Precious Time

Bismillah (In the name of Allah)


Here I am thinking to write about time management- since this is an area I need to work on, who doesn't?- and I glance at the clock to see the cruel thing telling me that it's nearly 11pm- only because this past weekend we put our clocks back one hour or else it would really be nearly midnight.


I have to start by admitting that my reason for wanting to write on the subject it's not because I'm a pro in time management, on the contrary I seriously have to re-evaluate how I'm spending my time for a number of reasons. First of all, Islamically it's very important to be mindful of how we go about our daily activities and how much advantage we take of our time; in other words, wasting time is not taking lightly: it's sinful. Secondly, I have three little ones and a husband that depend on me for various things: meals, a clean and organized home, clean clothes, and just time to be together and have fun. Moreover, I'm planning on homeschooling and even though that hasn't as yet started formally the time will come very soon when I'll have to teach my son in a more structured way.


My goals are to have a more organized schedule as to how I go about my daily routines. I want to know well in advance what type of meals I'll be cooking, what type of cleaning to do on specific days of the week, and leave plenty of time for unexpected things; with little ones I don't want to have a very rigorous list of to dos.


I'm in the very primitive stages of wisely managing my time but I prefer to be here than to be in denial of my little problem. And one good thing I can learn from my poor time management skills is that I must instill early in the life of my children how to efficiently spend their days so that it becomes a natural thing for them to do instead of having to figure it out all by themselves when they're in the middle of raising a family. But I have to be good at it if I want ot teach it to them, don't you agree?


I grew up without being taught much about being mindful of my time. But it's never too late, it's a little more challenging but not impossible to teach onself good habits in adulthood. I want to incorporate good time management in my life and make it become a habit that stays for good. That's where I am right now; I'm trying to make planning and scheduling second nature. I believe it would make me and my family happier and more productive.


Here are my short term goals:

1. Go to bed at around 11pm.
2. Wake up before Fajr (the pre-dawn prayer) and stay up for the day. To read some qur'an and Islamic literature before the kids wake up.
3. Monitor and limit my time on the internet and on this blog. *sigh*
4. Rest for 1/2 hour after Dhuhr (the mid-day prayer)

If I can only accomplish these 4 little goals I believe I could make serious positive changes in the life of my family.


My long term goals are, to name a few, to make these routines a habit, to cook in the morning and leave the afternoon for some cleaning and playing with the kids, to spend the evening just being with the family and avoid the interruption of technology.


Now, my challenges are the phone, internet, sleep deprivation, laziness, low energy levels, procrastination, and I leave it here for now. I have very good ideas as to how I should address each one of this challenges; just need the discipline to put them into practise and make them work. InshAllah (God willing), I will work on them and keep track of the improvements and obstacles that arise on my path and post on this blog mainly for future reference and to share with whomsoever happens to come across my little corner.


P.S. I finished off this little piece of writing in the morning; I was a little bad by starting it at 11pm but made it up somewhat by putting it off till today even though my fingers were itching to type some more last night.