Abdul Matin
Dhaka- Bangladesh

As salamu alaikum Wr Wb,
I just want to say first, that i haven’t achieved the routine you have, so MashaAllah.
Perhaps (and this may slow down finishing the Qur’an) discuss and read the translation of the five pages, so your children can appreciate and come to learn and love the wonderful stories and lessons as well as comforting and warning that the Qur’an is. Allah has blessed me with many a day,that i lost myself, sometimes reading and re-reading the translation of the Qur’an. And then marvelling that such a wonderous book existed all along and i never realised what any of it meant.

As-salamu alaikum Wr Wb, Saroop.

You’re most welcome and thankyou for providing the original dua in both arabic and english. I love when someone does that, it serves us muslims better.

Im very happy that MashaAllah you found the advice beneficial. Alhumdolillah, I hope it was easy to understand.

Finally sorry i didnt reply faster, i couldnt find my own post! lol. Until now.
If you or anyone would like to find out more please contact me at skillstransfer.wordpress.com. or if you are a member here email me.

To all here at PM, Im currently filling in a goal planner, and though ive changed the timeline im throughly loving how all my goals are very positive and fulfill some element for the Akhirah. May Allah reward you Mohammad Faris, it is pleasing to the heart, that our life is geared towards beneficial and halal/rewarding things.

thanks for that to allow me to join to the missions

JazakAllah Khair sister for this advice. I really benefited from the Positive, Realistic, Specific, Measurable technique, as well as the 7 steps to reach your goal!

Also, the beautiful dua you mentioned:

Allahumma la sahla illa ma ja’altu sahla, wa ‘anta taj-alul hazna idha shi’ta sahla

O Allah! There is nothing easy except what You make easy, and You make the difficult easy if it be Your Will

Recite in whichever language you feel most comfortable with :)

Bism,illah-i-Rahman-i-Raheem,
Salam and hello to all.
The very crux of achieving goals, is the how, and haivng done some therapy that specifically addresses this for those suffering from Anxiety and Depression, can be used exactly the same for anyone else. Its a very simple technique, but (and fairly) I cannot post the technique here due to copywright issues. However I can share my insights and learnt steps, firs fill in this sheet as per instruction and then correct any goals acc ording to the insruction.
Then to ensure you meet your 6 month target, give it the SMART treatment, you can look this up but its also done like this Positive, Realistic, Specific, Measurable, i.e Are my goals Specific? i.e getting healthy isnt, but saying “I want to eat more vegetables/fish and excercise at least twice a week” is, or if its about weight then write, I want to lose ‘x’ amount every month. Then ask is it Measurable? i.e can I or would someone else be able to see if I was achieving my goal or not? If its just about losing ‘x’ amount of weight, you may want to include ‘by cutting out desert and chocolates. This helps you measure, how well or close you are to reaching your goal. Then ask is it Positive? If its that “i dont want to shout at the kids every day” you need to change it to “I want to stay calm and deal with the kids with an even voice.” Finally it should be Realistic. Saying that you want to have a presentable home all the time isnt realisitic. But changing it to, i would like the home to be clean and tidy each night before I sleep, is. With this last one, use it to remember fairness, in your own goal. If you dont achieve this every night does not mean you are a failure or have failed. You are working towards your goal, and having it done three out of seven nights is still a success. Do not look at things in all or nothing terms. Apply this correction to your own perception of success with each goal.
Once you have applied this to each goal, you then can take any one and use a 7 Step breakdown technique. First brainsotorm all your ideas to achieve this on a page, even the unrealistic ones. Like I’ll survive on weight loss milkshakes for a whole week. It isnt realistic or positive. But keep going. Then pick the one you feel you can attempt to do now. For example , if its to do with being assertive at work, you might decide to start by deflecting last minute requests from your Manager, that are not part of your job, by explaining that you are busy with your own workload, or you may decide to sit down and have a chat direclty with her/him. Now that you have your route, you can break it down and see what you need to do, and address any expected barriers or obstacles. Break down the task, into 7 steps (or less) until you are at your goal. Somtimes, with difficult situations like the one at work, some steps may need their own breakdown. For example a hurdle might be, having the courage to ask for a meeting with your Manager, or what am i going to say? You can use the breakdown technique for each part, or just for the task. List each step, and see how how much you complete each week. You can always yet again look at why you’ve failed, what you can do to prevent it next time and any unexpected events that may have occurred that prevented or made it more unfeasible to achieve that step this time.
The 7 step breakdown technique gives you a clear path to reach your goal, then you can assign each step with its own time frame and also a reward for achieving it. This helps to motivate you and also train your mind that every step achieved is an acomplishment. Not completing the task is not a failure, as you may have achieved the first step, and that took effort, time and you succeeded!. Celebrating each sucess no matter how small will boost your confidence and your ability to beleive that you can achieve it. For example if you were calm when dealing with children even once in a week, your reward might be, “5 mins with a coffee and my feet up” or buying a magazine you love. Rewards can even be time off, from all responsibilities or a day out. With each step, your rewards should become greater. Like finally having the courage to ask for the meeting with your manager means, you get to buy the phone you’ve absolutely been dying to have, or (for the girls) that handbag! It depends how difficult it was for you to try that step, and the reward should reflect this.
I know this has been a long post, but if you need help in how to address your approach to goals, or challenge certain thoughts/behavoiurs that are unhelpful, feel free to respond here or contact me at my website.
I hope you find this useful. Just remember, forewarned is forearmed! Whatever might throw a spanner in the works, being able to sit down and address it before hand, will leave you better prepared for when you come across it.
Finally remember, nothing is easy unless You Allah make it easy, so make this easy for me (dua is not in exact words-apologies). Dont forget to add InshaAllah on your steps,/task breakdown!. Oh Allah make this a blessing for many. Ameen.