Bismillah
Today we are discussing all things around managing oneself within a day.
First of all let’s clarify the fact that there’s no such thing as time management as we can’t manage Time. Time is a witness, witnessing our actions and will witness for or against us.
We don’t and can’t control time, however we can manage ourselves and make decisions to make the most of the time assigned to us here in Dunya.
Allah Azza Wajal gifted you and me with an amazing brain that is definitely the best part of our creation because with it, we are able to remember Allah, think about the eternal life, think about ways to benefit ourselves and others and so forth.
I have been coaching sisters for 10 years now and at first, I was only focusing on productivity tools without considering how our thoughts played a HUGE Role in us getting things done. Some sisters who didn’t have drama, or major issues to resolve would do really well with the tools while others would meet with me again and again without making much progress. I finally understood that as long as we are ignoring the elephant in the room, we would go no where.
Dear sis’ we’re not able to get anything done when we have drama about it. Fortunately the drama happens in our mind, it happens with our thoughts not with the situation so we can definitely do something about it bi idhnillah. This is why I approach managing ourselves within time differently now.
In the meaningful self-care coaching package, I have a whole section on productivity.
This module is only unlocked after my client goes through the thought management and emotional management modules.
We first have to manage our thoughts, then we learn to understand our emotions better and understand the role emotions play in us taking action. Emotions are generated by our thoughts and emotions lead us to act, to go into motion.
When we become intentional about which emotion we want to have, we are able to really get things done in a meaningful way with His Grace.
If you have a list of things that you want to get done but you see yourself procrastinating a lot, the first thing I would tell you to do is to do a ‘why’ thought download.
Why am I not doing xyz, why do I want to do it in the first place, what do I think I will gain by doing it, what would I lose by not doing it, what are my obstacles? Get to the core of the issue.
For one of my clients, the core issue was the fact that she felt ashamed about something she did two years back and felt too ashamed to get closer to Allah Azza Wajal. She would pray her five salah, but would not make du’a, read Qur’an or engage in any of the optional acts of worship. After some digging, she was able to understand that she was actually harming herself more by staying away from Allah Azza Wajal. She became grateful that she was able to make tawbah about what she did and hopeful that Allah would accept her tawbah. Now she is able to act from a place of gratitude instead of acting from a place of shame which makes a huge difference in the way she approaches her acts of worship.
Another obstacle we have that is linked to how we think is when we overestimate what we can do in the short term and we assign ourselves big goals and then fail to complete them. Once we fail, we get disappointed and either quit or set again another big goal and it becomes this losing cycle.
Here we have to trick our brain by breaking down the goals into small baby step goals, so easy and small, that we feel no resistance in getting them done.
The small accomplishments will then boost us to do more and gradually we see ourselves getting things done.
There are many more obstacles that can be tackled with just our thoughts and some reframing. The point of this blogpost is to make you realize how you can get unstuck and conquer procrastination with the tawfeeq of Allah along with this amazing brain He blessed you with. maa shaa Allah.
NB: I am still accepting a few more clients for the self-care coaching package, if you are interested in it, book your free consult here.
Binta Umm Yahya is the owner of Al An 4 U Online Coaching which is an online platform for Qur’an lessons, Islamic studies and Lifecoaching for Muslimas and women interested in Islam. She has been teaching Qur’an for over 7 years now and is an ongoing student of Qur’an with her husband imam Ahmed Abu Suhailah. She loves reciting, teaching and reflecting on the Qur’an. She is a Certified Master Lifecoach and a NLP Practitioner who absolutely enjoys coaching her sisters in faith to help them gain clarity, focus and understanding of their religion so they live their best life and connect to their Maker. Whenever she is not teaching or coaching, you can find her staring at the sky, reading or journaling with a big cup of tea. 🙂
Time To Do Good Now 