Success Planner is an easy to use, easy to navigate, and interactive calandar/ scheduler/ Salah reminder - an "all in one" Islamic diary. It can used for both professional (meetings, reminders, etc) and religious needs (salah reminder, adhan, daily hadith and verse of the Quran, etc).

Some of the features Success Planner includes are:

• Daily Reminders from Qur'an and Hadith: Everyday as you open the Success Planner, you will see new Verse from Qur'an and Hadith.

• Reminders about Islamic Events in a year: Success Planner not only reminds you of the event, but also gives you some suggestions for doing the good deeds for that day or duration

• Gregorian and Hijri Calendar: Success Planner gives the Dual Calendar.

• Five Times Azaan Reminder: If you are in a meeting, one can “snooze” the reminder. Success Planner will remind you again about the upcoming Salah. This is my favorite feature! Click "lock" and within a second, you are locked out on your computer. This is excellent like me, who's always tempted to finish that train of thought. And ends up delaying salah. This one click of "Lock" makes me get to my salah right that instance.

• Calendar features: Daily calendar view with a hourly breakdown. You can set appointments, reminders to these appointments and entering Salah points, reviewing the appointments

• Appointments creation & reminders: Success planner will make sure that, the user is aware of Prayer times while setting appointments

• Prayer Points Calculations: Success Planner provides a prayer points calculation function. You enter your points - based on how you prayed– with Jamaat (27 points), without Jamaat (1 point). It's a multiple choice option. I'm not too sure about this feature. How about the sisters - who might not have an oppurtunity to pray in Jam'ah? They always get a "1" point? An area of improvement for sure, insha Allah

• Habits from Qur'an: Successful habits are selected from Surah Mominun (verses 1-10) and Surah Al-Imran (verse 104)

• Success Planner helps you set targets on how to achieve 7 habits – the targets can be set for daily, weekly, monthly and yearly. Success Planner then provides regular reminders and close follow-ups, helps you adopt these 7 habits.

• Roles in Life: A person to be successful in this life and the next, needs to perform various roles in life. The essential ones are list in Success Planner. One can set targets in each role for daily, weekly, monthly and yearly

• Target's follow-up: categorize them as Not Started, Started, In progress, Completed, Overdue targets or can be grouped on a daily, weekly, monthly and yearly basis

• Other features include, Prayer performance charts (graphical representation based on your "points"), Notes section, Printing options and RSS feeds. RSS feeds help you to have selected news links on desktop and access to news headlines.

To purchase and read more about Success Planner (MindSoft CompuTech) at: http://www.mindsoftct.com/SPHome.html

The key to spiritual and material success for Muslims

"Early to bed, early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise" - a famous maxim coined by the American scientist, writer and inventor, Benjamin Franklin.  And he was not alone in these beliefs.  The writer Samuel Johnson also warned that "nobody who does not rise early will ever do any good".

This is not just opinion but proven scientific fact.  A study by researchers at Brigham Young University in Provo in the American state of Utah found that:

"students who habitually go to bed late and sleep late the next day have lower grade point averages (GPAs) than students with early-to-bed and early-to-rise sleeping habits.  The later students slept in the morning, the lower their grades tended to be.  Out of all the factors studied, weekday and weekend wakeup times had the strongest association with students' GPAs. Each hour over the average that students slept in on weekdays was associated with a 0.13-point drop on the GPA (0.0-4.0 scale)."
Source: Journal of American College Health 2000; 49: 125-130

 Of course, we Muslims are well used to getting up not just at the crack of dawn but actually half an hour before it to begin the day with the ritual worship of fajr salat (and even earlier in Ramadan before starting the day's fast).

 Spiritual Success

 What are the spiritual blessings of fajr salat?

According to a hadith recorded in Sahih Muslim, prophet Mohammed (Peace be upon him) stated that the action which is dearest to God is salat at its proper times.  On another occasion prophet Mohammed (Peace be upon him) also said to his companions:

"The five set prayers may be compared to a stream of fresh water, flowing in front of your house, into which you plunge five times each day. Do you think that would leave any dirt on your body?' When they replied: 'None at all!' Mohammed (Peace be upon him) said: 'Indeed the five prayers remove sins, just as water removes dirt."  (Bukhari, Muslim)

And once while standing beside a tree in autumn, he stated:

"When a Muslim observes his salat with due attention and devotion, he sheds his sins just like this tree is shedding its leaves." (Ahmad)

Moreover, in the Quran we are told that prostrating (in salat) brings us closer to God (96:1).

Prophet Mohammed (Peace be upon him) also tells us that fajr salat along with isha is particularly rich in blessings:

"If people only knew what blessings are in the fajr and isha prayers, they would come to them, even if they had to crawl." (Bukhari and Muslim)

And according to Utham, (RA), prophet Mohammed (Peace be upon him) said:

"To perform the dawn prayer, [fajr], in congregation is like keeping vigil throughout the night." (Muslim).

Material Success

In Surah 23, ayats 1-2 of the Quran we learn that:

"Certainly the believers have succeeded, those who offer salat with devotion."

Spiritual success certainly.  But as Muslims we are also called upon not just to earn spiritual blessings for the next world but also to be materially successful in this one.  Despite the obvious call to work hard and make the most of our abilities demonstrated in the parable of the talents, the Christian West has often had an ambiguous attitude towards wealth, sometimes glorifying poverty and misinterpreting Jesus's gospel statement that "love of money is the root of all evil" to mean that money itself is the root of all evil.  As a Muslim, I am more inclined to agree with the playwright George Bernard Shaw who is reported to have said that "lack of money is the root of all evil".

[Shaw was an admirer of prophet Mohammed (Peace be upon him) and in the 1936 book The Genuine Islam referred to him as "the wonderful man" and "the saviour of humanity".]

Prophet Mohammed (Peace be upon him) himself stated:

"There will dawn a time over people when the destruction of a man will be at the hands of his wife, parents, and children. They will humiliate him because of his poverty and will make such demands which will induce him to engage in such activities (to gain more money) which will finally destroy his religion." - Baihaqi. Narrated by Ibn Mas'ood (RA) and Abu Hurairah (RA)

The other side of the coin, so to speak, is:

"How excellent is the wealth of the Muslim". - Sahih Bukhari hadith 4.95 Narrated by Abu Said Al Khudri (RA)

It is wealth which enables us to take care of our families, keep on the straight path and avoid doing wrong in order to make ends meet.  It is wealth which enables us to meet our obligation to pay Zakat.  It is wealth which enables us to help others and contribute to Dawah through additional charity.  It is wealth which enables us to meet our obligation to go on Hajj.

It was wealthy Muslim traders who peacefully spread Islam throughout West Africa and the areas we now know as Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei.  And if we look at the first generation of Muslims, we find the shining example of Abdur-Rahman Ibn Awl.  The eighth person to embrace Islam, he migrated twice to Abyssinia.  Abdur-Rahman distinguished himself in both the battles of Badr and Uhud, suffering more than twenty wounds at the latter.  Then starting with nothing, he went on to achieve tremendous success as a merchant, becoming the richest of the companions.  From his great wealth, Abdur-Rahman financed the Muslim armies, contributed to the upkeep of the family of Mohammed (Peace be upon him) after the prophet's death and was universally renowned for his fabulous generosity.

So how can we turn getting up for Fajr to our material advantage?  Certainly not by slinking back into bed again and snuggling up for another few hours.  As prophet Mohammed (Peace be upon him) said:

"The most excellent jihad is that for the conquest of self." (Bukhari)

In the context of fajr, what this means is, once up, stay up!  Stay up and do something useful.  Work on your goals.  If you don't have any, set some.  Decide what you want to achieve in life.  Devise a plan to make those goals a reality then take action.  You will be amazed at what you can get done in those few quiet hours when most of the rest of the world is still asleep.  You can organise your day, learn a language, work on your degree course or get fit by going jogging in the coolness of the morning.

You can also turn staying up after fajr to your career advantage by driving into work earlier, beating the traffic then packing so much productive work into the next hour without interruption because no one is there to pop into your office and the phone hasn't started ringing yet.

A further fajr advantage is that along the way you can listen on cassette to the wisdom and inspiration of motivational and business speakers.  We spend hundreds of ours commuting in our cars every year, by some estimates the equivalent to two full terms of university tuition.  Put this time to good use, especially first thing in the morning when you are relaxed and driving on a virtually empty road, when you are bright and fresh and can best take it all in.  Turn your car into a university on wheels.

Each of our lives is different, but you know how to apply these ideas to your own situation.

Take action now!

"Ah, that's too hard", I hear you say.  Well God assures us in the Quran that:

"We do not lay a burden on anyone beyond his capacity." (Quran: 23:62)

It is possible to turn these early hours to great advantage.  It's desirable and it's beneficial.  We are obliged to get up for fajr anyway.  From this we derive a spiritual advantage.  Let's stay up and get to work.  Why have just one type of advantage when we can have two - spiritual and material.  As Muslims we are uniquely placed.  The next fajr is less than 24 hours from now.  First thing tomorrow morning make sure that you take advantage of your fajr double advantage.

[Author's footnote: After working on other tasks, I started this article at 6 am and have just finished it at 8.20.  Now for a day's work!]

Share your thoughts with us below!

Sister Faiza

I began on Saturday, the 24th of January. Out of the 21 tasks that I had to set for 7 days, to my utter disappointment, I was able to complete only 9.

These tasks were my academic assignments, studying for exams and some work related stuff. I found out that those tasks that I was able to complete were the ones which had reached their deadlines and were due the next day. I was able to concentrate better while doing these tasks and I think I was mostly focused until 45 minutes to over an hour after I'd begun working on them. 

I have to admit, I was a bit disappointed with my performance on the rest of the tasks. I was easily distracted and I would lose focus in the first 30 minutes itself and keep trying to get back after almost every 10 minutes thereafter. So needless to say, I wasn't able to complete them in the time blocked for them but sometimes, I did overtime which I didn't like very much.

But yeah, I'm gonna use the Taskinator for a long time to come! I may not have completed many of my tasks but by blocking time for them, I at least started work on them!

Sister Sana’a,

At the end of 6 days with the Time Tracking Experiment, here are the lessons I’ve learnt.

Before I mention how my experiment went, here are the approximate Salah timings in my area, so that it’s easier to comprehend the hours I’m discussing inshaAllah.

Fajr: 5:05 am   Dhuhr: 11:55 am   Asr: 3:00 pm   Maghrib: 5:20 pm   Isha: 6:50 pm

1. Work started with a duaa and Bismillah is more productive inshaAllah. And we should seek the pleasure of Allah in whatever it is we are working on.
2. When making a To-Do list, it’s not sufficient to just list the tasks that need to be accomplished. Time slots need to blocked out so that one doesn’t plan to do more than can be handled in 24 hours.
3. Besides the major tasks that need to be done, a little list of alternative tasks should also be kept handy to be turned to in the event of any disruptions -- computers may break down, there may be some minor incident around the home/workplace that doesn’t permit the task at hand to be carried out completely.
4. Certain time slots should be left empty, as standby, so that we’re not in too much of a mess if something unexpected turns up - phone call, guests, family emergency etc. That way socializing and interacting with people who matter doesn’t turn into a pain, it’s sad when people start to feel that family and friends are a hindrance to work. A productive muslim is one who balances his/her personal tasks with the huqooq-ul-ibaad.
5. If we know we’re going to have a tough day out, then it’s better to keep not-so-tough tasks to deal with in the evening at home. BAD idea to try to get something HUGE done as soon as you get back home. We might think we’ll be able to handle it and maybe we will be, but to actually be tired is quite different from imagining it! I missed doing an entire task because I slept off in the afternoon and had expected to be fresh enough to handle it!
6. Certain “interesting” tasks should be kept for being done in the mornings, after Fajr, to avoid the temptation of going back to sleep -- this one is for people on holiday or those who work/study from home.
7. The time after Fajr is great for getting things done, primarily because there are so many hours until the next Salah -- atleast in my part of the world! J -- so things that take up more time might be taken care of during these hours, inshaAllah.
8. These morning hours are better suited to tasks that require mental exertion, once you get the hang of it.
9. Tasks after Dhuhr tend to get interrupted, thanks to lunch, so time should be blocked out accordingly.
10. BAD idea to try to fit in a huge task between two Salah times that follow each other quickly. It’s easy to think that we would get part of it done after say, Maghrib, and the rest after Isha (1.5 hour between the two). But what actually happens is one could get so engrossed in the task that Isha gets delayed!
11. The time after Isha is again great for getting things done but it should be previously decided when bed time is going to be, else waking up for Fajr becomes a major task in itself!
12. Having meals BEFORE a Salah helps to be able to work uninterrupted after Salah.
13. Having lots of time before the deadline was probably one of the causes why I wasn’t able to complete some tasks. So if I put these down to be done a slightly later date I could handle some lighter tasks now, like reading, crafting etc.
14. It seems to be a good idea to block out some slots for hobbies because if we have a heavy work schedule, then these other talents become latent since we don’t ever seem to find any time for them.
15. Doing tasks after Salah might not be a suitable option for those who have too many people around who need attention. Unless of course all these people are aware that the time after Salah is your personal time and you will not be available for them. Such people would be more comfortable working when others are otherwise occupied; kids are asleep, family members are out etc.

Sister Yumna

I am a stay at home mum. We just recently moved to  Saudi Arabia. I spend most of my time in front of the pc. Things would get done in the house. but I always got side tracked, and ended up in front of the pc. I lacked focus.

My assignment was to schedule tasks for after salaah. I used to rush through salaah so I could do things, which inevitably led me to the pc, to check a message or FB… anything to keep me from doing my tasks. Since I started this experiment, I am more aware of my time, and how I use it. How little of my time I actually dedicated to Allah Ta’ala and my family.

I gave myself time limits to do tasks, and masha-allah I finished way before the time elapsed. I spent less time idling around.

Fajr time: I used to rush through salaah so I could help the kids get ready for school.
Now, I plan my time, and sort most of the kids stuff at night, so mornings are more free, less stressful and also I can read some Quraan.

Duhur: This is my time that I dedicated to Allah Ta’ala.I could read more dhikr, and more quraan

Asr: Kids are home, so this time was dedicated to spending time with them.

Magrib: I have to work more on this time, but I want to eventually free up more time so I can read nafl salaah and also read some quraan

Esha: This time is dedicated to cleaning up after supper. Also spend more time with my kids bedtime.

Well, that's all folks. Five great participants with five great results. A lot for us to think over, and a lot for us to learn from. If you were doing the experiment, how would you do it differently? What obstacles would you face? And how would you overcome them? Let us know in the comments section below and let's really learn from each other.

This information should benefit anyone involved in Islamic organizations, but it really needs extra attention from those in leadership positions in their communities to start to effect the type of change needed to prevent dysfunction.

The Five Dysfunctions Are

1. Absence of Trust
2. Fear of Conflict
3. Lack of Commitment
4. Avoidance of Accountability
5. Inattention to Results

These are laid out by Patrick Lencioni in his book, The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable. While the pertinence to a professional or corporate environment is obvious, these are at the core of the problems faced by Masajid and Islamic organizations across the country.

1. Absence of Trust

The fear of being vulnerable with team members prevents the building of trust within the team.

Understanding trust means refining our notions of the term. Trust means knowing the others around you have good intentions, and that you don’t need to shield yourself around them. It is distinct from reliance, which is “trusting” that a peer will perform a given task reliably. Trust is being able to open up, and show vulnerability while knowing that those vulnerabilities won’t be used against you.

What we find with many Islamic organizations is that people’s actions are dictated by what others will think about them. Think about the person elected to be the Masjid treasurer with no accounting or financial experience whatsoever. This person continues to do this job day in and day out, despite not being able to do it well. Instead, this person is focusing on holding this position for strategic reasons vis-a-vis others within the organization. He is constantly trying to protect himself. If trust existed within the organization, he would be able to display that vulnerability and instead be 100% focused on performing the treasurer duties to the best of his ability.

It is commonplace that the higher ranking members in these organizations are usually the “well-educated” ones (e.g. the “doctor uncle”). One thing we often fail to realize is that these people have been trained their entire lives to be competitive with their peers and constantly outperform them. Personal reputations are at stake. If these instincts cannot be ‘turned off’ for the betterment of the organization, then a lot of time is invested into managing the fallout. Examples of this include having constant meetings to manage people’s behaviors, and seeing a decrease in the willingness of organization members to help one another.

Organizationally, another factor that contributes to a loss of trust is not identifying and utilizing people’s skills. How can trust exist in a masjid construction project when a Muslim contractor who has been managing construction projects for a living for over 20 years is sitting around while the organization turns over the masjid construction plans to a pediatrician?

This is the fundamental building block to freeing Islamic organizations of dysfunction, and it is perhaps the hardest because it requires the greatest overhaul in attitude and environment.

Once established however, it can foster constructive conflict.

2. Fear of Conflict

The desire to preserve artificial harmony stifles the occurrence of productive, ideological conflict.

-Important concept to understand: Ideological conflict vs. Personal conflict-

Have you ever met a husband and wife who never had an argument with one another? Have you ever met a parent that never had a disagreement with his or her children? Didn’t think so.

Why do we expect that Islamic organizations should operate under some kind of happy-go-lucky utopia? To preserve this naive notion of how things should be, we avoid engaging in any kind of conflict. What ends up happening then is that direct conflict is avoided within the organization, but it is replaced with back-stabbing, personal conflicts, and politics.

You have seen the organization where there may be a body of 7 people. 3 of them meet separately, and 4 of them meet separately. Then they concoct conspiracy theories about how the opposing camp really feels about an issue, and why they are pushing a particular position over another. Then they get riled up, and go out to the community seeking more support for their own side. Next thing you know, it’s an all out community conflict with name-calling, people not talking to each other, and the conflict finally erupting at a dinner party at some innocent person’s house while the innocent bystanders try to enjoy some chicken biryani.

Muslim organizations simply seem to want to avoid having any healthy conflict (discussion). This is why they all dread meetings that are boring, and where nothing gets done. When organization members trust each other, they can talk freely with one another and debate the merits of different ideas. Sit down and completely hash it out. A certain level of maturity is of course required, so that the debate does not turn personal. The element of trust is what allows people to freely credit or discredit ideas without worrying about hurting someone’s feelings (and then later making personal attacks behind their back).

Meetings should be lively and focus on the concepts and ideas being discussed – even if they become emotional. Let people be passionate about why they feel that a certain project is a waste of money, or that the dome of the masjid should be 25 feet in diameter instead of 30 feet, and so on.

This is important because once the merits of an idea have been thoroughly discussed, everyone has had a chance to air their objections or concerns, and people can respond to them. So let the best ideas win. Once that is done, even the people who initially opposed the idea, can support it from an organizational perspective. Contrast this with a board member who unwillingly votes in favor of a certain project, waiting for it to fail, then running around telling the community, “I told you so!”

3. Lack of Commitment

The lack of clarity or buy-in prevents team members from making decisions to which they will commit.

Commitment only comes from the step above – once everyone’s perspectives and opinions have been heard, they can all buy into the concept knowing that all ideas have been considered. And of course, that discussion cannot take place without step 1 – establishing trust.

According to Lencioni, the two biggest factors hindering commitment are:

1. Desire for consensus
2. Need for certainty

It seems many Islamic organizations refuse to move forward even one step without both of those being in place. Finding consensus is a nearly impossible task, and consensus is usually sought out of fear of backlash. It seems leaders are unwilling to make decisions without 100% support in case something goes wrong, they can defend themselves. This is unhealthy for the growth of any organization.

People do not need to agree with a decision in order to support it. As long as their ideas have been properly heard (explained in the step above), then they can rally around the decision – even if they disagree with it.

The need for certainty is closely related to the phenomenon of analysis paralysis. Organizations are unwilling to make a decision until a certain amount of data is available to them – at which point it might be too late. They have an innate need to feel like they have made the correct decision. Often times, a decision will need to be made quickly, and without the benefit of having all of the relevant information available. It is important to decide, and move on. Better to go down swinging then not show up at all. We are blessed with Istikharah and shura. Utilize them. Constantly delaying a decision, or flip-flopping back and forth will not help you make the correct choice, instead it will just kill your credibility.

Symptoms of lack of commitment include: ambiguity about direction and priorities, lack of confidence, fear of failure, and revisiting issues over and over for discussion. Islamic organizations need to clearly define their goals, rally around those common objectives, create an environment of learning from mistakes, and moving forward without regret.

The Prophet (sal-Allahu ‘alayhi was-Sallam) said the believer is not bitten from the same hole twice. We cannot demand perfection, but we demand the best effort.

4. Avoidance of Accountability

The need to avoid interpersonal discomfort prevents team members from holding one another accountable.

Lack of clarity and direction (as explained in the step above) makes it impossible to hold anyone accountable. How can someone be accountable if they do not know what is expected in the first place?

Successful organizations must have an environment in place where people are able to call each other out for not living up to their standards. This should be the case whether positions are paid or unpaid. People are uncomfortable letting others know that their performance may not be up to the expected standards because they fear losing a volunteer, or perhaps even a friendship. Letting these feelings fester though, will only cause those relationships to deteriorate. It is time for Islamic organizations to stop settling, and demand the best – even if it requires some personal discomfort along the way. Doing this will actually develop mutual respect amongst the people working within the organization because they know they are equally being held to the same high standards by one another.

If this accountability is not there, then people begin to simply look out for their own self-interests over and above the interests of the organization.

5. Inattention to Results

The pursuit of individual goals and personal status erodes the focus on collective success.

Once an organization has clearly defined its goals and objectives, it must focus on meeting them. When an organization loses sight of those results, their attention shifts elsewhere. Lencioni says ‘elsewhere’ in this case would be team and individual status:

Team Status: For [some], merely being part of the group is enough to keep them satisfied. For them, the achievement of specific results might be desirable, but not necessarily worthy of great sacrifice or inconvenience. As ridiculous and dangerous as this might seem, plenty of teams fall prey to the lure of status. These often include altruistic nonprofit organizations that come to believe that the nobility of their mission is enough to justify their satisfaction … as they often see success in merely being associated with their special organizations.

Individual Status: This refers … [to people focusing] on enhancing their own positions … at the expense of the team.

The collective results must be more important than individual aims and objectives. One important note is the relationship of this dysfunction to the issue of trust (step 1). Individuals getting involved must also cleanse their hearts of any ill intentions such as seeking fame and credit in the community. The eventual breakdown of an entire organization can start from the simplest of individual wants or intentions.

Concluding Thoughts

Lencioni summarized it best:

And so, like a chain with just one link broken, teamwork deteriorates if even a single dysfunction is allowed to flourish.

Another way to understand this model is to take the opposite approach – a positive one – and imagine how members of a truly cohesive team behave:

1. They trust one another.
2. They engage in unfiltered conflict around ideas.
3. They commit to decisions and plans of action.
4. They hold one another accountable for delivering against those plans.
5. They focus on the achievement of collective results

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.

1. Assalamu Alaykum, Br. Akmal, Welcome to ProductiveMuslim.com, tell us about yourself.

Walaikum-Asalaam fellow Productive Muslims, Jazak Allah for inviting me to this fantastic community, there’s not a great deal to tell about me really, except that I am 23 years old, I graduated from Aston University in Birmingham, UK, I live in Reading. I work as a SEO Developer (Search Engine Optimisation) and run www.UmmahVouchers.co.uk, UK's 1st Muslim Voucher Website.I wear size 9 shoes and..... I think we will cap that on the personal info ;)

I really love Productive Muslim efforts as a interactive arena for Muslims to engage and learn in a more digital atmosphere, one of the hardest feat's these days is engaging the Muslims on a scale that actually impacts them and I feel Productive Muslim is doing just that, with creativity and halal innovation.

2. So how did you start UmmahVouchers.co.uk? 

This is actually a funny story, around 5 months ago my sister sent me and all my family an e-mail on our work e-mails with a voucher for a pizza place, now my aunties and uncles, my father and cousins started to "reply all" to this email with vouchers and discounts and offers that they often use, this e-mail had become and official bargain hunter thread ! My father travels to London everyday and he replied one day saying, "Promoters at Paddington Station were giving away FREE loafs of bread ! I went and got a couple for the weekend". My cousin who is at university was sending us student discount websites that she uses and my aunty was just sending messages like "lol..loll....lolzz, oh dear this is so funny"

So amongst this thread I thought to myself, why is there no dedicated Muslim Voucher website, where Muslim businesses can showcase their special offers and in one place, and this is where UmmahVouchers.co.uk was born.

3. Running online business sounds challenging, how do you deal with organizing your team?

It is true, online business is hard, but Alhumdulillah hard work and honesty in business are the foundations that our beloved Prophet SAW and the Sahabah build their trade and businesses upon, so I try to emulate these practices for both spiritual reward and financial success. When it comes to organising my team I look at every task and project in 2 perspectives; 1. Islamically (Moral aspects), 2. Commercially (Business Sense) these coupled with motivation, communication and creativity make up the right ingredients for me to manage and organise the team and the project.

4. Sometimes your passion for your vision makes you overwork, and then you get so overwhelmed that you just can't function anymore. That sudden curve of productivity crashes into a straight line on zero. How can one avoid such a fall?

At the end of the day we plan, but Allah plans better and so when I feel like I am falling behind or stressing out, I take a step back and remember my creator, and usually that help me put everything in perspective and normally I get inspired in some shape or form, and when it doesn’t work then I count it as my fault and lacking rather than the fact that Allah is not listening, because we all know that Allah loves his slaves, especially the productive ones. (May Allah make us amongst the productive Muslims of this world, ameen).


5. How about time-management? How do you schedule your time?

Time-management is always a difficult task and usually as much as you try to stay on top of the schedule it never works, however the psychological factor in having a schedule and a checklist is enough to help you manage your efforts. This is an example of the power the mind has, without a schedule you almost feel lost because you have no reference measurability to call upon, however by having some kind of schedule gives an indication and calls upon the desired framework you wish you work upon, this is sufficient in keeping your time managed and productive.

I hope that makes sense, all the people who make random lists will understand exactly what I mean, btw my best friend is a "post-it-note pad".

The best tool to manage your time is actually Salah, but remember, organise your activity around Salah, not the other way around, do NOT organise Salah around your activities.

6. What do you think are the ingredients of a Productive Muslim?

Hmmm, this is very good question, however there is just a whole recipe book to become a Productive Muslim - The Sunnah and Sirah.

The Sunnah gives us the live example of the most Productive Muslim that ever lived, may peace and blessing be upon him for eternity, my opinions have no bearing against this example, all I will say is that the Sunnah was relative 1400 years ago and is even more relevant now, people often say but the etiquettes of the people of the past are not relative in this modern era, quite the opposite. The etiquettes of the past are undoubtedly the best of actions for a Productive Mind, Muslim and Human (You can have that line :P)

7. What is your upcoming venture/ Intiative/ business idea?

Hehe... Well here is an exclusive, the "Voucher Countdown" Campaign. UmmahVouchers.co.uk is giving away FREE Halal Restaurant Voucher Booklets across the UK, we have gone to your favourite halal restaurants in the biggest cities and have persuaded them to give some awesome vouchers.

But there's a catch there's only 5000 per city and no one knows where they are being released, muhahaha. You will have to keep checking UmmahVouchers.co.uk and keeping an eye out in your city for the marketing we are doing.

But you will have to be alert, we anticipate a mad rush to the locations once we publish them, but heres a hint for the first city it will be launched in... Anyone every heard of the balti triangle?


8. May Allah help you succeed in your projects, ameen. Final words of advise to our ProductiveMuslim fans?

Firstly if you liked this interview and you are now excited on saving money and supporting Muslim businesses, then please check our website out www.ummahvouchers.co.uk, register for free and start saving on all your islamic essentials, art, books, modest clothing, al kauthar courses and much more. If you are in the US or Canada, then Insh'Allah you will not have to wait to long, we have started to develop these international websites, however if you would like to help us launch this in your country then please get in touch we me info@ummahvouchers.co.uk

So Productive Muslims, word hard, pray with humility, never give up and remember "in Allah believers put their trust".

I leave you with a piece of advice I was given by a very special person, when I kept failing in every business venture I tried to start didn't work, the person said to me:

"When something doesn't work out its because Allah has something better planned for you"

Jazak Allah to Productive Muslim for featuring UmmahVouchers.co.uk, we make dua that this community prospers and grows and that you get the highest status of Jannah.

So the aim of this experiment is simple: use time-tracking as a powerful personal development and focus tool...also get some insights from our participants about what they learnt about themselves from this experiment.

To make it interesting, I’ve asked each participant to perform a different task for this experiment, hopefully the range of results would provide us with some thought-provoking results ;).

In honour of the participants, I want to mention them here along with the task they were given, wishing them all the best in this experiment! :D

Sister Farah -  Armed with a watch or timer that buzzes every 20 minutes, sister Farah will record what she does every day, every 20 minutes, for one week.  She has to record what she does "LIVE", and not at the end of the day or whenever she remembers. She can ask others to help her, but honesty would be key here. (She won't have to reveal her 'timesheets' to us - just lessons she learnt from this experiment)

Br. Ahmad  - Our YouTube star! He was given a slightly complicated time-tracking experiment. He was asked to list 5-7 different categories of projects/actions that were considered productive. Every time he starts on one of these activities, he should start his timer/stopwatch and every time he gets distracted or moves to something else, he stops the time/stopwatch. The idea is to record how long he can focus on one ‘productive’ task in one go.

Sister Faiza - Using the ProductiveMuslim taskinator, sister Faiza will list 3 important tasks she needs to get done the next day and block time out for them. She needs to assess each day whether she achieved these tasks and measure how many hours/minutes she was able to focus on each task separately.  The tasks must be ‘important’ tasks that are either part of a big project she’s working on or moves her towards an important goal in her life.

Sister Saan’a  - Same as sister Faiza’s experiment, but with a slight caveat ;). She’ll block time out for her tasks right after a Salah prayer, i.e. she’ll only work on her important tasks right after she performs Salah. She’ll measure how long she focuses on the task and if she gets it done! (Will be interesting to compare between her results and sister Faiza's inshaAllah)

I’ve asked our participants to report daily - if possible - updates on how they are doing on the ProductiveMuslim facebook fan page - just small snippets of how the experiment is going so far. By the end of the week, they’ll each do a small write up for us on what they learnt.

That’s it! Let the great timetracking experiment BEGIN! :D

(p.s. feels like an online reality productivity show lol! I’m tempted to ask you to vote who’d win..haha)

"The Key Strategies that can make anyone a Successful Leader” is a book for anyone who wants to be an exceptional leader. In this book insha'Allaah you will see that leadership can start as early as a child and continue through one's golden years, insha'Allaah. Every person has the urge to lead and has a leader within. “The Key Strategies that can make anyone a Successful Leader” shares with you some fundamental but crucial strategies which will bring out the leader within you. Learn these key strategies and implement them in your life to become an extraordinary leader, insha'Allaah..

P.S: I interviewed her last year, listen to the interview here: Zohra sarwari, (a truly Productive Muslimah)