General

There are six stages of knowledge. Knowledge of Facts: know the information (eg. what year did ‘Umar (radiallahu ‘an) become the Khalifa?) Comprehension: think about the information and understand it (eg. the khalifa is in charge of the entire Muslim ummah) Application: learn and apply the knowledge–it helps you remember. Apply it to your context. What does it mean for you and me, here, today? Analysis: Analyze the information critically.

As Islamic workers, we never lower our standers. Not as volunteers, not as professionals, and not as Muslims. Always strive to the best of your abilities. And inshaAllah this way, your skills and talent grow faster than if you barely use them. Never fall into the trap of so many people who produce second-rate material “just because” it’s for Islamic work, and not for their own (percieved/worldly) benefit. And remember: ihsaan means excellence, not perfection.

A Saudi guy walks into a bar, decked out in his thobe and kufi. (He doesn’t believe in the meat of the People of the Book arguement.) He walks up to the bar and says “Bartender, I want a chicken sandwich.” The bartender looks at him, nods, and turns to fill the order. A desi guy who sits nearby stares. The Saudi guy turns to the desi guy. Black spiked hair, leather jacket, one hand clamps around the handle of a half-filled mug of beer.

MultiTimer, a lightweight application, allows you to track your time commitments to multiple items simultaneously. You type in the timer label, set the inital time and count method (countup or countdown), and the application handles the rest. In particular, if you need to track (and, optionally, aggregate) time usage for multiple projects, you can assign one timer per project and track your time use per day. Or per week. Or per month.

This article by Steve Pavlina explains how to effectively manage your life by focusing on tasks based on their long-term effects. The article defines three categories of tasks, and allocates your daily time to each of them proportionally based on their expected benefit. “A” tasks yield benefit in five or more years, such as learning a new language. “B” tasks yield benefit in two or more years, such as training for a marathon.