweed in Syria , I was had this burning desire to memorize the Quran and I write about this in the chronic venture also where my amazing , beautiful , lovely teacher didn't have a lot of experience working with non-Syrians and she told me you won't be able to , probably

because I , my Arabic wasn't very good at that time , but I had enough belief that , no , I can do it and I also have the personality .

If you tell me I can't do something , watch out , because that's exactly what I'm going to do , which has served me well in many areas of my life , and so really I did not internalize her voice , where I also believe that this stems from a childhood where my parents instilled in me from a very young age that I can be whoever I want to be .

There was no limitations . Both of my parents supported me in becoming a doctor . Till this day , my father will say there's no reason that you can't go into any field . You could be a surgeon .

You know , he still thinks , actually , that I would have made a great surgeon because I have beautiful handwriting , but so I really had this belief that I can do anything .

The limiting beliefs that you talk about sound like a broken record in the head and that's exactly what we work on in this podcast , in my coaching program , and I help the listeners understand that these are all choices . They are all construct of minds .

Some are beliefs that have been internalized because they've been told to us over and over again by parents , by men , by society , by culture , whatever the external force might be , and it's entirely up to us to believe it because there's really , like you say , there's no rule book that says that this is the rule and you have to follow this and this is what you

have to believe about yourself . You get to believe what you want about yourself . If they're going to be limiting beliefs , you're welcome to believe them , but just know that that's a choice . If they're going to be liberating beliefs , then know that that is also a choice .

Comes with practice and the most difficult part is , like you say , the catchphrase toxic positivity .

I talk about it all the time because they actually have studies nowadays that say that people that engage in toxic positivity meaning just switching the narrative from something negative to something positive by like putting sticky notes by putting reminders , just trying to force yourself to say that narrative actually carries the same cardiovascular risk as chronic stress Like

. When I read that , I was like mind blown . I was like whoa .

So I work very hard in translating the limiting belief into not something 180 degree that's complete opposite but something that's believable to you , and it's that taking up those small steps into believing something that serves you is the skill , is the mind management , is taking your human experience into what have been forced down your throat to be a limiting , not

self-serving type of a belief system , into something that serves in to creating your dreams and values . And then the power of vision that you described , mashallah , because this power of visualization is huge .

So they did a study on some basketball players where they put I think actually you even talk about it in your workshop there was a study on pianists and there was a study on basketball players . But I think I read about these two studies in two different books basically , where they told a study on basketball players .

But I think I read about these two studies in two different books basically , where they told a bunch of basketball players to actually play basketball or free throws , rather for an hour every day for 21 days . The other set they said nothing , just sit at home , do nothing .

And the other set they said okay , just visualize yourself shooting free throws and practice it in your head , and the difference between the people that actually shot the free throws versus that didn't do anything was remarkable . The improvement was 25% in the people who actually physically shot the free throws and the people didn't show any improvement .

But the people who visualizes where the most remarkable result was . They improved to 23% compared to 25 who actually shot the free throws .

That in itself is mind boggling because if you can just visualize yourself at your goal and borrow that confidence , and borrow those thoughts and belief systems from the person who reached there , like the person who's throwing those free throws , you can rewire your mind , you can rewire your belief system , you can actually rewire your whole existence into creating that

goal .

I recently did a workshop . I talked about the power of manifestation and the law of attraction . The more you think about these things in a more believable way , the more you'll attract them towards you . So now coming to the goal of let's say somebody considers being an impossible goal of memorizing the Quran . So to me I always for myself and for my clients .

I always break it down to something that you're committed to and something that you believe that you're going to do one day .

I am committed to in this moment , and I'm actually taking classes with Rabat is perfecting my tajweed inshallah , and I am committed to in this moment , and I'm actually taking classes with Rabat is perfecting my tajweed inshallah , and I am a part of the khidmat project and I'm doing my daily practices , meeting with the teachers and taking the steps .

That is my current commitment . I visualize myself , and I purify my intentions , that I'm going to do this step first , which is a part of the impossible quote unquote , impossible goal of memorizing the Quran in the long run .

So , even if you think something's impossible , visualize you don't have to commit to the big goal , commit to the smaller goal that gets you closer to that step , and intend to do it with your whole being . So all of that you described was very beautiful and completely like hits right at the heart of the matter .

What came to my mind , though which might be coming to some of the other listeners that listening to this is that , alhamdulillah , you had your' support , and a lot of women these days are , let's say , struggling with the lack of that support , either be it from their parents or their spouses or their children or adult children .

They have responsibilities inside the house . Inside they think that they need to commit to that . They cannot just have that time that they're limiting belief on an ongoing basis . I don't have time , I don't have the support , I don't have anything that I need as a building block to get to where I need to be .

What would you say to that and somebody who doesn't think that they have everything lined up for their impossible goal ?

Brain and neuroplasticity habits the way I just yeah , and my newest new actually flow is another one of my obsessions and the vagus nerve , but that's another .

So again it's it's like not completely beating ourselves up . If I have a thought that's not aligned with my vision or my goal , it's just becoming aware , and at that point even even just becoming aware is huge , it's half the battle .

And then , because a lot of these thoughts are subconscious , we're not even conscious of them , and that muscle keeps the wrong muscle keeps on getting um , I shouldn't say the wrong , but the other pathway keeps on getting strengthened . So , just at that point , being conscious of saying , okay , I , I'm choosing this one and , and yay me , I .

Just it's like doing a sit-up for my neuron or something , you know , like 10 reps or something like that , and um , at the same time we do have to be realistic . I mean , if somebody says I don't have time , let's say they have six kids , three dogs , two cats , a pet bird , and on top of that , you know , maybe they work part-time or full-time .

Well , time is . It is a real thing . And but I think the concept that has supported me when it comes to that is priorities , and you know , we've , we're always taught don't say , don't have time for X , y and Z .

Say that at this time this is not a priority , and it's even okay to say that let's , let's say you do have this goal of whether it's memorizing Quran or a different goal . There might actually be a few things that are ahead of it that it's not the number one priority that I'm going to give the majority of my time to .

So that's one thing , so being real about that . But when it comes to something like Quran , again , what what supports is ? Well , it's nice to have the end in mind , but realize that every single step is part of that journey and it's important .

And sometimes we have this all or none mentality where I need to spend one hour a day on this , to spend one hour a day on this , otherwise I am not going to do it at all . And so , really , those bite-sized steps , and that's what I focus with my students .

I don't focus on how much did you get done by the end of the term as far as how much memorization did you complete . We make it a goal that every single day sit with the Quran for 20 minutes minimum , but that 20 minutes make sure that every single day you get those 20 minutes in .

If you miss a day , it's fine , you'll make up for it on another day , but don't make up for like 30 days in one day . And that has really supported my students because now the focus is on I can do 20 minutes . I'm not going to beat myself up . You know , at the end of those 20 minutes I've , I've been sitting there , I'm spending time with the Quran .

It's part of the journey Um , it's reward and it's really supported people in remaining consistent . The goal could be five minutes . You know we tend to belittle small steps like five minutes , but five minutes by the end of the year would add up even if you did five minutes a day .

I'm just using this as an example , but really taking advantage of the morning time , that time where you don't have a million things on your plate , where everyone else might even be asleep , that time in the morning , you know , after the morning prayer , maybe even before the morning prayer , um , which also gives um a special blessing , and the rest of the day .

Another thing that you know my teachers always stress is circles of like influence , circles of care . So you know , really looking at , okay , what in the middle circle , what are my immediate priorities and in which circle does every , everything fall in and cause ? It doesn't make sense .

I remember one time my teacher saying something very that that's stuck with me till this day is there's no point in sitting there reading Quran If sink is full of dishes and you know there's X , y and Z , so many other priorities and you're just like , no , I'm going to sit here and do this .

Now there may be a time where that is the right thing to do because you're prioritizing yourself and maybe it also involves enrolling family members to support . There's no such thing as a cut and dry prescription , every single situation , realizing that every single situation has its own quote unquote prescription or right way to do it or optimal way .

But so I think just really sitting and seeing , okay , what are my priorities ? So many other ways . There's in the crying venture journal I purposely put pages where you can map out your entire week to see , so you fill it in with things that you're doing every week . For example , let's say you have a class every week from eight to nine .

Um , your , your child has soccer practice every day from three to four . Those are in there . You then you see where do I have chunks of time ? And there's a book by Laura Vanderkam . Um 168 hours . You have more time than you think , so where are those those times that we're just letting them slip away ?

And then we start seeing wow , I have like a whole two hour block of time here . Could I potentially insert something I want to do into that time ? So , just becoming aware of time again and I've mentioned awareness a lot . Awareness is so important . It's like being aware of our minds , being aware of our time , our schedule , um , so a lot of that .

So I don't have any like cut and dry answer . I I definitely would not say no , you can do anything . Yes , yeah , you go for it . Um , you know , without knowing the situation .

Then you can tailor your availability of time or the beliefs you have available or the support you have available and you can tailor your day to meet the impossible goal or the next goal that you have .

And it really caught my attention when you say that we just have to observe these thoughts coming and that nonjudgmental observation is an extremely important skill to develop , because that constant self-critical voice how come I'm thinking that , why can't I do this ? And this constant self-badgering , it comes very natural .

The not believing of that self-critical voice does not come natural . That's something you have to practice , that's something that you have to actively participate in and , as women , that's an extremely important skill to develop because they don't teach us that in schools . And second , that's the kind of narrative we end up living our life by .

Those are the kind of narratives that we accidentally end up teaching our children and you know , the whole next generations get designed by that and influenced by that . So it's extremely important and I'm a big proponent of everything you said . That's exactly what I teach practice preach in my coaching program through A to Z .

Now I know we're kind of coming to the end of the interview , but tell me I know you mentioned something about the holistic endocrinology , what that program entails . How can people learn more about that ? How do you think they'll benefit from it ? From your expertise , you could just kind of expand on that a little bit .

It's going to include education , it's going to include coaching , also for residents of certain States , um they can actually work with me , um as as their physician . Um , that's not open to all States , of course . Um as as their physician . Um that's not open to all States , of course , because of legal reasons .

Um , and a lot of it is coming down to the root cause of why a person is not feeling well . You know , if somebody is fatigued , um losing hair , gaining weight , you know it's easy to um kind of just mask up those symptoms by perhaps prescribing a medication . But the question that holistic medicine and functional medicine asks is but why ?

So , teaching people , supporting people in you know , coming out of their head , coming down into their heart , coming down into their bodies , calming their nervous system , activating the vagus nerve , all of that is important in health . And then , of course , there's the spiritual that goes along with it as well .

You know , what are we connected to , who are we connected to and what is our purpose in life ? So in the next few weeks and months , there will be programs available for women to work on all these different areas of their lives . I wanted to just backtrack a little bit , because you did ask an important question .

I do acknowledge the privilege that I have in that you mentioned .

For example , I had parents who supported me in my journey of medicine , and I am fully aware that there are many people , many women , who don't have that privilege , who don't have that kind of background , and what I will say is that , again , the same principles do apply as far as beliefs about ourselves and everything .

And even though I'm privileged in that area , there are other areas in my life where I came from a not so privileged standpoint and those are things that I worked on to overcome , and I would say that's where working with a coach is extremely beneficial , because just having that outside viewpoint and the support so you know , maybe there's no other support in one's

life , you know , from family , friends , it's it's a matter of finding one's tribe , finding that support and it might come from a place you never even imagined and then realizing that everything at the end of the day , from a religious standpoint , that's so important to realizing that everything is , you know , the way it is and it's perfect because , nothing happens

without the will of Allah . Allah and you know . One person might have a headstart in one area , another person might have some other , you know blessing early on or later in their life . It all balances out .

What I meant to say is that everyone , like you emphasized , has their set of challenges , has their set of comfort and support and , like you say , coaches can help you see where you have support , where you might not be actually actively visualizing it existing .

You didn't even know that you're getting support from a certain aspect in your life , just because you're not ready to receive it . So just kind of sharpening that voice in your head , just kind of attuning that antenna to listen to where that support is because the biggest support you have is from Allah SWT .

When you take a step towards him he runs towards you and just kind of internalizing or re-believing all of those beliefs , because we were all born on the fitra , we are all born on the fitra . Somewhere along the way we just forget it .

So just kind of polishing that heart , just kind of reaffirming that faith and kind of just on an ongoing basis , relearning those pathways becomes the journey . Relearning those pathways becomes the journey .

And when you have support in certain aspects of life and not in others , how can you translate support in the areas where you're not seeing it , and I'm extremely passionate about that .

I'm all about teaching women how to be able to do that on their own and to move on in their life according to how they design it , how they visualize it and what they value .

So thank you so much , and , for anybody who's wondering , I'm going to be leaving links in the show notes about all the programs that you offer , your website and the holistic endocrinology coaching program that you're offering . Inshallah , it's going to be a great asset to our community . I'm looking forward to it myself .

Before we part , I just want to maybe ask you one last question , and that is I always ask my listeners to listen for thoughts that take and borrow to enhance their own experience in life . What is one belief that has always helped you in getting to that next step ?

That , to me , is something that it keeps me centered and it realigns me because , as we know , uh , there's so much going on around us all the time , and even while it's , um , beautiful to have , have goals and have goals and accomplishments and everything , unless I am connected to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and not only connected when I say that , what does that

mean ? But really realizing that he is in charge of everything , he knows what's going on with me , every single thing I do , ultimately my intention is for Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala . Realigning that intention , I'm bringing it back to what is my purpose on this earth .

You know , ultimately , that's what it is , um , so that's the thought that when I , when I see myself , uh , getting caught up in things that are not , you know , serving me , all of the things that we talked about , um , I I bring it back , okay .

Sometimes you just get angry at children or the mess in the house or the things that need to be done , and it's always , always a very good reminder to just come back and hang on to that rope of Allah . Thank you so much . It's been a privilege and honor and I would like to thank you from the bottom of my heart .

If , inshallah , another opportunity arises , we will continue this conversation . Thank you for the bottom of my heart . If , inshallah , another opportunity arises , we will continue this conversation .