In the name of Allah, most gracious and most merciful,
Table of Contents
1. What is the challenge?
It is a 40-day challenge to exploit the information I know about (time management, how we learn, and self-control) by applying them, and sharing them in new real-case applicable contexts.
I will challenge myself for 40 days in a row to do the following:
- Learn or apply useful skills related to my career and not direct tasks in my work (i.e., Non-work time) for at least 3 hours daily.
- Check social media (Facebook, LinkedIn, WhatsApp, Telegram, and Email) at three specific times per day unless necessary (i.e., if I am communicating through any of these channels in work-related things)
- Try to be highly focused and engaged effectively and efficiently in my daily tasks using the techniques, tips, and tricks I know about (Time Management, how we Learn, and Self-control)
- Write a blog post every day in which I will write the following:
- Whether I achieved the above three things in that day or not
- The challenges I faced throughout my day
- The techniques I used to surpass these challenges to meet my daily challenge goals
- Whether the techniques have succeeded or failed
- If any of them has failed after trying it, I will try to use another one until I will hopefully manage to surpass the challenge and I will write this as well
- Share some of the things I learned that day from books or anything that comes into my mind and I found useful to share
Why 40-days? Because maybe one of the theories of changing habits advises sticking to something for 40-days for making it a habit. And of course building useful habits will be very beneficial to you and will make it easier to you to be more effective and efficient throughout your life.
2. Why the challenge?
Well, but why all this? Why not live without challenges and enjoy our life? Let me tell you something, if you don’t challenge yourself, I think you will mostly be living in your comfort zone where many things seem easy which means that you are not growing. You are standing still or maybe growing at a very low pace that you may regret in the future.
But what is the problem with growing slowly? It depends on what you believe in, how you see life, and what is the point of doing anything in life in the first place. The why comes deep from the inside. But for me, and what I believe in I know that challenging myself to grow, to be uncomfortable, to do my work very well, to solve my negative attitude towards people, to solve others’ problems and help them will make me happier now, and in afterlife Insha’Allah. What does happier mean for me? It means that I am doing what Allah wants me to do. But what Allah wants me to do? There are some guidelines that were given to us, some beliefs, and some principles. I think living by them while appreciating the life that Allah has given us by thanking him with our hearts, and deeds could be some of the things that Allah wants us to do.
3. Why will this be useful to you?
3.1 The Big Why
Let me be sincere with you, as I said the why matters a lot so it depends on your why. I have just mentioned my why? But you could believe in something else than me so you have your why. Your way may be true or wrong. It is your responsibility to figure out your why, question your beliefs, and not just take anything for granted because of how you were brought up. You have a mind and logical thinking. They are not for free. They are given to you for some purposes. What are those purposes? And what life is all about? Why we are here? And what is after this? These are all questions that you should have figured out. If you really didn’t pay attention to them, although I am almost sure that you have asked yourself about them before, then it is your problem.
So please before doing anything ask yourself why? Why is the thing that motivates you? And if your why is wrong or illogical or you didn’t search enough for determining its correction, I am sorry but I think you are in a great problem. Anyway, don’t expect life to be easy, and don’t expect that you will have some extra time in the future when you will figure out the answers to these questions. They are your base. If you don’t have a base, how would you expect to build anything in the first place, even if you have taken more than one Nobel prize? If you didn’t figure out your why, and ensure 100% that is true and logical, then you are screwing yourself up. I am sorry, but this is the truth. I know that it could sometimes be painful, but you have to seek and search for it before anything or at least allocate some of your time daily to figure them out.
It is your life, so please pay attention. I will just give you little glimpses into some of the logical problems that you may have fallen into, and I have put a YouTube video that puts these things very well. Then after this, it is up to you. It is your life, and you have to pay attention again. It is your responsibility and it is your choice. So, think critically, use your mind very well, and don’t blame anyone but yourself if you didn’t do that.
Here are some glimpses into the truth:
3.1.1. The First Proof
You see that car out there? No one made it. It is just there. You see that meal that you have just eaten. No one cooked it as well. It is just there. You may say. Oh man, are you insane? Of course, it is very obvious that it is completely illogical to assume that this magnificent and super accurately built world we are living in (including us) came from nothing. Therefore, there must be a creator who has created all this.
But you could say, what about evolution? You know simple cells that have self-adapted, and gradually increased in complexity until it became so great as we see it now, and until it became us as well? Well, but who created the first cells? Did they come from nowhere? If that is your answer then reread the previous paragraph since you are falling into a great illogical problem. And if the cells automatically adapt themselves? Who made it automatic? Who programmed it for instance to do so? Did it create itself and program itself? If that is your answer, then again please reread the previous paragraph since you are falling into a great illogical problem.
So, given all this, then there must be a creator who created all this. There, there is a creator definitely, and it is impossible that this world has been created without a creator. For sure, no doubt in this. Anyone who has a mind should easily come to this conclusion. Nothing fancy in this conclusion. It is pretty intuitive.
3.1.2. The second Proof
Ok. But who created this creator? If he was created, then there must be another one who created him and another one who created this one as well, and so forth. Therefore, you are falling here into another illogical problem. Because this will go on forever to the extent that makes it impossible because there is still no start. We couldn’t get to a start although there must have been a start since we are already here in life 😊.
So, we have proved that there is a creator, and no one has created this creator. He is the one who started everything, and there is nothing before him.
3.1.3. The Third Proof
Ok. But why say that there is one creator, why not many? Well, because if there were more than one creator so there must be one who created them because there are many of them. I could accept that there is one start (i.e., one created who started everything) but I couldn’t accept that there is more than one start because there should be a creator who created them because they are many. Therefore, there must be one start and not more than one start. Therefore, there must be one creator only.
3.1.4. The Fourth Proof
Ok. But did this creator send us something to know him. Like a guideline to tell us why he created us? What he wants from us? And what will happen after death? Sure, he did this because he is the one who created us in this way, and of course he knows that we want answers to these questions, and since he is so graceful, and merciful he did this. He sent Messengers who has certain traits that came with miracles to prove that they came from Allah. They came with evidence that Allah has sent them to us, and moreover they are all saying the same three points we have just proved by mind. That there is a creator who was not created but he created everything, and he is only one. However, the problem was that some the messengers’ followers changed the creator’s guidelines to us so the creator has sent different messengers in different times and sometimes in a certain time but in different places to retell the people the true message and the true uncorrupted answers to the questions that we all have.
This has been happening until one messenger has come (the final messenger) whose followers didn’t corrupt his message, because the creator decided that he will keep this message alive and uncorrupted until the end of life which after it comes the afterlife in which the creator will hold us accountable for what we did here in this life. So, this life is not for free man. The final message was kept uncorrupted in a very strange way that the final message has only one version that is well-known and well-traced with the persons who delivered it. Everything is written in a very unique way that made it impossible for corrupters and bad people to corrupt this final message that until now after more than 1400 years it is still the same, and it is very logical. It agrees with all the intuitive and logical things we have proved in the first three points. And the messenger is 100% proved to be a true messenger that he came with many different kinds of miracles including scientific ones that were just recently proved in the previous century although this final messenger didn’t learn from anyone, he didn’t learn reading and writing, and that is one of the proofs that he is hones and that he is truly sent from the creator.
Of course, there are much more details, but for sure all your questions are already answered but you have to be honest with yourself, sincere and really seek to know the truth. Don’t contradict logical thinking that is given to you. Again, it is not for free. It is your responsibility. So, I have just given a glimpse about the truth, but no one will force you to believe in anything. It is your responsibility, and you will be held accountable for your choice.
Here is the YouTube video I mentioned above.
3.2 The Smaller Why
So, now I have given you a glimpse on the big why. But let us enter into details. There are so many books, and pieces of advice. I have read in many books, listened to audiobooks, and taken different courses related to (Time Management, How to Learn, and Self-control). I really want to share this with you so that I could benefit you as much as I can. But I found that sharing these principles out of context, or just as points may not be the most useful for all people. Like do that if that happened, and do so if those happened. When context is lost, and when I give you too many information, you may become overwhelmed and do nothing at the end 😊.
Therefore, I decided to give you these pieces of advice, tips, and tricks in a real-case useful context. So, I decided to challenge myself to apply some of these pieces of advice, tips, and tricks daily. Therefore, you will see a real use-case of someone who applied some principles that made him better in his life, career, and in many things. You will see a real-human use case with all its imperfections. In other words, you will see what happens behind the scenes. You will see that it is normal to find something that works with someone, but won’t necessarily work with someone else. We are humans, and it is okay to tweak some of these techniques a little bit to best fit us. At the end of the day, see what best fits you through trial and error. If it works, then good keep doing it. Do you want to try something else? Ok, try and see if it improved you or not. Experiment, learn from your mistakes, optimize, and that’s it.
In summary, I hope that presenting these techniques in this new real-case way will be realistic to you, and will motivate you that these techniques actually work, and you can modify and experiment.
4. Some of the books I used (References)
These are some of the books that I either learned from them something useful or listened to them or at least listened to part of them. So, I think most of the techniques I will use are already found and explained in detail in these books.
Beware: However, I am just telling you my sources from which I learned the techniques, but that doesn’t mean that I necessarily agree with everything written in these books. In one of the books for instance, the writer has contradicted with one of the logical things I mentioned in the Big Why, and he even didn’t justify a lot in his contradiction. So, try to filter out the noise from what you read. Again, it is your life, and it is your responsibility but I mentioning my sources for clarity and for attribution.
I think I will add other resources here throughout the 40-day challenge. So, mostly these resources will increase.
https://www.amazon.com/Ultralearning-Master-Outsmart-Competition-Accelerate/dp/006285268X
https://www.amazon.com/Deep-Work-Focused-Success-Distracted/dp/1455586692
https://www.amazon.com/10X-Rule-Difference-Between-Success/dp/0470627603
https://www.amazon.com/Flow-Psychology-Experience-Perennial-Classics/dp/0061339202
https://www.amazon.com/Steal-Like-Artist-Things-Creative/dp/0761169253
https://www.amazon.com/Show-Your-Work-Austin-Kleon/dp/076117897X
https://www.amazon.com/Keep-Going-Ways-Creative-Times/dp/1523506644
https://www.amazon.com/Great-Work-Performers-Less-Achieve/dp/1501179519
https://www.amazon.com/Soft-Skills-software-developers-manual/dp/1617292397
https://www.amazon.com/Make-Brilliant-Work-Picasso-Creativity-ebook/dp/B08XYPHYP5
https://www.amazon.com/Happiness-Equation-Nothing-Anything-Everything/dp/0425277984
https://www.amazon.com/Magic-Thinking-Big-David-Schwartz/dp/1785040472
https://www.amazon.com/UNSCRIPTED-Life-Liberty-Pursuit-Entrepreneurship/dp/0984358161
Finally
Thank you. I hope this post has been beneficial to you. I would appreciate any comments if anyone needed more clarifications or if anyone has seen something wrong in what I have written in order to modify it, and I would also appreciate any possible enhancements or suggestions. We are humans, and errors are expected from us, but we could also minimize those errors by learning from our mistakes and by seeking to improve what we do.
Allah bless our master Muhammad and his family.
