As a young man how do I achieve success to attain happiness?

Question:

Please teach me the way to success and tell me how I can attain happiness! I am a young man. I would like to see myself in the best position in this life and in the afterlife. What is the way to that? Everyone has an opinion, but I, because of my young age, do not know which opinion is the best.

The answer:

The way to a successful life begins with you. The beginning is the self, which if you change, Allah will help you reach success and happiness, but if you leave it to do as it pleases, you will never reach whatever it is you dream of.
Therefore, I would like to guide you to the following:
1. Discover yourself! In this life you can be great and your mention will be recorded in the list of the great if you can only discover your own talents and abilities.

The way to a successful life begins with you. The beginning is the self, which if you change, Allah will help you reach success and happiness, but if you leave it to do as it pleases, you will never reach whatever it is you dream of.

2. When you assign an aim to yourself, know that you not only need accurate thinking, but you also need a strong spirit and high determination to help you reach the advanced steps in the way of success. The source of this strong spirit and high determination is the true belief that connects you with Allah the Almighty, intellectually and practically. To get this source, you have to recite the Qur’an deeply and ponderingly and have to worship Allah in the heart of the night and offer night prayers.
3. To keep your success safe from plagues, you have to be aware of the plagues. They are the following:
a. Bad friends
b. Imagining oneself to be ill
c. Putting off the work of today until tomorrow
d. Convincing oneself to retreat from doing good deeds
e. Not acquiring new information that concerns oneself

When you assign an aim to yourself, know that you not only need accurate thinking, but you also need a strong spirit and high determination to help you reach the advanced steps in the way of success. The source of this strong spirit and high determination is the true belief that connects you with Allah the Almighty, intellectually and practically. To get this source, you have to recite the Qur’an deeply and ponderingly and have to worship Allah in the heart of the night and offer night prayers.