So last week, we had four brave participants take the ProductiveMuslim Time tracking experiment (check out what the participants had to do here).

Sister Farah:

I must admit, I did find it difficult to track my time every 20 minutes. At the start it was easy because I knew I had to do it but through the week I kept losing track of tme and forgetting. 

 

I began my 'experiment' on Sunday. I used the Taskinater a lot so I used it in my 6 days that I took part in this 'experiment'. This helped me to get 'organised' in my daily life.

As I try to structure my life around Salah I found it difficult to pray my salah due to university commitments (no excuse I know) at which I was troubled and horrified at, so I tried to make more of a conscious effort.

If I didn't do something I had planned to do in one day I would make it my responsibility to get all my tasks done in another day. However, I only managed to get a handful of tasks done, but they were the most important if that is any consolation :P

Doing this 'experiment' allowed me to spend a lot of  time with those who I consider to be Family and friends, which I wouldn't normally do .'

What I appreciated the most was using Taskinater to create block bookings for Salah and just taking a moment to remember Allah (SWT). This also allowed me to be more effective in a lot of daily activities such as helping with chores etc.

Granted it was not easy but Alhamdolillah I have learnt a lot about my self. Basically I am more productive that what I was in the past subhan'Allah.

Br. Ahmad:

This was a pretty interesting experiment, I learned so much this past weeks about time management, I could run my own website! 

 

The experiment was simple:  have a list of 7 productive things you do in the day, each time you start those activities you turn the stopwatch on, and then turn it off when you stop (ie. Get distracted).

 

The stopwatch, has turned from something I leave in bathrooms while doing wudhu, from something I leave in my clothes while they get washing-machined, to becoming my best friend.

 

The experiment was rather depressing!

 

It made me realize 2 things:

1. How much time I and we use on unproductive things.

2. How quick it is for me and us to get easily distracted.

The fact that my stopwatch was closed most of the day, and how when the clock actually started ticking (meaning I was doing something productive), the little time it took for me to stop the clock made me ask myself: why am I so unproductive?

 

I noticed the pattern-- the BIG DISTRACTIONS

• Communication
• email, facebook, texting, face 2 face
• Passion and doing what we enjoy
• Sinning, TV, videos, food, entertainment..
• Feeling good about ourselves
• Always worried about other people's thoughts on you and what they say bout you..

 

For example: one of the tasks I had to do was clean my room. As a guy, clean rooms don't come natural. (as a muslim, they should.. ) So I started, and since there was no facebook or email access involved, I thought it would be quick and focused job. But less than 10 min. into it… BAM! A text message!  All my intentions of productivity were distracted in some da'wah ideas… Next day I cleaned my room again (I never got back to it the first day :P), this time going the extra mile, I closed my phone and my laptop, and this time I was determined to finish cleaning it for sure! But 13 min later, Mama called "AHMADDDD I NEED YOU TO DO SOMETHING".

 

I closed the stopwatch with my dreams of a clean room shattered..

 

So you see how you can easily get distracted, by these things, the key is to first recognize them, then minimize them to productive things. Like when I reflect to both incidents, if I told my mom or my friend that I was cleaning my room, I'm sure they would be in shock and leave me to my business lol.. But I sort of didn't wanna clean. I did end up fully cleaning it with my brother before Jumu'ah, ALHAMDOLILLAH! All praise to Allah :)

 

Those are some tips, reminders, insights I learned throught the week..

So my experiment showed me we simply, as humans, like to MAXIMIZE their time in doing things we love, and Minimize the time spent in things they don't love..

 

It's natural.

You love food, you hate medicine.

You love hanging out with friends, you hate going to school..

 

The key is to maximize your time in things that will help you long term, to reprioritize, get things done. And in between create break times where you allow yourself to get distracted.. I have more lessons, but this is sufficient for now,, More tips to come soon inshAllah :D

 

Last but not least, this lecture changed my life in time management last week, A must listen, It will change yours too inshAllah! Don’t be lazy, listen! Click here.