8 Surefire Ways to Get Motivated and Stay Motivated!

“..the most beloved deed to Allah is the most regular and constant even though it were little.” -The Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) (Bukhari)

Everyday after marghrib, I try to sit down with the kids and have a short talk with them. Sometimes it’s about the basics of making salaat, having good character, or why it’s important not to poke ones sister in the eye. Its a great way to spend some time with the kids and try to impart some Islamic values all at once. But with our schedules being so hectic, sometimes it’s really hard to stay consistent.

I always have trouble staying consistent. I have great expectations, I get fired up, I start something, stay exited about it for a bout a week (if that) and then for some strange reason, I always end up losing momentum. I’ve been trying to figure out what my problem is and it dawned on me that the problem was with my lack of focus and loosing sight of what initially motivated me to start the action in the first place. Those few times  in my life when I was successful though,  there were some very specific things that helped me stay motivated.

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Some old school children’s books we love (and why)

When we got rid of our video games in order to make better use of our time, (partly for the kids sake, but mostly for my sake) the kids were forced to find other ways to amuse themselves. In the same way that the other senses become heightened with the loss or weakening of another, our kids were forced learned to love reading.

I wasn’t much of a reader myself as a child (mostly I just played video games, which probably attributed to my mild video game addiction) but I did enjoy a good read every now and then, and even had a few favorites that I remember even up until now. As we start to beef up our library, I’ve been trying to include some of the titles from my own childhood. As I revisit some of these “classics” I am really starting to see the benefit of childrens literature and how valuable a really well written and well presented story can be for a young and impressionable mind.

We put together a list of some of our favorites and why we think they’re awesome. Each one of them has its own special loveliness that our household just can’t get enough of.

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A simple way to squeeze every drop of benefit out of each day

Many years ago I attended a sisters halaqa. I can’t remember much about who was there or  the focus of the lesson except the phrase “haraka baraka” which I thought sounded neat(native english speaker). The meaning of the phrase translates roughly into something like “there is blessing in being busy.”  I remember it was explained that the busier you keep yourself for the sake of Allah, the more blessings you will have in your day. Since then, I’ve tried  to remember that very important principle.
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