Your decisions create your destiny.
The three decisions that control your destiny are:
1. Your decisions about what to focus on.
2. Your decisions about what things mean to you.
3. Your decisions about what to do to create the results you desire.
- Tony Robbins
"Happiness is a feeling of contentment, and progress equals happiness.
It's such a feeling of a contentment of present day and be better for tomorrow.
Don't too much worry about the future, don't regret about the past, live fully the present.
That is happiness."
- Dzikra Yuhasyra
Sources: Tony Robbins, Mel Robbins, Ustadz Salim A. Fillah
I have just finished listening to an audiobook entitled "Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity, and Poverty" by Daron Acemoglu and James A. Robinson, narrated by Dan Woren on Audible. Why Nations Fail highlights that prosperity is largely shaped by institutions. Nations are more likely to succeed when political and economic institutions create broad opportunities, protect rights, encourage innovation, and allow people to participate in economic and political life. In contrast, poverty often persists when power and wealth are concentrated in the hands of a narrow elite.
The book also emphasizes that prosperity requires both a capable state and political pluralism. Governments must be strong enough to enforce laws, provide public goods, and maintain stability, but political power must also be constrained and broadly distributed to prevent corruption, exploitation, and the domination of society by a small group.
At the same time, history matters, but it is not destiny. Critical moments—such as colonialism, revolutions, crises, and technological change—can push nations toward different paths. Inclusive institutions may create a virtuous circle that reinforces prosperity and participation, while extractive institutions can produce a vicious circle that preserves inequality and concentrated power.
Ultimately, the book argues that economic growth alone is not enough. Extractive systems may generate growth temporarily, but lasting prosperity requires innovation, creative destruction, and institutions that allow opportunities to extend beyond the ruling elite. The central message of Why Nations Fail is clear: the path to prosperity is inseparable from the struggle over political power and the institutions that shape society.
I want to share to you some insights and key takeaways from each chapter on the audiobook. Here they are, happy learning and enjoying!
Saya ingin membagikan podcast saya bersama IA ITB Jawa Barat bekerja sama dengan Ditlumnier ITB dengan tajuk Podcast Narasi Alumni Episode 1 - "Karir dan Bisnis di Bidang Pertanian" bersama Dzikra Yuhasyra dan Kang Ade Suyitno. Berikut video YouTube nya, selamat menyimak! Enjoy!
Semoga bermanfaat!
"End Game Dzikra Yuhasyra ingin Menjadi Seorang Ekonom Pertanian"
Nantikan Narasi Alumni Podcast bersama IA ITB Jawa Barat dan Kang Ade Suyitno bekerja sama dengan Ditlumnier ITB !!! 🔥🔥
"Makna Sukses bagi Seorang Dzikra Yuhasyra"
Nantikan Narasi Alumni Podcast bersama IA ITB Jawa Barat dan Kang Ade Suyitno!
I have just finished listening to an audiobook entitled "Principles for Dealing with the Changing World Order: Why Nations Succeed or Fail" by Ray Dalio, narrated by Jeremy Bobb and Ray Dalio on Audible. Ray Dalio’s "Principles for Dealing with the Changing World Order: Why Nations Succeed or Fail" reveals that the rise and fall of empires are not random events, but the result of a predictable, mechanical "Big Cycle" driven by timeless cause-and-effect relationships. Nations consistently evolve through a progression from emergence to preeminence and eventual decline, a trajectory dictated by 18 measurable determinants—most importantly, the quality of education, technological innovation, economic competitiveness, and military strength. Dalio argues that because human nature remains constant, history inevitably "rhymes," allowing observers to use these patterns as a template to anticipate future shifts in global wealth and power.
The most potent driver of these shifts is the cyclical nature of money, credit, and debt. Empires rise when they successfully harness productive capitalism, but they inevitably sow the seeds of their own decline through excessive debt-financed consumption and the widening of wealth and values gaps. Eventually, these burdens force central banks to print vast amounts of money, which devalues the currency and reduces the purchasing power of creditors, triggering a painful restructuring process that resets the global order. Recognizing that no reserve currency—from the Dutch guilder to the British pound to the US dollar—has ever lasted forever is crucial for investors who seek to preserve wealth during these inevitable transitions.
Internally, nations oscillate between periods of harmonious, productive order and destructive, polarized disorder. When wealth and political gaps reach extremes during economic downturns, society typically descends into intense conflict, populism, and radical redistributions of power—a stage characterized by the demonization of political opponents and the breakdown of institutional norms. Dalio identifies the United States as currently being in the late stages of this cycle, where severe polarization and unsustainable fiscal conditions create a "toxic mix" that significantly elevates the risk of internal strife.
Externally, the global balance of power is constantly tested, as rising rivals—like China today—eventually challenge the existing superpower. While the prospect of military war is horrifying, Dalio emphasizes that "stupid wars" are often triggered by the prisoner’s dilemma and the fear that any strategic retreat will be perceived as terminal weakness. Ultimately, the trajectory of both the US and China will depend less on external conflict and more on the "war with ourselves"—the ability of each nation to maintain its internal health, foster productivity, and sustain win-win relationships rather than sliding into mutually destructive lose-lose battles for supremacy.
I want to share to you some insights, key takeaways, and excerpts from each chapter. Here they are, happy learning and enjoying!
I have just finished listening to an audiobook entitled "Humanizing the Economy: Co-operatives in the Age of Capital" by John Restakis and narrated by David M. Adams on Audible. The global co-operative movement provides a crucial, humane alternative to the destructive forces of predatory finance capitalism. For centuries, the free market ideology has operated under the delusion that economics exists in a vacuum, separating market mechanisms from social reality and dehumanizing labor in the process. However, true democracy must extend beyond politics and be firmly planted into the economic sphere. Co-operatives consistently demonstrate that it is entirely possible to subordinate the market to democratic, social control, ensuring that economic systems serve human needs rather than merely maximizing corporate profit or absentee shareholder wealth.
At the heart of this democratic alternative is the profound power of reciprocity and social capital, which serve as highly sustainable and efficient economic engines. Unlike traditional capitalist models driven solely by isolated self-interest and hyper-competition, co-operatives are built entirely on mutual aid, trust, and shared benefits. Whether seen in the deeply integrated industrial districts of Emilia Romagna, the preventive health and eldercare networks in Japan, or the empowered sex worker co-operatives in Calcutta, reciprocity proves to be a functionally superior economic principle. It drastically lowers transaction costs, fosters fierce community loyalty, and restores human dignity by treating individuals as active, equal participants rather than passive consumers or exploited workers.
This foundation of reciprocity also dismantles the pervasive myth that co-operatives are destined to remain small, marginal alternatives incapable of competing on a global stage. The Italian experience, particularly the Emilian Model, proves that co-operative networks and consortia can achieve massive economies of scale, successfully competing against large capitalist firms in heavy industries, retail, and global exports. By combining local, democratic ownership with strategic regional networks and supportive legal frameworks—such as untaxed indivisible capital reserves—co-operatives can build immense, resilient economic power. This structural resilience withstands the systemic shocks of corporate globalization while ensuring that generated wealth remains securely anchored in the local community.
Finally, this localized economic resilience highlights the urgent need to reclaim social care and public services from both the paternalism of state bureaucracies and the predatory commodification of private markets. Social co-operatives have pioneered a revolutionary middle path by actively democratizing care, giving vulnerable users, families, and caregivers direct control over the critical services they rely on. By treating care as a relational good rather than a commercial product to be bought and sold, co-operatives humanize the economy at its most vulnerable intersections. Ultimately, humanizing the economy requires civil society to shed its defensive posture and proactively build civic markets that prioritize joy, security, and social harmony over infinite material accumulation.
I want to share to you guys the key takeaways and excerpts from the book for each chapter. So, here they are, happy learning and enjoying!
Pada hari Jumat, tanggal 5 Juni 2025, bertepatan dengan 19 Dzulhijjah 1447 H, saya melaksanakan Sholat Jumat di Masjid Jami Al-Furqon RW 08 Cigending, masjid di lingkungan RW saya. Khotib Jumat, Ustadz Ubaidillah, menyampaikan khutbah yang sangat mengena bagi saya, yaitu mengenai 4 tingkatan rezeki menurut Syekh Muhammad Mutawally As-Sya'rawi.
Beliau menyampaikan bahwa harta adalah tingkatan rezeki yang paling rendah, karena diatasnya masih ada tingkatan rezeki yang lebih tinggi, yaitu kesehatan dan kesempatan, dan di atas itu ada tingkatan yang lebih tinggi lagi, yaitu keluarga yang shaleh, termasuk anak yang shaleh didalamnya, dan tingkatan rezeki yang paling tinggi adalah ridho Allah SWT.
Beliau menyampaikan bahwa setiap orang bisa saja memiliki harta berupa uang dan benda lainnya, tapi tidak semua orang memiliki kesehatan dan kesempatan meskipun memiliki harta benda. Tidak semua orang yang memilki harta benda, kesehatan, dan keluangan, memiliki juga keluarga yang shaleh, dan tidak semua yang memiliki keluarga yang shaleh mendapat ridho Allah SWT. Maka selain mencari dan berusaha mendapatkan tiga tingkatan rezeki sebelumnya, carilah tingkatan rezeki yang paling tinggi, yaitu ridho Allah SWT, beliau berpesan.
Saya juga ingin menyampaikan khutbah Jumat lengkap mengenai topik ini dari NU Online Jabar berikut di bawah sebagai uraian lengkapnya. Selamat menyimak!
Baru saja menyelesaikan membaca buku dengan judul "Bangkitnya Kewirausahaan Sosial di Indonesia: Kisah Muhammadiyah" karya Pak M. Arsjad Rasjid P.M. @arsjadrasjid dengan Pengantar dari Prof. Haedar Nashir @haedarnashirofficial yang dipesan dari Serikat Usaha Muhammadiyah @sumu.or.id @serikatimersmuhammadiyah
Buku ini memberikan banyak inspirasi bahwa kiprah Muhammadiyah lebih dari 111 tahun sebagai salah satu entitas Socio-religiopreneurship Muslim terbesar di Dunia dengan aset lebih Rp 320 Triliun menunjukkan bahwa Indonesia memiliki best practice models dalam membangun Kewirausahaan Sosial, khususnya dalam Bidang Pendidikan, Kesehatan, dan Keuangan Syariah juga Pemberdayaan Masyarakat yang memiliki daya tahan yang sudah teruji oleh Zaman..
I have just finished listening to an audiobook entitled "The House of Wisdom: How the Arabs Transformed Western Civilization" by Jonathan Lyons, narrated by Jay Snyder on Audible. Medieval Europe’s scientific and intellectual awakening was not a spontaneous, internal phenomenon, but rather the direct result of a massive infusion of advanced Arab learning. While the early crusading West was mired in superstition, intellectual poverty, and religious fanaticism, the Muslim world had spent centuries synthesizing, refining, and expanding upon classical Greek, Persian, and Hindu knowledge. Pioneering European scholars like Adelard of Bath recognized this profound disparity and ventured into the Islamic world to acquire this wisdom, bringing back revolutionary tools like the astrolabe, the Arabic numeral system, and Euclidean geometry. This monumental transfer of knowledge fundamentally altered the trajectory of Western civilization, shifting its philosophical focus away from blind adherence to traditional church authority and toward empirical observation and rational deduction.
Furthermore, the Arab intellectual tradition was characterized by a deep, state-sponsored commitment to scientific inquiry, exemplified by institutions like the House of Wisdom in Baghdad and the vibrant, multi-confessional society of Muslim Spain. Caliphs and emirs actively patronized scholars who produced groundbreaking, original works in cartography, medicine, algebra, and astronomy. When this immense body of knowledge—along with robust Arab commentaries on Aristotelian metaphysics—flooded into Europe through translation centers in Antioch and Toledo, it inevitably clashed with rigid Catholic dogmas. However, the sheer explanatory power and practical utility of Arab science proved impossible to suppress, forcing Western scholasticism to evolve and ultimately laying the methodological groundwork for the European scientific revolution.
Ultimately, the most important key takeaways from this history revolve around the monumental, yet often willfully ignored, debt the modern West owes to Islamic civilization. First, foundational elements of Western science and daily life—from the mathematics of algebra and the clinical standards of Avicenna to the navigational cartography that fueled the Age of Discovery—are direct inheritances from Arab scholars. Second, the Arab tradition championed the compatibility of faith and reason, teaching early European intellectuals that the universe is governed by discoverable, mechanical laws rather than arbitrary supernatural whims. Finally, there has been a deliberate historical amnesia, beginning with Renaissance humanists, that systematically marginalized these Arab intermediaries to construct a false narrative of direct European descent from classical Greece, a misconception that continues to obscure the truly interconnected nature of global human progress.
I want to share to you the key takeaways and excerpts from each chapter of this audiobook. Here they are and happy enjoying!
Pada hari Sabtu, 16 Mei 2026, saya, Dzikra Yuhasyra, mengikuti Readers Connect yang diselenggarakan oleh Baca Bareng Club (BBC) untuk merayakan Hari Buku Nasional yang bertepatan pada tanggal 17 Mei 2026 sekaligus menjadi ajang silaturahmi offline, membaca buku bersama, dan sharing session dari member Baca Bareng Club yang digagas oleh pasangan suami istri alumnus ITB dan UPI, yaitu Kang Rama dan Teh Fia. Acara dilaksanakan di Cafe Kisah Manis, Dago Kota Bandung.
Beberapa waktu lalu, sebagai bagian dari IA ITB Pengda Jawa Barat Bidang Penelitian Kebijakan Publik, saya menghadiri webinar “Perkembangan Pemikiran, Praktek, dan Implikasi Pengendalian dalam Penataan Ruang” secara online yang diselenggarakan oleh SAPPK ITB. Saya akan membagikan slide materi dari dua pembicara di bawah yang menekankan mengenai pengendalian pemanfaatan tata ruang, khususnya di Ibu Kota Nusantara (IKN) yang sedang berkembang. Menariknya Pak Dr. Ir. Denny Zulkaidi, MUP dari PL ITB, sebagai pembicara mengulas mengenai disobidient society yang menjadi fenomena dalam masyarakat kita. Saya tidak akan mengupas lebih jauh, pembaca sekalian bisa menyimak rekaman dan materi paparan di bawah ya. Selamat menyimak dan belajar, Maju terus Pembangunan dan Penataan Ruang di Indonesia!
Bertrand Russell’s A History of Western Philosophy offers much more than a simple timeline of thinkers; it provides a profound cultural history of ideas. By examining how philosophical concepts sprang from their specific historical epochs, Russell allows us to see the deep connections between society and thought over more than two thousand years of history. For those of us dedicated to lifelong learning and systemic thinking, this sweeping narrative serves as a powerful reminder that our current systems of thought are built upon centuries of rigorous debate regarding wisdom, knowledge, and human experience.
Hasran, Center for Indonesian Policy Studies
● Impor daging sapi masih jadi andalan pemerintah.
● Tapi tahun 2026 ini, kuota impor hampir dimonopoli oleh BUMN.
● Kebijakan ini amat rawan disalahgunakan untuk membuka aksi rente daging sapi.
Penghujung 2025, pemerintah mengeluarkan kebijakan perdagangan yang mengancam kelangsungan usaha 105 perusahaan daging sapi di Indonesia beserta pegawainya. Lewat rapat koordinasi terbatas (Rakortas), pemerintah memutuskan kuota impor daging sapi beku sebanyak 297 ribu ton.
● Presiden Prabowo mengenalkan konsep ‘Prabowonomics’ yang diklaim bisa menumbuhkan ekonomi hingga 8%.
● Lain di klaim, ‘Prabowonomics’ justru tak menjawab akar masalah perekonomian.
● Alih-alih melesat, ekonomi Indonesia dalam bahaya karena salah alokasi anggaran.
I
have just finished listening to an audiobook entitled "The One-Straw Revolution: An Introduction to Natural Farming" by Masanobu Fukuoka, translated by Larry Korn, and narrated by David Shih on
Audible.
At the heart of The One-Straw Revolution is Masanobu Fukuoka’s radical concept of "do-nothing" farming, which fundamentally challenges the assumptions of modern agriculture. Rather than viewing nature as a wild force to be conquered, categorized, or chemically managed, Fukuoka asserts that the natural world is already perfectly balanced and complete. His method involves deliberately removing human interference—eliminating plowing, synthetic fertilizers, forced weeding, and pesticides—and instead carefully observing and cooperating with the local ecosystem. By relying on natural processes, such as using uncut straw mulch, maintaining living ground cover like white clover, and trusting the biological interplay of insects and microorganisms, Fukuoka demonstrates that the earth can provide abundant harvests effortlessly when humanity stops fighting against it.
Philosophically, the book presents a profound critique of the human intellect and the scientific method. Fukuoka argues that the specialized, reductionist approach of modern science fundamentally fragments reality, blinding humanity to the holistic, interconnected nature of the universe. By dissecting the world into narrow fields of study and arbitrarily labeling things as "good" or "bad" (such as crops versus weeds, or beneficial insects versus pests), humans create endless, exhausting battles to fix secondary problems of their own making. He advocates for abandoning this arrogant, academic "smartness" in favor of a humble, empty, and "childlike" mind. True wisdom, he suggests, lies in recognizing the severe limits of human knowledge and letting go of the ego-driven desire to improve upon a natural order that is already flawless.
Ultimately, Fukuoka’s revolution extends far beyond agricultural technique to encompass diet, culture, and spiritual liberation. He posits that a modern society disconnected from its local land and seasonal food sources inevitably becomes physically sick, culturally impoverished, and structurally driven toward exploitation and war. Returning to a simple, natural diet—eating what grows locally and seasonally with minimal processing—is essential for realigning the human body and spirit with the rhythms of the earth. The ultimate goal of natural farming is therefore not merely the cultivation of crops, but the "cultivation and perfection of human beings," fostering a peaceful, contented existence where individuals live in joyful, unpretentious harmony with the world around them.
I want to share to you the insights and key takeaways from the audiobook. So, here they are, happy learning and enjoying!
As a Junior Agricultural Economist, learning the history of Economics is a must. I have just finished listening to an audiobook entitled "A Little History of Economics" by Niall Kishtainy, narrated by Steven Crossley on Audible.
I gained valuable insights into how economic concepts and theories evolved from the Ancient Greeks through Adam Smith's era, including the development of Keynesian Economics and its critics. I want to share to you the insights and key takeaways from the audiobook, like about "The Invisible Hand" Concept from Adam Smith, or about "The Game Theory" and "The Prisoner's Dilemma".
As Kishtainy beautifully and inspiringly summarizes the essence of the entire journey: "In economics, there isn’t one ‘right’ answer that stays right forever... By appreciating the different responses of history’s thinkers we can be inspired to come up with our own." The grand, fascinating story of economics is not finished; it is a continuous, vital conversation about how we choose to build our world.
So, here they are, happy learning and enjoying!
