Imagine two security cameras propped up in the corner of two different offices, each recording the goings-on in the office in HD. Assuming that the cameras only record images and not sounds, imagine you now see – in both offices – the CEO of the respective companies walking into the office and handing over a file to one of his employees. In office A, as the CEO leaves, you see the employee in question looking bored, perhaps even annoyed. In office B however, you see the employee looking excited and keenly flipping through the file.

As a viewer of the video recordings, you might thus wonder: why the difference in their reactions?

Before we tackle the question, let’s add three assumptions to the situation: First, the file given to each employee contained the exact same task. Second, the states of both employees are exactly similar. Last, the two CEOs used the same intonation, facial expressions, and body language to communicate the message. Thus, the security cameras showed no difference and the only difference was the choice of words by each CEO. For a high-quality security camera, consider getting the Commercial Security Systems Adelaide.

Inside Office A

The first CEO, as he hands over the file, says, “Assalamu Alaikum Ahmad. This is a new job I have for you. I did the same thing with success last year, just do it the way I did it, and hand it in by the end of the week, okay? Jazakallah khayr!” He smiles, places the file on the table, and leaves the room.

Inside Office B

The second CEO, as he hands over the file, says “Assalamu Alaikum Ali. This is a new job I have for you. I did the same thing with success last year, you might want to take a look at my case file as it may be useful to you. Hand it in by the end of the week, okay? Jazakallah khayr!” He smiles, places the file on the table, and leaves the room.

So what is the difference between the first CEO and the second CEO that made their employees react differently?

Discover the ‘Means and Ends’ exercise

If you browse through most books on leadership, you will find that a lot of them focus on the mannerisms and speech of the leader in order to gain the trust and loyalty of his subordinates. While these things do play a part, there is an underlying key essence missing from all those books: the question of intent.

Take the imagined scenario in the introduction of this article, for instance. Both CEOs used the exact same mannerism and speech, with the only difference stemming from one sentence:

“… just do it the way I did it…”

versus

“… you might want to take a look at my case file as it may be useful to you…”

While the difference may seem minute at surface level, what it actually hints at is the underlying intent of both CEOs, an intent which is quickly and subconsciously picked up by both Ahmad and Ali.

What Ahmed’s CEO is essentially saying when he says “… just do it the way I did it…” is that Ahmad is his means to get the task done. He is, whether he realizes it or not, taking from Ahmad.

In Ali’s interaction with his CEO, however, what his CEO is doing is giving Ali the option of doing the task whichever way he wants to, while offering his own experience as a form of assistance. With Ali at the helm of the decision-making, what this means for the CEO is that while the task may see the same success as it did last year (or perhaps even more success), there is also the real risk that Ali might spectacularly fail at the task and cause some damage to the company.

However, Ali’s CEO understands that by allowing Ali to make the call, he is giving Ali the opportunity to learn and to grow. In this situation, Ali is the ends (the beneficiary) to the equation.

Apply the ‘Means and Ends’ exercise in 5 steps

1. Before making a decision or setting tasks that involve someone other than yourself, take a second to check your intentions.
2. Draw up the Means and Ends table as shown above (literally or figuratively), with columns indicating the situations, the means, the ends, and the implications of the action.
3. Under the “situations” column, note the different decisions that you might take or tasks you might set for a specific scenario. For example, a lecturer who is tasked to set an assignment might have the following options:

A: Make it compulsory for all students to complete 100 surveys for my research, regardless of whether or not they will learn from it (surprisingly, I have heard of lecturers who do this).

B: Give students a range of topics to choose from, depending on their area of interest, the lecturer’s research field being one of them.

4. Under the means and ends column, indicate appropriately with respect to the situation who or what is the means, or who or what is the ends. In the above example, the lecturer is obviously using the students as the means to get the job (his research) done in Option A, while option B indicates that the students are the ends (his research may or may not get volunteers, but everyone learns something).
5. Finally, indicate in the implications column whether that situation is one of you giving, or one of you taking.

What is the intention behind your work?

This renowned statement of the Prophet recognizes the fundamental importance of the intent behind every action:

“(The value of) an action depends on the intention behind it. A person will be rewarded only for what he intended…” [Sahih Muslim]

Almost every action we commit to in this world can be a form of ibadah if we are doing it with the right actions and intentions, and for the right reasons. In a world that demands most of our time to be spent in the office with our co-workers, subordinates, and managers, it is crucial that we make our work not just a means of getting rizq, but also a form of ibadah. When we do so, we close the duality that the secular world proposes we adopt, where religion only exists in the personal sphere, away from public places like the office.

Checking our intentions every time we perform a task or get others to do something directly affects results because: we consciously keep ensuring that our expected outcomes include more than just bottomlines, alot of friction at the workplace is minimized because our intentions for collective growth are sensed from our words and this in turn infuses subordinates with the enthusiasm to give their best and achieve together.

Question traditional leadership models

The painful truth is that the traditional model of leadership that a lot of us unconsciously follow is built upon the idea of achieving results through people. As Etsko Schuitema, author of the Means and Ends exercise, notes, the word ‘resource’ in the term ‘human resources’ speaks volumes of the corporate world today.

“Resources” is defined in the encyclopedia as “a stock or supply of money, materials, staff, and other assets that can be drawn on by a person or organization in order to function effectively.”

According to Schuitema, the term ‘resource’ itself indicates that the resource is meant to be taken from until it runs dry, or when it is no longer needed due to various reasons like the accomplishment of the desired results.

I think anyone who has been in the corporate world long enough will have no qualms agreeing to the above. I’ve only worked for four years and already have an array of relevant examples!

The simple fact is: the traditional understanding of leadership is all about taking. It is about using or manipulating ‘resources’ to achieve an end.

Give to achieve real growth

What’s broken about the old understanding is that it continuously puts the leader in a position of taking, while his subordinates have no choice but to keep on giving until they have nothing left and naturally, over time, they will feel used and abused. It is no wonder then that management experts say: “The employee does not leave an organization, he leaves the manager,” just as this article notes.

When we find ourselves in positions of power, whether in business, at school or at home, it is high time that we switch our mindset. Instead of achieving results through people, we now need to learn to achieve great people through results!

After all, when we empower others and help them grow, doesn’t that lead to the betterment of the specific community, or even society as a whole?

Where you can apply the Means and Ends exercise

The Means and Ends exercise is a simple but effective tool for us to check our intentions when we set tasks in any of our leadership roles. Here are some examples:

As a CEO or manager, are you using your subordinates as a means to attain the quarterly revenue, or are you using your target revenue as a means to grow your employees’ knowledge and skills?

As a thesis supervisor, lecturer or teacher, are you using your students as a means to get your research done, or are your using your research to push your students to learn and experience more?

As a parent, are you using your children as a means to get your image of “the ideal parent”, or are you really investing in nurturing and helping them grow, regardless of what image others will perceive of you?

As a friend, are you using your friends as a means to make your life easier, or are you committed to helping them with their trials and tribulations in life, even if it inconveniences you?

Lead to yield growth not power

I’d like to end this article with a story shared with me by a client of Etsko Schuitema’s, a retired managing associate who is now part of an advisory committee for the South African government. Halfway through the interview I was conducting with him, I asked him why he was so determined to help his subordinates grow, even if it could be detrimental to the results of his company.

The client laughed heartily over the phone. There was a silent pause before he said, “It is a lot more difficult to teach people and involve people. It’s a lot more time-consuming when you don’t see the results immediately in business, and you’re under pressure yourself – results, results, results all the time – it’s not easy. It’s easier to just follow the letter: Do this, and if you don’t do it, I’m sorry I will take a disciplinary action against you. So either you do it, or you don’t do it. It’s a lot easier; it’s clinical, it’s technical, it’s easier to manage.”

He continued saying: “The other way is more involving, and it takes a lot of energy, time, and personal involvement, especially when you are dealing with difficult individuals who don’t have the type of maturity that is required to operate in an environment that Etsko teaches.

It is, however, worth it. I’ll do it again and again. If I have to restart and do it all over again, I wouldn’t do it any other way, I can assure you. There’s a right way and there’s a wrong way, and I’ve seen it in my time. If you take an easy ride to the top, you trample over a lot of individuals, and it’s not a happy place to be…we need to touch the lives of people positively.”

This is a stellar point to take home and make intention for as well: to touch the lives of others positively through our work and our leadership.

May Allah make our intentions clear, our actions beneficial and our affairs easy. Ameen!

Please leave your thoughts and comments below and tell us what you learned, what you wish others could learn about this topic and about involvement in leadership in different workplaces.

The post Lead Like a Boss: by Giving More Than you Take appeared first on ProductiveMuslim.com.

In an earlier article The Ramadan Guilt Trip we learnt that 65% of Muslims interviewed for a report felt they could do better during Ramadan, and ⅕ were “very disappointed” with what little they managed to achieve!

Like the majority of the Muslims interviewed, if you have had that sinking feeling in your stomach at the end of last Ramadan, then it is time to reassess our strategies in order to make the most of Ramadan this year, In sha Allah.

After all, Albert Einstein did say that insanity is to keep doing the same thing over and over again while expecting different results!

In one of the six simple but effective tips shared in the Ramadan Guilt Trip article, tip #3 was to start tracking your habits. Shaykh Ahmad Saad, in his insightful lecture on cultivating a relationship with the Qur’an, repeated many times throughout the lecture the importance of building one’s habits.

Luckily for us, Alhamdulillah, many tools and applications are available today that are created specifically to help us build good habits.

For this article, I tested seven such apps, each with its own unique flavour, and I hope the reviews will help you decide the tools you use to implement your strategy for this year’s Ramadan, bi’idhnillah.

Note: All the apps reviewed, except for Lift, are available for iOS only. For Android alternatives, scroll down to the end of the article!

App 1: Al-Muslim

Al-Muslim is a free iOS application, available in both English and Arabic, that aims to help you keep track of your deeds and actions. Using terms such as “Today’s Intentions,” “Remembrance List” etc., it provides you with a checklist of various obligatory and recommended deeds you can perform throughout the day.

Among other actions, you are given the choice to track your five fardh (obligatory) prayers; the different sunnah (recommended optional) prayers such as Duha, Witr etc.; different deeds such as fasting, reciting the Qur’an, and even a collection of 25 adhkar (repeated devotional remembrances) included in the app in Arabic with both their translations and transliterations!

The developer of the app has even gone a step further by providing a sibha or misbaha (traditionally, a string of beads to keep count), where you just have to tap the phone to count your adhkar. Additionally, there are short explanations behind the suggested deeds included in the app, providing subconscious motivations for us to adopt the deed for the day.

The description for “Learn New Things”, for instance, reads: “Allah (the Exalted) encourages us to learn and seek knowledge as he said in the Qur’an: Allah will raise those who have believed among you and those who were given knowledge, by degrees.”

Tracking the obligatory actions and adding the recommended ones into our daily habit list is easy: A tap of the related image will “check” the action off. At the end of the day, the app calculates and gives us a summary of all the deeds we have done, and with every subsequent day, provides a summary of all the deeds we have done in total.

Pros

• The ready-made checklist gives you a nice place to start if you do not know where to begin.
• With the checklist you can progressively add new habits once you are consistent with current ones.
• The adhkar and sibha functions provided in the app itself make it easier for you to perform the respective deeds.

Cons

• A ready-made checklist (i.e. not user expandable) means a limitation to what you can track. Taraweeh prayers, for instance, will have to be grouped under “Other Prayers” instead of being in its own category. So any of my daily adhkar that is not in the provided list has no way of being tracked.
• The design and interface of the app has much to improve. Often times I tapped certain images and words, and because the app showed no response to my touch, I assumed nothing had happened. In fact, the app had registered my actions, which I only discovered after a couple more taps.
• The daily and total summary are based on numbers and percentages. Good if you are great with numbers, not so if numbers put you off.
• There is no option for setting reminders.

This app is for you if:

You want an app that is zero dollars, hassle-free, does what it is supposed to and is all-inclusive.

Download Al-Muslim from the iTunes App Store.

App 2: Ramadan Tracker

This free application is the Ramadan-specific variant of iSawab, the generic tracking-app. For those who love the concept of accumulating points, Ramadan Tracker allows you to set designated points for actions and set a target of points to achieve per day.

Just like Al-Muslim, Ramadan Tracker comes with a ready-made checklist of habits to adopt. However, due to its specific nature, a lot more Ramadan-specific activities and deeds are included, like having suhoor (pre-dawn meal before commencement of fast) and paying zakat al-fitr.

Ramadan Tracker is also a little more specific compared with Al-Muslim in its attention to variations of deeds.

For example, for the five fardh salah, Ramadan Tracker asks additionally if you offered it at home, work or at the masjid. And when you check off a sunnah salah, the app prompts you to input the total number of raka’ah (a unit of prayer) you offered.

Once you are done keying in your data for several days, you can then view your progress, in terms of the number of points you accumulated compared with the number of points you targeted. A handy graph is also provided for those who prefer graphics as opposed to numbers.

Pros

• Ramadan-specific checklist means you would not miss out on essential Ramadan deeds.
• More detailed input compared with Al-Muslim app (can be a negative if you just want something simple).
• Summarises data in a graphical format, making it easier to track progress at a glance.

Cons

• Like Al-Muslim, a pre-determined checklist equates to an inability to add more habits you may want to include later.
• The target and points system may be overwhelming for those who are not good with numbers.
• At the time of review, the current period shown on the app are the dates for Ramadan 2013. Hopefully, the developer will automatically update this to reflect this year’s Ramadan dates or better still, provide an option to set the Hijri date calculation method.

This app is for you if:

You want a free, Ramadan-only app, so you do not lose out on all the Ramadan-specific activities and are motivated by numbers and achieving target points.

Download Ramadan Tracker at the iTunes App Store.

App 3: Habit List

Moving away from the Muslim-specific habit-tracking apps, the third app I tested is Habit List, a $2.99 app on iTunes. Unlike the previous two, Habit List does not come with a predetermined checklist, allowing you to add habits that you want to inculcate.

Adding a new habit is easy: Just click on the “+” icon in the top-right corner, key in the habit you want to build, determine how many times you want to do the action in a week and set a reminder for the app to send you a notification if you have not completed the action after a certain amount of time.

The frequency option is super flexible: You can choose specific days from Monday through Sunday, or any other combinations that you can think of. The reminder notifications and badges too are an absolute plus for the times where you are so engrossed in work that you overlook the time for certain prayers such as Duha.

The Habit List interface also makes it extremely easy to track your habits at a glance. On the app’s home screen, you will see a list of all the habits you are tracking and the habits are colour-coded to show the “status” of the habit. Green means you are doing the habit consistently, grey means you are skipping that habit for the day, while red shows that you have not been doing the habit. The numbers in the circles indicate how many days you have been doing the habit consecutively.

When you click on a specific habit, you will then be able to view that specific habit’s data in both calendar form and statistics form. In the calendar format, you will be able to see the days you completed the habit at a glance, while the statistics format (available in weekly or monthly options) will show you the percentage of your completion rate.

Pros

• You can add and track as many habits as you want, with great flexibility.
• The data collected by the app is shown to you in a very easy-to-read, visually appealing manner.
• You can set a pass code, so the information is strictly for you alone.
• Reminders, notifications, badges galore!

Cons

• It does not include a ready-made checklist (can be considered a good thing depending on your preference).
• You have to shell out a little cash to get a licence before you can use it.

This app is for you if:

Money is no objection especially when it comes to using a beautiful and functional app, and you already know what habits you would like to inculcate this Ramadan.

Download Habit List at the iTunes App Store.

App 4: Good Habits

Imagine Habit List, but free and without the ability to calculate your data in statistical format; that is Good Habits in a nutshell!

Just like Habit List, Good Habits comes without any pre-determined checklist and you are given free reign as to what habits you would like to track or build.

Adding a habit too is just as easy: Click on the “+” symbol in the top right, key in your habit name, choose a time for the reminder to sound and select the days you want to carry out the habit.

The app’s home screen will show you at a glance all the different habits you are tracking, the number of consecutive days you have been completing the habit (known as a “streak”) and the highest streak you have achieved.

Clicking on a specific habit will bring up your streak in a graphical format, much like Calendar view in the previous application. Days you dedicate as rest days will not disrupt a running streak and rightfully so!

Pros

• Does mostly what Habit List does, but free.
• Can add as many habits as you would like.
• Time-sensitive notifications and badges to remind you when you overlook a habit.

Cons

• No statistical output of data in graph form.
• No password or PIN protection.
• No pre-determined checklist, which means you will have to do your own independent research and what habits to inculcate for Ramadan.

This app is for you if:

You do not care much about statistics (the “do not break the chain” method of habit-tracking does the job well enough for you) and you already know what deeds you would like to see done this coming Ramadan.

Download Good Habits at the iTunes App Store.

App 5: Way of Life

Way of Life also models itself on the “do not break the chain” system. The app’s pricing is based on the “freemium” model, which means you can add up to three habits for free. However, to track more habits (unlimited), you would have to fork out $4.99.

I think three habits is just fine to get started, should you be serious in ensuring that new habits are cemented before adding more. One of the mistakes I made earlier on in this journey of forming new habits was to add too many new habits in one go, only to abandon them all on burnout after a week or so.

The Way of Life app is less specific and flexible compared with the previous two apps, in the sense that you are unable to choose the days you want the habit done. Instead, you would have to manually skip each day from the app’s home screen.

However, Way of Life has a function that the previous apps do not: The ability to add notes for each daily entry! This is very useful, as it allows you to analyse the reasons behind why you successfully performed an activity on a certain day or failed on another. For instance, looking at your notes, you might notice that every Friday morning you miss Fajr because you oversleep. This valuable information will then give you better insight on how you can ensure you wake up on time on Friday mornings.

The data collected by the application can then be reviewed either as a bar chart or pie chart, where you will be able to adjust the axis by week, month, or even year. Talk about long-term data!

Pros

• Notes function is unique and very useful.
• Easy to analyse data and track habits at a glance.

Cons

• No pre-determined checklist for Ramadan.
• No individual reminders for each habit.
• App interface is pretty dated for a $4.99 app.

This app is for you if:

You find high value in taking down notes to have a more in-depth analysis of your habits and you are perfectly fine with just three habits at a time.

Download Way of Life at the iTunes App Store.

App 6: Lift

Lift is radically different from the other habit-tracking applications we have reviewed so far because of two things:

Its focus on community support.
It is available as a web app and on Android (yay!).

Due to its focus on building a community, Lift first requires you to create a free account. Upon signing up, you have the choice of personalising your profile page (works like Twitter or Instagram, but for habits), or tracking your first habit straight away.

Adding a new habit is a tad different in Lift because instead of pursuing the habit alone, you get to join communities of people who are trying to build the same habits. By searching the term “Fajr” for instance, Lift shows me a list of communities who are pursuing habits related to “Fajr”, from people who are trying to “wake up before Fajr” to those who are trying to “stay up after Fajr.” What is great about communities is that you get to exchange motivations and advice with those who are facing the same struggles as you are!

Once you have chosen the community you want to to join, you are then able to adjust settings for that habit like your weekly target and time-sensitive reminders. To tackle your habits with greater privacy, there is also a handy privacy setting that allows you track your goals privately or publicly with select groups as appropriate.

Tracking your habits on Lift is a wonderful experience. You get to view your performance stats in both the frequency-format (per week, per month) and the “do not break the chain” calendar-format, with the added bonus of being able to include notes.

Another unique perk about Lift, not available in the other apps reviewed, is its offer of joining Coaching Plans (free). They are daily instructions to help you reach your goals. When you sign up for one, the plan will show up in your list along with an instruction for what to do that day.

The steps for a Coaching Plan are sequential, so each time you complete a step, it unlocks the instructions for the next step. The next step will then show up on your Lift list the day after they check-in for the completed step.

And the best thing about Lift’s Coaching Plan is that anyone can create a plan and get others to join. For example, for the month of Ramadan, you and your friends can form a group to read the Qur’an at the same pace, or to synchronise some other form of deeds together!

Pros

• Community support
• Coaching Plans
• Calendar, Statistics and notes tracking

Cons

• Needs Internet to work, which is bad if you are somewhere with a poor Internet connection like where I am based.
• Tracking habits publicly might be uncomfortable for some (though you can always set your setting as private).

This app is for you if:

You love the idea of having a community to work towards a habit together, and your Internet connection is solid and fast round the clock.

Download Lift at the iTunes App Store or at the Google Play Store. Alternatively, you can also use Lift from your browser.

App 7: Everest

Our last app for today’s review started off as a purely habit-tracking app, but has recently evolved into a growing community of people sharing photos and text in the context of their journeys in life.

While other apps in this review focus on whether the habit gets done, Everest seeks to capture moments in the journey of getting that habit done.

No reminders, no statistics, no pressure in continuing the chain. Instead, Everest asks that you document, through your photos and text, the different moments you go through in undertaking that journey of change.

If the other apps are all about quantitative research, Everest is the qualitative one for habit tracking.

Pros

• Community support
• Beautiful images and interface
• Discover the journeys of others

Cons

• Not so much of a habit-tracking app, but a documenting and journaling app
• No statistics of any kind to track progress
• Needs Internet connection

This app is for you if:

You dislike the statistical approach to habit building, and find that a focus on the journey and memories themselves is more beneficial … and you love sharing and looking at beautiful pictures!

Download Everest at the iTunes App Store.

Which App Should I Use?

The choice of app to use in your Ramadan strategy depends greatly on where you are and your preferred way of analysing your data, i.e. your habit-tracking results.

If you do not really know what deeds you need or can do during Ramadan, perhaps the two Islamic habit-building apps will be useful due to their built-in checklists. However, if you are aware of the different deeds you can do in Ramadan and already have in mind what you want to do, then I believe that any of the other apps will be more useful due to their flexibility.

Additionally, your choice of app should be determined by taking into consideration how you read data: Whether you prefer numbers, statistics, graphs, chains or pictures. This will all affect your willingness and motivation to use the application continually!

Tempting as it is to think that an app alone can help organise our activities in Ramadan, the hard truth is that an app is but only a means of achieving results. Although it is true that having the right means or tools will go a long way in determining the final results, true success in having a beneficial Ramadan lies in the blessings of Allah and on our own determination and discipline to practice istiqamah (steadfastness) in cultivating new habits.

❝ Our problem is not in the facilitation of knowledge, it is the problem of himma. It is not a problem of means, it is a problem of nafs, will, discipline, desire. ❞ —Shaykh Ahmad Saad

May Allah increase us in our good actions and remove the bad habits that are in us. May He accept all our deeds no matter how small, and may He grant us the opportunity to seek His blessings this Ramadan, In sha Allah.

Ameen! But Have You Forgotten Us Android Users?

Of course not! Below I have included seven Android habit-tracking apps I have found recommended on the Internet.

1. Ramadan Achievements (free): Equivalent to the Ramadan Tracker app reviewed.

2. Lift (free): See app review #6 above

3. Habit Streak Plan (free): Equivalent to “Do not break the chain” apps like Good Habits and Habit List.

4. Regularly (free): A habit tracker that allows you to categorise what is most important, colour code items that need attention and organise related tasks with tags.

5. Habit21 App (free, pay only if you fail to change your habit): Pledge a certain amount to friends whom you trust and give yourself 21 days to create a good habit or break a bad one.

6. Habitizer (free): A tool for those who are already committed to making changes and simply need to keep track of their progress or get reminders.

7. Goal Tracker Habit Calendar (free): A calendar view where you will be able to see which days you completed a habit and which ones you did not.

As I do not have an Android smartphone, I am unable to test how awesome (or not-so-awesome) the above apps are.

So, iOS and Android users, please do give the apps reviewed as well as the Android apps listed above a try and please share your findings and insights with us in the comments below for the benefit of the community.

P.S: Benefited from this article? Join our Productive Ramadan Online Course – a simple, practical and complete blueprint for leading a Productive Ramadan inshaAllah!

The post 7 More Apps to A Productive You This Ramadan appeared first on ProductiveMuslim.com.

The Ramadan Guilt Trip

I’ll let you in on a little secret: Last year’s Ramadan left me feeling guilty when Eid arrived. I had intended to complete many things during Ramadan — memorise some surahs from the Qur’an, complete several readings of the entire Qur’an, and to pray taraweeh in congregation daily, just to name a few.

But as Ramadan drew to a close, all I had were memories of delaying my Qur’an recitations and memorisation, and having to skip numerous congregational taraweeh for completing other assignments and projects.

It was so bad that I recall myself tearing as the Eid takbir played over the airwaves after Maghrib. A mixture of anger and disappointment in myself washed over me as I realized I had wasted my time in Ramadan.

So what went wrong?

Facts from the ‘2011 Productivity in Ramadan Report’

While researching for this article, I came across a Productivity in Ramadan Report written by Productive Muslim and Dinar Standard. The entire report is an interesting read, but the three biggest takeaways for me are these facts:

1. I am not alone in feeling the Ramadan Guilt Trip

According to the report, 65% of the Muslims interviewed felt that they “could do better” in terms of engaging in spiritual activities in Ramadan, while close to ⅕ are “very disappointed” in what they have achieved. Only 18% of interviewees are satisfied with what they have managed to do.

That means a whopping ⅘ of the approximately 1,600 Muslims interviewed felt the same way I did when Ramadan ended: Guilty!

2. The challenge is in Qur’anic recitation and performing taraweeh

The report stated that more than ⅔ of the interviewees struggled with their Qur’an recitation in Ramadan, while more than half struggled with their focus. Additionally, 47% had trouble performing the taraweeh prayers regularly.

Who would have known that most of the respondents of the survey too struggled with the same issues I faced?

3. The Upside: All of us want to do better

Lastly, the report said that while we Muslims often struggle with spirituality issues in Ramadan — and often feel guilty when Ramadan ends — 77% of us do harbour the intention to try and maintain our productivity in Ramadan.

With the above uplifting findings in mind — that all of us do want to improve our spirituality and productivity in Ramadan — I’ve written this article to address the root causes of our Ramadan Guilt Trip, and to suggest 5 tips we can implement to avoid feeling guilty at the end of the next Ramadan.

I hope the article benefits you as much as it has benefited me whilst I was researching it, In sha Allah.

Root Cause of the Ramadan Guilt Trip

I first came across the term “Ramadan Guilt Trip” whilst reading the 30 Tips for a Guilt-Free Ramadan free ebook by Abu Productive.

In the introduction of the ebook, he mentioned several reasons why a lot of Muslims end up feeling guilty when Ramadan ends.

These reasons include:

• Having unrealistic expectations
• Not easing oneself into Ramadan
• Lack in istiqamah (steadfastness)
• Energy and time management issues
• Lack of community support
• Lack of knowledge and training
• Lack of fitness
• Missing a spiritual link with Ramadan

As the 2011 “Productivity in Ramadan Report” similarly concludes: “there is a need for Muslims to better prepare for Ramadan”.

In short, the root cause why most of us faced the Ramadan Guilt Trip was because we failed to plan for Ramadan! And as the old adage says:

“Failing to plan is like planning to fail”

Here are 5 tips on how we can avoid the Ramadan Guilt Trip and not make the same mistakes every year.

5 Tips to Avoid The Ramadan Guilt Trip

TIP 1: Plan Your Goals And Strategy Ahead

Approximately a week before Ramadan begins, dedicate an hour or two to clarify your intentions and goals for Ramadan. Get it down on paper instead of just having it in your mind.

Why?

Because when you write your intentions and goals down, you are consciously giving them due attention, and subconsciously committing yourself to them instead of being wishy-washy about it.

You could begin by asking yourself the 5 questions, Kipling’s six honest serving-men — the Where, Who, What, Why, When and How:

1. The WHERE question (self-image):

Where am I right now?

As Abu Productive mentioned in his ebook, two reasons why Muslims fail to achieve what they intended to are: 1. having unrealistic expectations and 2. failing to ease themselves into Ramadan.

To avoid the same mistakes, we should thus take ourselves into account first by asking ourselves where we are right now in relation to our scale of spiritual deeds. To pinpoint our location, we could ask ourselves: How many times do I pray a day? Do I read the Qur’an everyday? If so, how many pages do I read?

We need to be really honest to ourselves when answering the WHERE question, for the answers will set the tone for the rest of the questions.

2. The WHO question (ideal identity):

Who do I want to be when Ramadan leaves me?

Once we have taken account of where we are at this moment, we should then ask ourselves where we want to be; or rather, WHO we want to be when Ramadan ends.

“Your current behaviors are simply a reflection of your current identity. What you do now is a mirror image of the type of person you believe that you are (either consciously or subconsciously). To change your behavior for good, you need to start believing new things about yourself.” —James Clear, author of Identity-based Habits

According to Clear, when we shape a new identity for ourselves, we are essentially telling ourselves that we can be this “improved” person. This makes it easier for us to stay motivated to stick to new habits we want to form.

It is, however, essential to answer the WHO question in relation to the WHERE question in order to avoid unrealistic expectations.

3. The WHAT question (goals)

What do I wish to achieve during Ramadan?

After determining the ideal person we wish to be by the end of Ramadan, the next step is to figure out what we wish to achieve in terms of goals in order to get to that identity.

The WHAT-answers we come up with should be specific and attainable, which means we should always keep where we are in mind.

For instance, if we have not been reading the Qur’an for a long time and we have trouble reading Arabic, it would be rather unrealistic to aim to complete reciting the Qur’an thrice in Ramadan. Likewise, if we have not been praying 5 times a day, it would be somewhat challenging to want to pray all the sunnah prayers throughout Ramadan.

Remember the Prophet’s advise:

Abu Hurairah narrated that the Prophet said: “Take on only as much as you can do of good deeds, for the best of deeds is that which is done consistently, even if it is little.” [Sunan Ibn Majah]

We should thus try to avoid setting overly ambitious goals, only to burn out after the first week of Ramadan.

4. The WHY question (intentions):

Why do I want to do the actions I am committing to?

Once we have written the goals down, the next thing to determine is the intention behind our wanting to achieve those goals. Research has shown that internal motivations trump external motivations. Hence, it is crucial that we spend some time to contemplate on our intentions.

It was narrated from ‘Umar bin Al-Khattab that the Prophet said: “Actions are but by intentions, and each person will have but that which he intended. …” [Sunan an-Nasa’i]

Additionally in the hadith above, the Prophet advised that if our intentions are for other than Allah (e.g. to lose weight), then we will only get what we intended for. If so, we will only disappoint ourselves again at the end of Ramadan if we fail to address our intentions at the very beginning.

5. The HOW question (strategy)

How will I complete the goals?

At this point, we will have determined the starting and ending points of our Ramadan journey and why we are undertaking the journey. What we should do next is to figure out how we will get there.

When we figure out the answers to the HOW question, we are essentially creating a strategy for ourselves. A good way to approach this is to break up our end-goals into smaller milestones, and then spread them throughout the entire period of Ramadan.

Remember, the most important advice to always keep in mind is:

“Take on only as much as you can do of good deeds, for the best of deeds is that which is done consistently, even if it is little.” [Sunan Ibn Majah]

6. The WHEN question (milestones)

By when will I complete these goals?

Lastly, after determining the milestones, we should then allocate a specific date by which to complete them. Be realistic in determining our due dates.

Case in point, I have a group of friends who regularly complete a full recital of the Qur’an together, and we used to complete one recitation each month with ease. Feeling ambitious, we decided to change it to once every week instead! Needless to say, things quickly deteriorated as many of us struggled to complete. We have hence decided to aim for a more reachable target of twice a month instead.

In addition to considering the attainability of our targeted spiritual actions, we would also need to consider all our non-Ramadan assignments and projects and their due dates when setting deadlines for our milestones. Ask: Will we be able to commit to both responsibilities within that specific time frame?

To sum up Tip 1: if there is only one tip you would like to take implement in your life, it is to plan your Ramadan ahead of time.

TIP 2: Track Your Schedule, Plan Your Time

In one of the several life experiments that I performed last year, I decided to consciously track how I made use of every single minute of my day. To conduct the experiment, I downloaded the iOS app called iTrackMyTime.

With this app, I was able to log my actions throughout the entire day in relation to time spent, and in return, the app beautifully calculates and shows my data to me in an infographic.

What I learnt, in a nutshell, is that although I deemed my relationship with Allah to be my utmost priority, in reality I spent very little time building my relationship with Him.

By Time, verily man is in loss. [Qur’an: Chapter 103, Verses 103:1-2]

Hence, my second tip would be that we should first make it a point to be conscious of our daily schedule. By using apps like iTrackMyTime or even just good old pen and paper, we would be forced to be more aware of what we truly spend our time on (and just how much we have been wasting). Once we are aware of how we spend our time, we could then better plan our time for the month of Ramadan.

Are all the hours usually spent preparing food and eating? As appropriate, replace a part of that with a beneficial alternative like reciting the Qur’an! All the five-minute-breaks we usually waste on social media — fill them up with reading the tafsir instead!

I find that breaking down my time into hours and writing down what I will be doing in those hours helps me to complete my tasks better than simply having a generic to-do list.

One of the bonuses of Ramadan is that it urges us to wake up before Fajr, something that a lot of us struggle with. In fact, it is like having an additional hour in our days as we are now awake at the time we usually sleep. Make full use of that hour to engage in spiritual activities. After all, Prophet Muhammad did make du’a for blessings to be present in our mornings:

It was narrated from Ibn ‘Umar that the Prophet said: “O Allah, bless my nation in their early mornings.” … [Sunan Ibn Majah]

For steps to become an early riser, you might want to check out my article here.

TIP 3: Track Your Habits And Milestones During Ramadan

In Tip 1, we have drawn out our strategy for Ramadan — our battle plan.

However, a plan remains only as a plan unless we are consistent in carrying it out; an architect’s building plans can never come to life unless work gets done on it!

Therefore, it is essential that you take note of your habits and milestones in order to keep yourself on track.

For those of you who spend a lot of time on your gadgets, it would probably be a good idea to invest in one of the many habit-tracking applications available today. I currently use the free Good Habits iOs app on my iPhone that enables me to key in all the small daily habits I would like to do daily.

Using Seinfeld’s “do not break the chain” method, every day the app reminds me to do the habit, and then gets me to cross it off when done. Day by day, as the length of my habit chain grew, I got more motivated and ensured that it does not get cut off!

A good thing about Good Habits app is that I can pause certain habits — to-do entries. i.e. — whenever needed, especially useful for us ladies.

For those of you who are not as attached to your gadgets, you can just take a piece of paper, draw (or print) 30 boxes for each habit, and check off a box each day as you complete the respective habit! A good idea would be to place the paper somewhere that you have no choice but to view it, just like the reminder function in the Good Habits app.

TIP 4: Start Journaling

Once we have started tracking our habits and milestones, we should also dedicate at least five minutes at the end of each day journaling our progress, be it in an essay format or in point form (for those who hate writing!).

In his free e-book The Practice of Intent, Shaykh Ebrahim Schuitema writes on the importance of journaling:

“So what the journaling does is give us the opportunity to abstract, to literally pull ourselves back from day to day events, it allows us to pull back further and further, in order to see the much bigger picture.

“Most of us cannot see the wood for the trees. We are stuck with our faces pressed so close to the glass of the events and experiences of our lives that we cannot see them objectively. With the journaling we are trying to learn how to see the wood and the trees.” —Shaykh Ebrahim Schuitema

By keeping a daily journal of our day and progress, no matter how brief, we are allowing ourselves to be conscious of our actions, and to be more receptive to the messages Allah is Conveying to us in our conversations with Him.

From your daily journals, set aside some time to create a weekly summary. And from your weekly summaries, set aside some time for a monthly summary. In sha Allah, the journals will really help us to keep track of our position in our Ramadan journey, giving us clues as to whether we should step things up, or to slow down and take a breather.

As we become more in tune with our actions, journaling will also provide us with clues as to why we might be struggling to achieve certain milestones and excel at others. With these clues, we can then adjust our Ramadan strategies accordingly early on before we waste the entire month away, bi idhnillah.

TIP 5: Get your smart gadgets to make you smart

The last tip would probably resonate more with those who are in their teens and twenties, young adults and youth who are the gadget-generation! Let’s face it: some of us know that many of us are hopelessly married to our smart gadgets, and we all know that we need to do something about it, especially during Ramadan (which is why we get so many requests on this topic here at Productive Muslim)!

Knowing precisely all the above is the reason why I embarked on another of my life-experiments last year — dumbing down my smart phone.

In his book Hooked, author Nir Eyal states that successful smartphone applications are those that ensure users make a habit of coming back to it. As I mentioned in my Habit-Making series, Instagram uses ‘likes’ notifications to keep its users returning, craving the reward of peer-validation. All other successful social media applications work the same way!

Hence, to cut off the problem of smart gadgets addiction, I suggest that we go cold turkey: delete all the time-wasting apps like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter from our phones!

To make it a little easier, we could tell ourselves that we are embarking on an experiment, just like I did with mine. By telling myself that I am on an experiment, I remove the pressure of failing, and I subconsciously tell myself that I just have to hang on for a certain number of days. In actuality, by the time I end the experiment, I would have already achieved in getting what I need done (i.e. kill my social media addiction!)

After dumbing down our smartphones and tablets, the next thing we should do is to curb our social media usage on our laptops and desktops. To do this, we can use several applications:

1. StayFocused (Chrome only): The free StayFocused chrome application helps you to limit the time you spend on time-wasting websites. Once your allotted time has been used up, the sites you have blocked will be inaccessible for the rest of the day. The app is also highly configurable, allowing you to block or allow entire sites, specific subdomains, specific paths, specific pages, even specific in-page content.
2. RescueTime (Mac/Linux/Windows): With the RescueTime free application, you can easily view what you do on your desktop. One of the most important things about RescueTime is that there is no data entry needed —  you just have to install a small application on your computer and the app magically tracks what software and which websites are actively being used (while you are online). You can then set goals (e.g. spend only 1 hour on social media sites), and a weekly report will be sent to you.

However, the magic of RescueTime lies in its paid option (US $9/month; $6/month for annual subscription). With the paid option, it allows you to track offline time, get notifications when you achieve your daily goals, gives you a daily report, and even block websites that are distracting!

I have been using RescueTime Premium (email them your student status to get 30% off) for a week or so now, and I am highly considering on making the investment. As a freelance writer and web developer, I perpetually sleep with my laptop and the app has successfully ensured that I procrastinate less and deliver more!

3. SelfControl (Mac only): When I REALLY need to get things done and stop aimlessly browsing the web, I turn to the free application SelfControl. A free application that lets you block your own access to distracting websites, your mail servers, or anything else on the Internet. All I have to do is just set a period of time to block for, add sites to your blacklist, and click Start. Until that timer expires, I will be unable to access those sites, even if you restart your computer or delete the application! Brutal! But drastic times call for drastic measures.

All in all, if you have been keeping track of your time, you would really be able to see the huge amount of time wasted on social media applications — all the minutes on the train, walking, just sitting down, scrolling, scrolling, scrolling…

Imagine all the things we can accomplish during that time!

Conclusions

Let us revisit the 5 tips on how we can avoid feeling guilty at the end of Ramadan this year on:

1. Plan your goals and strategy ahead of time
2. Track your schedule, then plan your time
3. Track your habits and milestones during Ramadan
4. Start journaling during Ramadan
5. Get your smart gadgets to make you smarter

And for last and most important tip, remember to consistently make du’a to Allah , for all power and change lies only with Him. With Him lies ease, and with Him lies difficulty, so let us rely not only on the various tips, articles, and applications, but to rely first on Allah .

May Allah grant us the rizq of a blessed Ramadan. May He accept our struggles to change for His sake as good deeds. May we leave Ramadan as part of the 18% of Muslims who leave Ramadan knowing that they have done the best they could. Ameen!

So adopt, adapt and try out some of these tips. Tell us about the challenges you faced in the process. We’d love you to share your experiences, tips and tricks in comments below so everyone can benefit, In sha Allah!

P.S: Benefited from this article? Join our Productive Ramadan Online Course – a simple, practical and complete blueprint for leading a Productive Ramadan inshaAllah!

The post The Ramadan Guilt Trip — Here’s How To Beat It! appeared first on ProductiveMuslim.com.

The solution to this would be to learn how to manage our time properly, but there is another solution that some might have overlooked: Utilizing tools that enable us to work more efficiently.

As a self-confessed tech geek, I have tried and tested numerous applications, trying to find the best apps that would enable me to work better. Over the years, I have fallen in love with many applications and discarded even more.

In this article, I will be sharing 5 of the applications I use regularly in my life as an undergraduate.

App #1: Mendeley

Use: Organizing literature and writing papers
Desktop app: Windows, Mac, Linux
Mobile app: iPad, iOS
Price: Free; storage space free up to 2GB

1.1 Why I use this app
One of the problems I faced when doing research is organizing all the literature (i.e., journals, PDFs, eBooks, conference papers, etc.) I gathered from the Internet. The more papers I wrote, the more literature I collected and the more confused I got with all my resources.

The second problem I faced was that I hated having to manually key in the citations according to a specific citation format. I spent a long time just writing, sorting and editing the bibliography of my papers, time that I could spend doing something else.

Mendeley solved both of my issues (and other issues I did not even knew existed!).

1.2 App walkthrough

What is Mendeley?
Mendeley is a free reference manager that helps you to organize your research, collaborate with others online and discover the latest research.

Why you should use this app


Mendeley allows you to organize your literature into folders and then sort the literature in those folders according to author, title, year published, and even the journal title.

It also allows you to highlight and insert notes directly onto the PDF itself, thus making it easy for you to locate the important information you found earlier.

It has a search function that allows you to search across all your documents, both in the titles of papers and their contents.

It gives you the ability to insert citations automatically, according to the format you require (side note: you will have to install the Microsoft Word plug-in here first).

After inserting citations throughout your paper using the Mendeley plug-in, all you have to do to insert your entire bibliography is to click the above button. Mendeley will extract all the information automatically and create your bibliography for you in seconds.

1.3 The Good

• Organization capabilities
• One-click citation and bibliography
• Search open access libraries for more references
• iPad and iPhone applications allow you to read your papers on the go

1.4 The Bad

• Sometimes (rarely) crashes
• Online storage space free only until 2GB

1.5 Other Remarks
Since I started using the app last year, I have never found the need to find another application to replace Mendeley. It does what it is supposed to, is beautifully designed compared with other similar apps I have seen and saves a lot of my time. The 2GB online storage limitation is not that big of an issue as it should be enough to store hundreds of files.

If you woud like some other apps to compare Mendeley with, you can check out the company’s useful comparison chart here.

LINK TO APP: www.mendeley.com

App #2: oTranscribe

Use: Transcribing interviews
Desktop App: Chrome and Safari web broswers
Mobile App: None
Price: Free

2.1 Why I use this app
When doing qualitative research papers, I often had to transcribe hours of interviews. It was excruciating having to go back and forth between my audio player and my word document, pausing and rewinding, while trying to catch what my interviewees were saying.

As many a friend complained: “A 30 minute interview transcript could very well take up 3 to 4 hours of my time!”

oTranscribe provides you with the one and only interface you need to do your transcribing effectively.

2.2 App walkthrough

What is oTranscribe?
oTranscribe is a free web app that aims to take the pain out of transcribing recorded interviews.

Why you should use this app

It takes only one click to upload your audio or video. No registrations or sign-ups needed.

Since you do not have to take your hands off the keyboard, oTranscribe gives you the ability to type faster. To pause and play, press the “ESC” button. “F1” rewinds, “F12” forwards, and “F3” and “F4” slows down and speeds up the audio so you can better listen to your interviewees.

The best thing about oTranscribe is that when you pause, it automatically rewinds the audio for 2 seconds, so your fingers have time to start typing again when you hit “play”.

Another feature I really like is the ability to timestamp. Often during recorded interviews, you will come across unclear audio. What timestamp does is that it marks the time of the audio on the document, so you can just click on it to give it another listen later. The audio will then automatically skip to the time shown on the timestamp.

Lastly, the app also allows you to easily export your transcript in markdown or plaintext, allowing you to open it with your Word program. For those using Google Drive, you can also export it directly into your Google Drive account.

2.3 The Good

• Say goodbye to switching between multiple applications
• Auto rewind when paused
• Hyperlinked timestamp

2.4 The Bad

• Supports only .mp3 / .mp4 / wav files. Users will need to convert their audio to those formats
• Limited to one transcription audio at a time
• Open sourced, meaning there is limited support if things go wrong

2.5 Other Remarks
I have shared this app with numerous friends and all of them testify that the app gets the work done effectively. The limitation of one transcription at a time can be an asset, as it forces you to concentrate and complete each audio before moving to another. Also, if you have audio and video files that are not within the accepted formats, you can convert your files using media.io before uploading them to oTranscribe.

LINK TO APP: www.oTranscribe.com

App #3: Doodle

Use: Scheduling meetings
Desktop App: All web browsers
Mobile App: iPhone, iPad and Android
Price: Free for desktop; paid for mobile

3.1 Why I use this app
University life is such that every student has his/her own schedule, personalized according to the subjects he/she signed up for. While this allows for more flexibility and freedom, it can cause a problem when trying to schedule a time for group discussions.

Case in point, I recently had to meet  9 team members for a project I was working on. In the past, I would have to liaise with them by going back and forth, trying to find a date where everyone would be free.

With Doodle, all I had to do was key in the time slots where I would be free, send my team members a link and wait for them to choose the slots where they are free!

3.2 App walkthrough

What is Doodle?
Doodle is an app that simplifies the process of scheduling events, whether they are board or team meetings, dinners with friends, reunions, weekend trips, or anything else that needs scheduling.

Why you should use this app

It is very easy to create a new event, for example a meeting, and choose the times that you propose the meeting be held. Once you have selected all the time proposals and completed setting up the poll, all you have to do is send the link given to your team members.


It is also very easy for your team members to choose their preferred time slots; they do not even have to register for Doodle! All they have to do is to click on the time slots they prefer and click save.

When everyone is done selecting his/her slots, you can view either the most popular slot to have a team meeting, or the slots where every team member is free to meet you individually.

It is that easy!

3.3 The Good

• Ease of use for both creator and participant of poll
• Easy to share link to poll
• Ability to choose any time and duration you prefer

3.4 The Bad

• Mobile app is not free
• Anyone with the link can edit the changes made by other users

3.5 Other Remarks
I have only recently stumbled upon Doodle, but I can foresee myself using it even in my personal life, from organizing dinners with my family and friends, to scheduling meetings for work purposes.

LINK TO APP: www.doodle.com

App #4: Bunkr

Use: Designing beautiful presentations
Desktop App: All web browsers
Mobile App: None
Price: Free for 2 presentations; $6(US)/mth for unlimited

4.1 Why I use this app
When it comes to designing slides for presentations, the golden rule often overlooked is that less is more. Presentation slides only serves two purposes: To give the audience a simple visual aid in line with the content of the presentation and to remind the speaker of what he is supposed to speak of next.

Because of these reasons, I only need an application that provides two kinds of content for my slides: Beautiful images and clear fonts. Bunkr gets that job done.

4.2 App walkthrough

What is Bunkr?
With just a few clicks, Bunkr is an application that allows you to create an interactive presentation and to share it online.

Why you should use this app

Bunkr’s interface is simple and minimalistic. This forces you to focus on what is important to include in your slides, so when you present, the audience’s attention is on you, not on your slides.

Under the tab “web services”, you can even search for images in the Internet from within Bunkr itself.

Bunkr’s bookmarklet lets you collect content (e.g., images, videos, quotes, notes, links, etc.) from the Internet in just a few clicks. This is cool because …


… you can then insert these content into your presentation slides directly!


And when you are done, you can easily access the slides you designed using the link provided (Here is an example I did for this article!). Alternatively, you can also export the slides to PDF or PPTX format.

4.3 The Good

• Easily find images from around the web within the app
• Drag and drop interface
• Export to PDF and PPTX format

4.4 The Bad

• No graphs or charts
• Limits to free account, heavy users might need to upgrade to paid account

4.5 Other Remarks
Personally, I feel Bunkr is only for those who love simplicity in their presentation slides. Students who love to fill up their slides with lots of information would find Bunkr’s minimalist approach very limiting.

As of now, Bunkr is still in its Beta phase. This is good news as it means that we can look forward to more features from the Bunkr development team in the future, In sha Allah.

LINK TO APP: www.bunkr.me

App #5: Dropbox

Use: Online storage
Desktop App: Windows, Mac, Linux, Web Browsers
Mobile App: iPad, iPhone, Android, Blackberry, Kindlefire
Price: Free 2GB – 16GB, upgrade for more space

5.1 Why I use this app
As representative for several classes, often I had to distribute readings and handouts to other students. Before discovering Dropbox, I would leave the set of notes at the photocopy shop on campus and anyone who wanted the notes would make their way to the shop, print a copy and bring the notes to class. This worked really well until it dawned on me just how much paper was wasted in the process!

With Dropbox, however, my lecturers would send me the soft copy of the notes and I would upload them to my Dropbox account. I would then send an email to everyone who registered for the class to download the notes from my account.

This way, consumption of paper decreases (as almost everyone has tablets or smart phones these days), the notes get delivered directly to everyone’s inboxes and because the notes are sent as a Dropbox download link instead of an attachment, email space is also saved.

Besides the above, I also use Dropbox for other purposes such as:

• Storing backup copies of my research papers
• Storing my readings and slides for classes
• Syncing photos with my iPad and iPhone
• Transferring files between my Mac, iPad and iPhone
• Using it with dropitto.me, an application that allows others to send large files (<75mb) to my Dropbox account
• Streaming audio files for my podcast for Dean’s List students

5.2 App walkthrough

What is Dropbox?

Dropbox is a free service that lets you bring your photos, docs and videos anywhere and share them easily.

Why you should use this app


Uploading files and adding folders is very easy to do in Dropbox. Just click “upload” and choose your file. If you have the desktop app installed, you can just drag the file you wish to upload into your Dropbox folder. It will automatically sync across all your Dropbox-enabled devices.

Files synced to your mobile devices can be stored offline for viewing without Internet connection as well.

Sharing files and folders with anyone is just as easy. All you have to do is click “share”, and “get link”. The link to download your file will then be automatically copied to your clipboard, so all you have to do is send the link out via email, Facebook or other text-enabled applications.

When a person clicks on the link you sent, all she/he has to do to download the file(s) is to click on “Download” and choose one of the above two options.

5.3 The Good

• Easy to upload, share and download
• Beautiful interface
• Compatible across most devices
• Photos sync automatically

5.4 The Bad

• Limit of 2GB – 16GB, after which a user would have to upgrade
• Cannot edit files (e.g. Word documents) from within Dropbox

5.5 Other Remarks
Dropbox is the perfect application for online storage for me as it is very easy to use compared with other applications. There are also a host of applications that can work with Dropbox, such as Droptunes (stream audio from your Dropbox) and Scriptogram (blog from your Dropbox).

However, Dropbox’s offering of free online storage begins only at 2GB (and caps at 16GB), increasing only when the user completes certain actions like recommending friends to join Dropbox. On the other hand, Box automatically offers a 10GB free online storage space, while Google Drive’s offer begins at 15GB.

Dropbox’s 16GB of free space should be enough for most users, but if you are ever in need of more, do what I do – use all three applications.

LINK TO APP: www.dropbox.com

More Free Apps

These are some of the others apps I use regularly as well:

For writing:

• Quip: Online word processor that allows collaboration of documents. I use Quip to take down notes in class. Available for iOs Android and the web.
• Simplenote: The best way to keep simple notes. I use it to catch any idea or thought that comes to mind. Available for iOS, Android, Mac and the web.

Other:

• Trello: Organizer, to-do list, program planner, ideas board, resolutions tracker. Trello is as flexible as you deem it to be. I even use it with my news team to gather news daily! Available for iOs, Android, Windows 8/RT and the web.
• Feedly: A news aggregator application. Whenever my favourite websites update, Feedly pushes all new content automatically onto its dashboard, so I do not have to go to all the different websites. Available for iOs, Android and the web.

In conclusion, I hope you will give the above applications a spin and I know, In sha Allah, they will help you save hours of your precious time.

If you know of other awesome applications that I should try out, please feel free to share them in the comments. I would love to hear from you!

The post [App Review] Top Five Apps for The Productive Student appeared first on ProductiveMuslim.com.

In Part 1 of this series, I explained how in the Islamic worldview the success of forming a new habit depends on the state of the heart. By keeping the heart clean from vices and full of remembrance of Allah , it is in man’s nature to change his actions for the better.

In this part, I will explain habit formation from the perspective of Western science and how we can utilize this knowledge to help us build our habits.

The Role of Basal Ganglia

In the 1990s, several researchers from Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s (MIT) department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences began looking into a part of the brain close to where it meets the spinal column: the basal ganglia. They made initial observations that animals with injured basal ganglia tended to have problems with tasks such as learning how to run through mazes, while they had no problem doing so previously.

They then launched a series of lab experiments and concluded that the basal ganglia was “central to recalling patterns and acting on them,” [1] which meant that while the rest of the brain goes to sleep after enough repetitions of an act, the basal ganglia stores them as habits and takes over the process.

The hijacking done by the basal ganglia is the reason why we sometimes find ourselves driving straight home when we actually wanted to make a detour to the store. It is also why we find ourselves halfway through prayer before realizing that we did not actually register what we were doing; the basal ganglia has automated the process!

The Three-Step Loop

According to Charles Duhigg, author of the best-selling book “The Power of Habit”, the automation of the process within our brains occurs in a three-step loop:

Step 1: Cue — a trigger that tells your brain to go into automatic mode and informs it of what to do next.
Step 2: Routine — the behavior itself, which can be physical, mental, or emotional.
Step 3: Reward — helps the brain figure out if this particular loop is worth remembering in the future.

Overtime, this loop — cue, routine, reward; cue, routine, reward — becomes more and more automatic. The brain latches on to a cue and associates it with a corresponding behavior and reward. The cue and reward then become intertwined until the basal ganglia relate them together, creating a powerful sense of anticipation.

Eventually, a habit is born.

The 3-step loop might seem too simplistic to some, but the truth is that the knowledge of the loop is so powerful that huge corporations actually implement it when shaping their products to make us (consumers) addicted to using them.

Nir Eyal, in his book “Hooked”, explains how product makers, through consciously deciding triggers for their users (cue), actions that they want the users to take (routine), and the variable reward that the users will receive (reward), create a product that users cannot help but return to time and again. And we wonder why we are so addicted to the likes of Facebook and Instagram!

So the question is, how can we use the 3-step loop to help us build new habits?

Tip 1: Choose Unavoidable Cues

Instead of creating a fresh cue to trigger your new behavior, try to pinpoint a current habit you already have and make that a trigger to start a new habit.

In practical terms: When I wanted to start on a new set of adhkar to recite every morning, I chose my already existing behavior of reading the Qur’an after Fajr as the cue for reading the adhkar. This way, overtime, it becomes natural for me to just continue my extended dhikr after reciting the Qur’an; I don’t need to rely on additional internal motivation because my cue already exists.

Tip 2: Make the Cues Obvious

To make habit-building even easier, set up your environment in such a way that your cues are highly visible and obvious.

In practical terms: Going back to my new dhikr habit example, how I reduce even more resistance is by placing the phone application I use to store my dhikr right next to my Qur’an application. This way, the moment I close my Qur’an application, the first thing that I see is the dhikr application, my cue to open it and start reading.

Tip 3: Start With the Smallest Behavior (Routine)

One of the biggest hindrances to forming new habits is when our mind starts thinking about the huge effort that we need to exert to complete that specific behaviour. For example, the dhikr recitation habit that I am in the process of building would require at least 30 minutes of my time.

The truth is, sometimes just thinking about having to recite additional adhkar for 30 minutes saps the energy out of me and I start finding excuses to put off building the habit.

In practical terms: Instead of thinking about the entire length of the dhikr, I focus on just completing the first part of the dhikr that would take me approximately 5 minutes. And because of the Zeigarnik Effect (which explains that it is in our human nature to finish what we start), my brain then forces me to continue turning the page until I get to the end. Voilà, 30 minutes down, Alhamdulillah!

Tip 4: Identify A Reward

The fourth tip is to identify a reward for yourself upon completion of your new habit. By doing this, according to Duhigg, you are helping your brain figure out if it is worthwhile to take note of the cue and the expected action to take.

In practical terms: In my dhikr habit example, I identified not one, but two rewards to keep me going. The first reward is the feeling of gratitude for the peaceful state of heart that He promises those who spend time in His remembrance (Qur’an: Chapter 13, Verse 28). The second reward is being able to check off that task in my Habits Tracking application.

By identifying these rewards, I am subconsciously making it easier for my brain to remember that putting the extra effort to inculcate that specific habit will “pay off” in the end.

Bonus Tip 5: Build On Your Keystone Habits First

Duhigg defines a keystone habit as “a behavior or routine that naturally pulls the rest of your life in order”. For some people, it might be exercising, and for others, it might be journalling.

As for us Muslims, the first keystone habit we should work on (if we have yet to do so) is our fardh prayers. Prophet Muhammad reminded us numerous times to guard our prayers, and it is something that we should all work above all else.

Prayer not only teaches us to be disciplined in our actions and to manage our time properly, but more importantly, prayer is a connection between us and our Creator. It also washes away our sins and cleanses our heart, thus making building good habits easier.

A Final Note

To conclude this article, I’d just like to share that I truly understand that building new habits can be hard. I particularly am still struggling to sustain my newly formed dhikr habit to last longer than 20 days; there would always be something (an excuse really) interrupting my flow.

Once, frustrated at my failures to remain constant with my new habits, I complained to Shaykh Yahya Rhodus of my shortcomings and shared how hard I felt it was to change. He flashed a kind smile and said:

“Just pick yourself up, wipe the dust off and move forward. Shaytaan will always place doubt in your hearts, telling you to lose hope and go back to your old ways, especially when you are down. Just ignore him, pick yourself up and keep moving forward (shows action of wiping dust off hands). Don’t dwell. Pick yourself up, and keep moving forward.“

May Allah purify our hearts and beautify our actions, and may He make it easy for us to follow in the footsteps of the most beloved of His creations, Sayyidina Mustafa Rasulillah . Ameen!

The cue-routine-reward process can only be beneficial if you actually apply it. So, now that you know all about it, I’d like you to think of a habit you’ve been struggling to develop, apply the 3-step loop to it, and share the result below!

[1] Duhigg, Charles. “The Power of Habit” (e-book). Chapter 1, Part 2.

The post [Better Habit-Making – Part 2] A Scientific Perspective appeared first on ProductiveMuslim.com.

Are you having a hard time sticking to your new year resolutions? Perhaps you’ve been frustrated and disappointed over and over again seeing your grand plans of change fall apart?

Don’t worry, I’ve been there. We’ve all been there.

Let’s try again. This time, with the proper understanding and knowledge of habit-making.

Why I Got Interested in Habits

I remember coming out of the conference hall, all excited and motivated to be a better Muslimah. Listening to humbling reminders from an all-star shuyukh lineup and having conversations with numerous inspiring Muslimahs (or Muslims, if you’re a brother) tends to have that impact on people, especially me.

I went home and drew up a master plan of what my days would look like:

Tahajjud at 4 A.M., followed by an hour of the Qur’an, followed by some revisions for school before praying Fajr. Then I would burn the track before getting ready for school. I would then be on time for all my classes, come home, spend another hour with the Qur’an and listen to more lectures online. In between, I would pray all my prayers on time, including all the sunnah prayers, both before and after.

Things went great on the first day. I was roaring with enthusiasm. By the third day I was exhausted, but I pushed myself. By the fifth day, I had significantly reduced my sunnah prayers and my running shoes stood dejected by the door. By the seventh, I had suffered a total burnout.

I got depressed, demotivated and soon returned to my old ways. The cycle then repeats when a new conference comes into town. Instead of changing small habits over time, I tried to change my whole being in one shot.

And I know many of us are stuck in the same cycle too. A great tool that you can use to keep track of your progress achieved toward building (or destroying) a habit is ProductiveMuslim’s Habitator.

“In order for us to realize our God-given potential within our lifetimes, we must break the cycles of stagnation that prevent us from doing so by abandoning methods that have proven ineffective in fulfilling our responsibilities as people committed to Islam. We can accomplish this only by changing our current condition — this requires courage, commitment and above all, critical introspection.” — Shaykh Hamza Yusuf (Agenda to Change our Condition)

The Heart, The Brain, and Habits

In my quest to learn more about habits and how we can change them, I decided to look at both Islamic and Western literature to compare them and, In sha Allah, get an understanding from both perspectives. Surprisingly,many of the actions recommended and concepts spoken about in both literatures are somewhat the same. The crucial differentiating factor, however, is that Western literature tends to focus on the brain as the main cause of actions and habits, while Islamic literature brings them back to the heart.

In this two-part series, we will explore how we can inculcate better habits in our lives. The first part will explore habit-making through purifying the heart, while the second part of the series will touch on habit-making from the perspective of cognitive science.

At the end of each part, I will share some small actionable steps that we can take to better ourselves, one habit at a time, In sha Allah!

Habits and the Heart

Prophet Muhammad said: “Truly in the body there is a morsel of flesh which, if it be whole, all the body is whole and which, if it be diseased, all of it is diseased. Truly it is the heart.” [Bukhari & Muslim]

As Muslims, we should be clear that in Islamic thought, the center of consciousness and conscience is actually the heart and not the brain as Western science tells us. Shaykh Hamza Yusuf said in recent times scientists have discovered that there are more than 40,000 neurons in the heart that communicate with the brain, meaning that not only does the brain send messages to the heart, but the heart does the same to the brain as well.

In a study conducted in the 1970s, for instance, two physiologists discovered that when the brain sent messages to the heart, “the heart did not automatically obey the messages. Sometimes the heart sped up, while other times it slowed down, indicating that the heart itself has its own type of intelligence”. [1]

That said, the study of the brain is a relatively new science, while our knowledge of the heart and soul will always be limited as the Qur’an has mentioned:

“And they ask you, [O Muhammad], about the soul. Say, “The soul is of the affair of my Lord. And mankind have not been given of knowledge except a little.” [Qur’an: Chapter 17, Verse 85].

In a hadith found in the book “Purification of the Heart” by Imam Al-Mawlud, it is written that no one fully believes until his desires [and thus, actions] are in accordance with what the Prophet had brought [Imam Nawawi, #41]. Due to this, Imam al-Mawlud explained that there is thus no salvation “like the heart’s salvation, given that all the limbs [and organs] respond to its desires”.

The basic rule then, according to Imam al-Mawlud, is to ask Allah for assistance, and then work to consistently purify the state of our hearts.

Three Realizations

There are three kinds of realizations we need to have before we take the steps to make changes in our lives. The first is knowing the state of our heart, the second is having the right intentions towards change, while the third is understanding the nature of change.

Realization 1: Knowing Our State

The first thing to realize in trying to take on good habits or remove bad ones is the state of our heart — the source of all actions. Only through reflection will we be able to know ourselves and who we really are, and this self-awareness is the basis of achieving good.

Reflection, with the knowledge that it is impossible to attain a pure heart, would then lead to shame and humility before Allah , causing us to implore Him to change our states. And truly, no power nor change happens except by the will of Allah .

Suggested action points:

• Look deep within yourself.
• Keep a daily journal.
• Write down all the things you do and feel; the conversations in your heart and mind.
• Take note of your weaknesses, your strengths, what makes you tick and what drives you.
• Learn to see yourself for who you really are
• Take note of the state of your heart.

Realization 2: Having the Right Intentions for Change

The second realization that we need to have is to understand that whatever change we intend to undertake should stem from the need to worship Allah better. Our raw intentions should root not from our ego, desires and wants, but from the pinnacle of servanthood to Him who has created us.

When we make the intentions to be a better parent, child, or student, etc., it makes it easy for us to give up and tell ourselves, “It’s okay, better luck next year.” Also, the reason of being better here is the “I” of the self, instead of the “You” of Allah .

However, when we take our intentions a step further and pin our intentions to the need to serve Allah out of our immense love to Him and the Prophet , then our intention for change is sincerely for Him and nothing else.

Suggested action points:

• Check your intentions: Always do things for the sake of Allah . When we do things for Allah , we do things with ihsaan, with love and perfection; we don’t tell ourselves “better luck next year”. When we do things for Allah, we focus on the “You” and not the “I”.
• Shift your inner dialogue to one which is intent on giving instead of receiving, for in the giving is barakah and aid from Allah .

Realization 3: Understanding the Nature of Change

The third realization is to understand that the nature of mankind in adopting changes is through gradual changes, and not through an extreme makeover.

Although there are instances of people changing drastically literally overnight (for Allah is capable of doing anything He wishes), the nature of change generally is through gradual adoption of new habits.

When the ruling that alcohol is forbidden was revealed, it did not come down in a hard and fast overnight commandment from Allah . Instead, He sent down three gradual revelations that would ease the ruling gradually into the lives of Muslims:

• First revelation: “They ask you about wine and gambling. Say, “In them is great sin and [yet, some] benefit for people. But their sin is greater than their benefit”…” [Qur’an: Chapter 2, Verse 219].
• Second revelation: “O you who have believed, do not approach prayer while you are intoxicated…” [Qur’an: Chapter 4, Verse 43].
• Third revelation: “O you who have believed, indeed, intoxicants, gambling, [sacrificing on] stone alters [to other than Allah ], and divining arrows are but defilement from the work of Satan, so avoid it that you may be successful” [Qur’an: Chapter 5, Verse 90].

We should do the same when we plan to overhaul our habits. Start small and gradually take further steps to make the change.

Suggested action points:

Break down the habit you are intending to adopt into smaller steps and start tackling the easiest of the steps first. For example:

• To make writing a daily habit, start by aiming to write freely for five minutes every morning. Then slowly increase the time to ten, then to fifteen, until you reach your daily target.
• To make running a daily habit, start by just putting on your running shoes and going for a 10-minute walk. Over time, gradually increase your speed and/or distance, until running daily becomes second nature to you.

Three Actions that Purify the Heart

With these realizations, we then need to work on purifying our heart and increasing our imaan, for a sound heart leads to sound limbs and actions. When the heart is good, everything else will follow, and habit-changing comes naturally, bi’iznillah.

To increase our imaan, the advice given by Habib Ali Shaykh, the discipline master of the school of Dar al-Mustafa in Yemen, is to do three things:

Read the Qur’an, make salawat upon the Prophet and recite the shahadah.

Doing these actions in itself means the inculcation of new habits. To make things easier, refer to the three realizations we spoke about earlier:

1. The state of our heart and self
2. The right intentions to make
3. The nature of change

Suggested action points:

• First, when you know the state of your heart and the state of yourself, then you know what you need to make it easier to read the Qur’an, make more salawat and recite the shahadah. For me, I realize that it is hard for me to read the Qur’an and make salawat extensively after each prayer due to my tight schedule, and so I dedicate each morning after Fajr prayers solely for these recitations. And when I know my heart is getting low on imaan, I increase my recitations, salawat and shahadah to fight against the disease.

Everyone’s needs and abilities differ according to each person’s state. Make strategies appropriate to your own.

• Second, when you have the right intentions, know with firm belief that Allah will make it easier for you to start inculcating that new habit.

“… Indeed, Allah will not change the condition of a people until they change what is in themselves…” [Qur’an: Chapter 13, Verse 11].

• Make lots of dua for Allah to make change easier for you. Ask Him to give you the knowledge and understanding that you need, the strength, determination and patience to carry out what you intend, and the remembrance that all changes come from Him and are made for Him.
• Third, when you understand the nature of change, you know that you have to start small, ‘small’ being that which is defined by your own abilities. If you have not been reading the Qur’an your whole life, start by reading half a page of the Qur’an each day. If that’s too hard, start with three verses. Then when you get better and more eloquent in your recitation, increase it to one page, and so on and so forth. The key here is to be consistent, and then to increase your actions gradually.

The Prophet was asked, “What deeds are loved most by Allah?” He said, “The most regular constant deeds even though they may be few.” [Bukhari]

• Lastly, to aid your journey in cleansing your heart, read the book “Purification of the Heart”, a translation and commentary of Imam Al-Mawlud’s “Mat-harat al-Qulub.” Like the doctor giving medicine to the patient, the book diagnoses specific ailments of the spiritual heart, and then suggests the steps to take to cure that ailment. Feeling envious of someone? Turn to page 27. Having negative thoughts? Turn to page 81. Harbouring obliviousness to blessings? Page 123 will tell you what you need to do.

To Be Continued…

I began this article by first addressing the heart, for in the heart sit our intentions.

Prophet said: “Deeds are considered by the intentions, and a person will get the reward according to his intention…” [Bukhari & Muslim].

If we make changes or adopt new habits to be a better this or a better that, chances are we will get to be a better this or a better that. However, if we make changes or adopt new habits to get closer to Allah , then In sha Allah we will get closer Allah .

This should be what we remember first and foremost when we think about habit-making.

“Actions are lifeless forms, but the presence of inner reality of sincerity within them is what endows them with life-giving Spirit.” – Ibn Ataillah, The Book of Wisdom

In the next article, I will elaborate on how we can use the discoveries made by cognitive science to assist us in our habit-making, In sha Allah.

May Allah purify our hearts and intentions, give us the means to carry out the right actions, and accept all the good that we do. Ameen!

So, which techniques have helped you most with developing habits? Which challenges did you face in the process? Please share your experiences, tips and tricks below so everyone can benefit, In sha Allah!

Read Part 2 of the article.

[1] Hamza, Yusuf. “Purification of the Heart.” Introduction, page XVI.

The post [Better Habit-Making – Part 1] Purifying the Heart appeared first on ProductiveMuslim.com.

It does not matter if you are a student fielding assignments on one hand and planning projects on another, or if you are an entrepreneur trying to launch your product in a competitive market; chances are that writing, either by yourself or through collaborations, is essential in the recipe for your success. A daily journal, a project report, a blog as an international branding platform: there’s always writing, writing and more writing involved.

However even when we know how crucial writing is, technology has, for countless years, trapped us in the black hole that is Microsoft Word. Despite not using half of its functions, the program still graces us with a myriad of settings, tools and preferences that lag the program. To collaborate, different document files have to be ping-ponged multiple times.

We had no other choice. We made do.

Case closed.

Or is it?

In the past several months, tech giants have been abuzz with the idea of revolutionising the outdated writing and collaborating system. With the huge success of the Medium and Ghost platforms, Silicon Valley has finally caught on to the idea of developing web-based word processors.

Although there are quite a number of apps created to fill this technology gap, three specific web-based apps caught my attention: Draft, Editorially and Quip.

In this article, I will make comparisons between them in terms of:

• Design & Ease of Use
• Editing & Publishing
• Collaborating
• Features
• Cost

So without further ado…

Design & Ease of Use

Winner: Quip

All of the three applications are built upon simplicity and minimalism. Features that are not needed for producing content are removed, and all features that are used are tucked away behind shortcuts and toggles. What is left behind is a beautiful, distraction-free writing space.

It is a tough call because they are all almost identical, but if I had to choose one, I would choose Quip. Instead of having the user remember shortcuts to insert links or images, Quip activates a mini menu of tasks using a simple “@” command. Additionally, a toggle on the right of each paragraph helps to edit the text to become headlines or even bullet points or checkboxes.

Editing & Publishing

Winner: Draft

Quip’s editing function is pretty limited — there is no way to automatically retrieve past versions of a draft, and the content can only be exported as a pdf. However, Quip allows multiple collaborators to work on a draft at the same time as it only locks the paragraph that is being edited, instead of the entire draft.

On the other hand, Draft and Editorially are pretty similar. Both apps allow the writer to save multiple versions of a draft, and to compare the changes made between different versions. The final content can then be exported in various formats, including text, pdf, html or ePub, and it can even be published directly to CMS like WordPress or Tumblr.

The difference between the two lies in this: with Draft, when a writer collaborates a draft with another person, a copy of that draft is made and changes are made on that copy. The writer is then able to accept or reject each individual change. With Editorially, only one person is able to edit an entire draft, and the editing is done directly onto the original draft. To view changes, one would have to look at past versions of the draft.

Hence, to me, Draft is the smarter way of doing editing when collaborating.

Collaboration Function

Winner: Editorially

Quip has an awesome in-built conversation thread function (which works like a Facebook messaging system), but it lacks a context-aware commenting system. On the other hand, Draft has a context-aware commenting system, but does not have a place to have discussions separate from the text content.

Editorially has both a conversation thread function and a context-aware commenting system. Win!

Features

Winner: Draft

Up to this point, Draft and Editorially are almost head-to-head in terms of design, ease of use, version control, editing and collaboration. But Draft actually has a lot more tricks up her sleeve.

With Draft, you can upload or link to a video or audio to the app for transcription purposes. Additionally, there is also an analytic function that keep tracks of the number of words you write daily (very useful for those with a target number of daily word count). And then there’s the Hemingway mode that prevents you from editing anything until you are done writing the content.

You can even pay a professional to edit your content for you at a low price! To view the entire list of features for Draft, click here.

Cost

Winner: Quip & Editorially

Draft is free to use if unregistered, and US$3/month if registered. I would not recommend using it unregistered though, because the entire app is created and maintained by one person, and I believe he should be paid for his hard work.

Quip is free to use for unlimited documents but capped up to 5 users for collaboration (which should be more than enough). For those who need more than 5 people to collaborate, Quip offers an alternative paid Business Plan.

Editorially is free, at least for now.

Overall Champion

Draft currently has the most features and its creator, Nathan, is regularly adding new features based on user feedback. I used to write with Draft to collaborate with other writers, but as the US$3/month fee did not sit well with some of them, I have since moved to Editorially. If US$3/month is not an issue for you, I would totally recommend giving the app a spin.

I currently use Editorially when collaborating to produce online content, as it allows me to seamlessly export my content to WordPress or ePub with just one click. Additionally, the context-aware discussion system allows my editors to give specific feedback, which makes it easier for me to edit my articles.

For school purposes however, Quip is my first choice as it has a standalone app — available on Android, Windows and iOS — that allows me to create documents offline (spotty wifi on campus). Personally, I use it to take down notes and create to-do lists for assignments and projects. My group mates and I use Quip’s built-in conversation thread to hold online meetings, and use the same document to record minutes and assign tasks. The folder system helps to neatly compartmentalise my notes into different modules.

In the end, the decision of which app is the best all boils down to the kind of features that you require, your design tastes, and how deep your pocket is. I feel that all of the apps above have their own unique pros and cons, and that you should try them all out to have a feel of what works and what does not.

I hope you benefited from the above article, and may the apps make it easier for you to write well and collaborate better. If you have any other questions or know of any other collaborative writing apps, feel free to share with all of us in the comments!

The post [Tech Review] Discovering the New World of Writing Apps appeared first on ProductiveMuslim.com.

Before we begin, it is important to note that my research and writing process is one that I have ended up with after many experimentations. Although the process might thus be more suitable for me than it is for you, I believe that there are several tips in this article that can and should be utilised by everyone. So let’s all begin with Bismillah.

Step 1: Intentions and Attitude

Everyone should treat assignments as opportunities to learn more. Assignments are to help us revise and learn outside of the course materials. If you copy-paste, you learn nothing. Zero. Zilch. You have just wasted days of your life. If you google translate Malay articles into English and copy-paste the translations into your articles, your papers will not make any sense.

Thus I would like to emphasise that before beginning any research, make it a point to find it in yourself to genuinely want to know more about that topic. This is pretty easy if you are given the opportunity to choose what you want to research on. But if the topic is one given to you by your lecturers, find a way to fall in love.

How? Find connections to how that research can relate to your life, or the lives of the ones you love. Once you have that, it is much easier to take on the right intention and attitude to follow through.

Step 2: Start Collecting Research Materials

1. Bookstores and Libraries
Journals and  papers are good for uncovering the latest research on a specific topic, but I usually do some background reading first from proper books to get a deeper understanding of the subject at hand. Additionally, I always feel that physical books have a kind of credibility that downloading papers online do not. So begin with books, and then go online.

2. Search in Google using search operators
Google is the most powerful search engine in the world, and it is not just because you can simply key in a term and click ‘enter’. Google has a function called ‘search operators’ which can help you refine your searches to get exactly what you need, and thus save you some time! I could spend some time writing them all down, but HackCollege has done up a perfect info-graphic which is too good not to share. Click here to read it.

3. Search in Google Scholar
Google Scholar is more specific than Google in that it searches exclusively on academic and scholarly work. The same HackCollege info-graphic shares how you can effectively search for papers in Google Scholar.

4. Search using your university library’s research gateway
If there are papers you have found in Google or Google Scholar that are blocked behind a subscription paywall, chances are by logging in your library’s research gateway, you will be able to download the paper for free. Check with your librarian if you are not sure how to use it.

5. Search on other sites
If all the above is not enough and you would still like to have more material, head over to Scribd andAcademia.edu. No, Wikipedia is not an option.

Step 3: Upload Your Research Materials to Mendeley

Ever since I got to know about Mendeley, my life has gotten much, much more easier. If you would like to take only ONE tip from this article, it’s this.

What is Mendeley? Mendeley is a free reference manager and academic social network that can help you organise your research, collaborate with others online, and discover the latest research.

The steps are easy. Just download Mendeley, install it, and create a new folder for that specific research you are doing. Upload all the material you have collected into that folder. Create different folders for different research. Also, you can actually search through all your materials using Mendeley, which makes seeking specific information faster!

Step 4: Make Notes While Reading Through Your Materials

While you are reading, be sure to first check the details of the paper (Title, Author, Journal, Year etc) to make sure that this is correct. This is a very important step that you cannot miss (you will understand why later).

Secondly, start highlighting and taking down notes for every relevant information you come across in each paper. Depending on what you are comfortable with, do identical notes in either of these:

a) In Mendeley + online in Trello

b) In Mendeley + on paper

Trello is meant to be a collaboration tool for organising projects, but I have recently started using it to document my research material.

What I do is that I create a new board for every research (e.g. in picture 2013: Mess Media), and create a different list for all the research materials I am using (References, The Information Diet, The Shallows, etc). Then under each list, I create cards with all the notes I have taken down. I will then colour-label the cards according to the general theme that card belong to.

What I like about Trello is that I can move the cards around to further develop and play around with the materials.

Paper

If you are more of a paper person, do the same thing on Trello, but on paper. Write down the title of the research material, list down all the notes from that material, and then do the same for all the other materials. Then, use your highlighter to colour-code the different themes that occur in your notes.

Once you are done reading and making notes, you should have a folder full of research materials that have been highlighted in Mendeley, and depending on the choice you made, in Trello or on paper.

Step 5: Take a Break

Let everything you have read digest in your mind. Read the Qur’an, speak to your mom, ride on your yacht, take a walk, have a life once again. Your brain needs some time to process and synthesise all the materials you have just read.

Step 6: Process Your Materials

Once your mind has cleared and there is clarity in your thought, return to your notes and start digesting them. Look through them once again, and find the themes, trends or patterns that you might have missed earlier. Start to formulate the outline of your research paper – the ‘what goes where’. Move your notes around, highlight more things, immerse yourself into the research!

Step 7: Write Down All the Things You Have Learnt

By this time, you should already be very familiar with your research materials, and you should already know what you want to write about. Remember I mentioned earlier that you should make sure that the details (Title, Author, Journal, Year etc) of the papers in your Mendeley should be checked? This is why:

1. Open up Mendeley, go to “Tools”, and “Install MS Word Plugin”.
2. Open up Microsoft Word and start writing your content. If you need to cite a research material, click on the Mendeley logo in the toolbar, “Mendeley”, and… “Insert Citation”! Choose the relevant citation and click insert and voilà, it’s there!

As an added bonus, you can also “Insert Bibliography” at the end of your literature review with just once click!

Sigh. I love Mendeley.

Step 8: Editing

Last but not least, be sure to vet your paper for basic spelling and grammar errors prior to submission. Use the built-in checker in Microsoft word, and read your paper out aloud.

And just like you began with Bismillah, end your article with Bismillah before you submit it to your lecturer!

I hope this in-depth article has been helpful to you in any way. You have done your best, and it’s time to let Allah do the rest. May Allah grant us the rezq of understanding and of knowledge, ameen!

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