Time Management Techniques

I recently attended a webinar on time management by Muhammad Alshareef. I learned a lot from it. I'm posting the notes I took. One thing that I implemented was staying up after Fajr and let me tell you it gives you so much more time during the day! I highly recommend going to bed early and then staying up after Fajr! He has a CD set called Time Traveler which you can purchase. He also has a blog which you can follow.

"Journey's End: Preparing for Resurrection"
~ How to ensure every day brings you closer to Allah's Paradise
By Muhammad Alshareef
1. Aim higher
2. Get things off your mind. Whatever you need to do, write it down so you don’t have it on your mind.
3. Write things down in places where you come across them often.
4. Pray Fajr at the Musjid. ‘O Allah, bless my Ummah in the mornings’-Hadith. There’s barakah when you stay up after Fajr. You start doing that and you’ll get half your life back.
5. Oxygenate your blood. Walk etc. You become more alert.
6. Make sure you know when your next break is so that you don’t get distracted by anything else.
7. Delete distractions e.g. chats, games on cell phones/computers. (Indulge in distractions during your break time).
8. Never multi-task.
9. Start the day with important things.
10. Get a mentor or life coach. Have someone hold you accountable for things. Someone who you’d be embarrassed to admit to that you didn’t follow through with what you had planned.
11. Life is like a piece of ice in your hand. You are automatically at loss. You can take advantage of that ice while you have it because in a few hours it ice will melt (and you will be dead). Rasool Allah (saw) said we should be like travelers. What we are doing in this life is not the destination; it’s just a stop.
Steps to master time
1. Niyyah. Make niyyah/intention to master time. If you want to have an excellent life; it will not happen on its own.
2. Make dua to Allah. Your minutes and hours are who you are.
Some statistics on how much time we spend on different things in life.
1. 27 years spent sleeping.
2. 10.5 years spent at work
3. 10 years watching TV.
4. About 6 years on internet.
5. 4 years standing in line.
6. 3 years driving.
7. 3 years in bathroom for men (since they read). Women spend 6 months though.
Here’s getting back 10 years:
1. Make your work your life mission. That gives you 10 years right there.
2. No TV. That’s more 10 years. So total 20 now.
3. Stay awake after Fajr. 10 more years saved. 30 now.
Top 5 tips for saving time
1. Clean the junk in your brain. Put things down on paper.
2. Focus on what’s more important in life and delete the junk.
3. Big dreams require delegation. You can’t do everything on your own. Teamwork is important.
4. You can’t get anywhere in life without knowing where you’re going.
5. Ehsaan/excellence is never accidental. You make niyyah to master time and then you do it.