Time Management

05
Sep
2015

Updates – September 2015

Updates for September 2015:

1) Two books launched this year
2) Islamic Self Help launched this year
3) Weekly Live Q&A sessions starting soon

Updates: I need your help on deciding on a theme for my next series of short videos. Comment below on topics you’d like to see me cover in short 5-10 minute videos!

Updates

Updates

Reviews of new ebooks: 

“Getting the Barakah is a personal narrative, which puts our deen at its forefront. Abu Muawiyah’s writing style is laconic and crisp, his tone is objective and emotional and his approach is simple and pragmatic enabling him to connect with his readers.” – Umm Bilal, Sisters’ Magazine

“Br. Kamdar’s book is full of specific ideas on how to control your time and accomplish your goals…I also love how his book reminds us to take care of ourselves and to even reward ourselves for our small victories! He also urges you to “invest in yourself” by learning new skill” – Sheima, Islamic Online University

“There aren’t many books in English aimed at helping Muslims with time management. Getting The Barakah changes that… this book is highly recommended for any Muslim who is looking for a way to improve his/her time management skill and to live a more fulfilling life.” – Shamsiyyah, The Ideal Muslimah

“Ismail Kamdar’s new book provides exactly the right balance between Islam and the psychological aspects behind confidence, Masha’Allah. The author of this book does a brilliant job in offering action points that are easy to implement, regardless of your knowledge of Islam and level of practicing.” (Aisha – IOU Blog)

““Best of Creation” by Abu Muawiyah Ismail Kamdar is such a refreshing read. It goes to the core of things by firstly establishing the importance of realising our reason for existence.” (Zarina – Muslim Women Exposed)

Click here to learn more about these and other ebooks which are exclusive to Islamic Self Help.

Posted by Ismail Kamdar in Books, Self Confidence, Time Management
28
Aug
2015
My 8 favorite Productivity Apps – Part 2

My 8 favorite Productivity Apps – Part 2

This is Part Two of this series on favorite productivity apps. Part One is available here.

So I’m not going to waste your time with a second introduction to my favorite productivity apps. Let’s jump right back into it!

5. One Drive/Dropbox/Google Drive

Pick one! I use all three for different reasons. For my personal files, I use One Drive because it synchronizes most easily with Windows (although Dropbox synchronizes quite easily too) and I find it most convenient. I use Dropbox mostly for sharing files with friends, family, and others as it is most commonly used by them, and I use Google Drive for sharing work-files because that is the norm at our workplace.

I have all my devices linked to my One Drive, Dropbox and Google Drive accounts and save all my files there, so that I have access to my files wherever I go and whichever device I use. This saves a lot of time as I can be writing a book on my PC, save the file, then open the same file later on my Tablet or Laptop for editing. In this age of cloud storage, everybody should have at least one of these and utilize them to save time that is normally spent in file transfers and searching for files.

6. Goodreads

I only started using Goodreads recently when I was looking for new author platforms for promoting my books. I ended up using it daily because it is an excellent tool for keeping track of what books I read, when I read them, what books I am currently reading, what page I am at in every book I am currently reading, what books I plan to read in the future, and what books my friends have read/are reading.

Goodreads is awesome in that I no longer need to carry around book-lists or look for my old book-lists, everything is available online and structured well. Check out what I’m currently reading here, for example.

7 & 8. Kindle & Googlebooks

Another App which I only started using this year. I was a bit slow to join the e-book craze, as I thought that e-books would never substitute for the real thing. (I still think so, by the way)

If you only experienced reading an e-book via Adobe Reader in PDF format, then like the old me, you probably think that e-books are difficult to read and inconvenient. However, Amazon Kindle and Googlebooks are really fun to use, easy to read from, and have great feature that make e-book reading really enjoyable.

I still prefer physical books, but there are many titles not available locally which I can download from the Google Play store or the Kindle store, so I use these Apps to access such books. I also like having some reading material on either of these two Apps, so that if I’m ever stuck in a queue and bored, I know I have a good book sitting in my pocket waiting to be read on my phone.

So there you have it. Currently, these are the Apps I use daily to stay productive, and this list is constantly changing as I try out and discover new Apps and tools.

Let us know in the comments section which are your favorite productivity apps that you use daily!

Posted by Ismail Kamdar in Creativity, Productivity, Time Management
24
Aug
2015

My favorite 8 Productivity Apps & Tools – Part 1

Productivity Apps:

Productivity Apps were invented to make life easier for us. Yet, many people don’t know which Apps to use or how to use them productively. Personally, I am always on the look out for any App that can make me more productive in any aspect of my life, and so my list of productivity Apps is constantly changing and evolving.

At the time of writing this however, these are my 7 most important Apps and tools for staying productive:

1. Everything Google (gmail, calendar, drive, books)

Productivity Apps

To pick one Google App that keeps me productive is really difficult, so I decided to start the list with everything Google, while some of these may appear again later in the list. I use Gmail over other mail servers as the spam-filter, division into Primary, Social, and Promotions sections, and ease of synchronization with my phone and PC make it one of the best and most productive email applications out there. Any other email application that I tried feels like a dinosaur comparatively.

Add to that, Gmail is sync to the other Apps that assist in my productivity like my Calendar, Google Drive, Hangout and Maps, making it an all in one system that every productive person should use.

2. To-Dos/S-Note

P3120540

In 2010, I started using the Samsung Galaxy Note brand of phablets and have stuck with it ever since. The Note series is aimed at productivity junkies and contains many features that are great. The S-Note however stands out as something I use every day. It contains templates for daily and weekly To-Do lists which I use daily to make my To-Do lists and have them available wherever I go. Crossing off each completed task with my S-pen is also more fun that clicking a button.

Recently, after upgrading to Windows 10 on my PC, I was looking for a good App to use for To-Do lists on my PC so that I do not have to check my phone every hour to see what needs to be done next.

I ended up downloading the To-Dos App and it has saved me a lot of time as it is very easy and quick to use, both in adding tasks and crossing them off. Its a simple App, nothing fancy but serves as a nice yellow reminder on my screen of what still needs to be done.

The S-Note serves as a portable To-Do List, while the To-Dos App serves as its equivalent on my PC, making both Apps very important for my daily productivity.

3. iTunes

iTunes

As someone who is generally known to be anti-Apple, it probably comes as surprise to see iTunes on this list. The truth is that I only started using iTunes a month ago and I must admit it is the best audio player I was used.

I was searching for audio player in which I can access all my favorite Podcast series and iTunes gave me that and more. It downloads the latest episodes, keeps track of which episodes I have downloaded and not listened to yet, and will pick up from the exact spot I stopped, even after days. All of this saves me a lot of time that usually goes in browsing each podcast’s webpage, searching for the latest episodes and trying to remember where I stopped.

Perhaps its time I tried out an actual Apple product, perhaps an iPod?

4. Windows 10 Start Menu

Windows 10 menu

I know this isn’t an App but the way it is designed for Windows 10, it is an awesome productivity tool. For many people, the menu was something they missed in Windows 8, but something they just use as is. However, the Windows 10 menu can be customized in so many ways, it serves me as a very efficient productivity tools.

You can choose which tiles to display in the menu, choose their order and arrange by groups. I have taken advantage of that to set up a menu that as all my most important Apps together at the top, all social media tiles together underneath, and likewise arranged all tiles in order of priority. This has saved me a lot of time in searching for programs or scrolling through long menus to get to them.

That’s the end of Part 1, folks. Click here to read part two and learn about more productivity apps. Although the start menu screen-grab I shared does give some clues about what might be on it. 🙂 

Posted by Ismail Kamdar in Goal Setting, Time Management
19
Aug
2015
5 more daily habits that keep me productive

5 more daily habits that keep me productive

More daily habits:

Continuing on from my previous post, here are five more daily habits that help me stay productive.

1. I work daily towards my long term goals

Long-term goals take months, if not years, to achieve, but they are achieved by doing a little bit every day that inches you one step closer to completing those goals.

This is why every day I schedule in time to work towards my long term goals. This includes writing time, research time, planning, and even homeschooling, as homeschooling my kids is working towards a greater purpose, and towards a goal that is over a decade away.

The key is that each day we should be one step closer towards achieving our goals, otherwise our days are wasted and not really productive. It is easy to be busy, but are we busy doing tasks that nobody will benefit from or are we busy doing things that will have long term positive results?

2. I schedule writing time every day

Between my two blogs and my book writing career, writing is an important part of who I am. This is why every day I schedule in an hour for working on my books and an hour for working on my blogs.

This hour is either spent writing, researching, brainstorming, or editing. However I use it, it is time well spent as it leads to me being able to produce 3-4 books a year, and 3-8 articles a week. All it takes is an hour or two of allocated time daily.

3. I take a walk to reflect on my day and how I can improve

There is always room for improvement. There are always ways to do things better, faster and more effectively. This is why we must never become complacent and we should always work towards higher standards.

I like to take a walk at the end of each work day and reflect on whatever happened throughout the day. I reflect on how I can deal with situations that popped up in a better manner, how I can get more done in less time, and whatever mistakes I made through out the day. A walk gives me the space and peace to really reflect on these topics and improve my overall productivity.

4. I learn something new every day

There are two primary ways in which I learn something new each day, I listen to a podcast/lecture a day and I schedule in reading time every day. The world is constantly changing and there is no much we don’t know. It is foolish to rely on things we learned over a decade ago and think it is enough. In order to continuously grow, we must continuously learn and that is why every day I listen to something new and read something new, across a variety of different fields.

(Perhaps I should write an article on the podcast series I currently follow, and the books I read this year)

5. I make time for my family and myself

It is not possible to maintain a productive lifestyle if you are only focused on work. You will eventually burn out and fall apart. Every day I try to make time for my wife, kids and myself, and once a week for other relatives. This time is downtime, fun time, relaxing time, and I try my best not to think about work at all during this time and just unwind. As a result, I am recharged and ready to work the next morning.

Don’t overburden yourself, you are human so make sure you enjoy what is Halal and don’t try to turn into a working robot. 🙂

That concludes part two of my daily productivity habits. I hope you found it beneficial, stay tuned for more articles coming soon expanding on many of these points in more details.

Posted by Ismail Kamdar in Goal Setting, Time Management
17
Aug
2015
6 Daily Habits That Keep Me Productive

6 Daily Habits That Keep Me Productive

Daily Habits that keep me productive

People often ask me how I am able to get so much done every single day. While I have documented my detailed system in my book “Getting The Barakah: An Islamic Guide To Time Management“, I thought it would be nice to summarize for you some of the daily habits that help me stay productive.

Habits are the key to success. Every decent Self Help book emphasizes that good habits lead to good long term results, while bad habits lead to bad long term results. I spent the past half a decade building good habits that take me closer to my goals daily, here are six of the most important ones:

1. I make a To-Do list the night before

Writing out a daily To-Do list is essential for having a productive day. It gives you an idea of exactly what you need to get done during the day and you feel a sense of accomplishment as you scratch each item off your To-Do list.

To take it one step further, I prepare my To-Do list the night before. As I round off my work for the day and scratch off the last item on my To-Do list, I take another five minutes to make my To-Do list for the next day. The benefit of this is that your subconscious mind works on the To-Do list all night, and you wake up knowing exactly what needs to get done that day. From all of my daily habits, this one is most crucial.

2. I stick to a routine

Daily Habits are all about creating routines, and no doubt about it, if I want to work full-time, home-school my kids, blog, write books, do Dawah locally, present Radio Programs, work on my own personal development, and spend time with family then a routine is necessary.

I set certain times of the day for working on specific tasks and get into the habit of working on those tasks during that time, eg: 9am-12pm for homeschooling, 3pm-5pm for writing. Doing so helps me develop a routine which helps get me into a flow that will help me accomplish both my long-term and short-term goals.

3. I schedule my day around Salah and Quran

Reciting a portion of the Qur’an daily with reflection, and praying the five daily prayers on time take precedence over anything else. It doesn’t matter how busy you are, there is always time to pray Salah and recite Qur’an if you make them a priority. The problem is that many of us try to fit Salah into our day, instead plan your day around the Salah times and you will find yourself never missing a Salah and gaining Allah’s assistance throughout the day.

This is why besides praying the five daily Salah, I schedule time every day after Dhuhr to recite Qur’an for fifteen minutes with contemplation, as the needs of the soul are greater than the needs of the body.

4. I start the day with dua

Of course, every Muslim must start their day with Fajr, unless you wake up earlier and start your day with Qiyam Al-Layl. Either way, you are starting your day at a time when dua is accepted, so take advantage of it.

This is why I begin each day with a dua to Allah asking Him to help me accomplish every task on my To-Do list and more. Because with the help of Allah, anything is possible!

5. I focus on one thing at a time

This is critical for getting things done. If we try too hard to multi-task, we end up not doing justice to whatever tasks we are working on. Focus on one thing at a time, and give it your full attention. Doing so will ensure better quality work, completed in a shorter amount of time, and you will still find time to complete the other tasks.

Right now, I am strongly resisting the urge to listen to a podcast while typing this article, because I know I will not give either proper attention if I multi-task right now.

6. I pace myself

Contrary to popular opinion, I do not sit all day and night working. I take regular breaks throughout the day to relax and recharge. I also spend the evenings having fun, and once a week I take an entire day off and don’t do any work at all. The reason is that I believe we function better and get work done faster in this way.

If someone works non-stop for four hours in a row, that person will experience fatigue and the quality of his work will lessen with each passing hour. However, if he works in bursts of 50 minutes, taking a 10 minute break every hour, he will get better quality work done in faster time.

So there you have it, these are six things I do every day to stay productive. If you enjoyed this, read the followup regarding 5 other things I do daily to stay productive!

Posted by Ismail Kamdar in Goal Setting, Time Management