100 Days of Productivity

I recently came across something called 100 Days of Productivity Challenge, I really liked the concept. It requires you to do something productive every day and capture it.  The challenge is mainly found on students Tumblr accounts.  Being a grown adult and usually quite productive, I shouldn’t need a productivity challenge.  However, I seem to have spent the tail end of 2017 binge-watching Criminal Minds on my laptop instead of doing anything useful and I need to get myself back in gear.  I also don’t want to capture something productive, but challenge myself to get really productive and use my time in the best way possible.

I had to consider what I would include within the scope of productive other than day-to-day work or time wasting.  My list included:

Zikr and worship

Blogging and writing

Deep cleaning the house and organising

Cooking healthy food and trying new recipes

Reading

Arts, crafts, creative activities and photography

Journaling including updating the kid’s journals

Planning (for the following day or week)

Spending time with my children whether to help with their studies or do something fun6i

Spending time with my parents, siblings or extended family

Visiting friends and neighbours

Studying or reading up for work

Working on my projects (family genealogy, planners, e-books)

Sleeping – because I am terrible at making sure to get plenty of sleep and also to remember to take the sunnah midday nap (qaylulah), something that definitely increases my productivity and energy levels when I do.

There is probably more, but time spent on these things doesn’t feel wasted to me.

Day 1

I didn’t feel like attending the weekly taleem (ladies Islamic study circle), but I always feel that if I am careless about attending, I might end up never going when I get the chance.  I was pleased I went as it gave me a sense of contentment and it was nice to see the other ladies who are some of the nicest women I know. 

The same day Hubby told me about someone he had just done a delivery for, the couple had just moved into the area and had just had a baby by caesarean section.  They had been living off eggs and toast as the lady was on bed rest.  We made chicken soup, pilau rice and chicken sandwiches for hubby to take to them.  They were really surprised and promised to come and visit, Hubby also told them about the local Sisters study circle.

I decided to end the day by taking the children out for dessert as it was the last day of Little Ladies Christmas holidays.  I manged to tire them out enough to leave me alone for a while so that I could start journaling my goals for 2018.

Day 2

I spent the day cleaning the house from top to bottom, deep cleaning the bathrooms and organising the store cupboards.  It was the last day of the holidays for the rest of the kids so we ironed uniforms, packed PE kits and book bags and sent, re-sent and then dragged people to bed for an early bedtime.

Day 3

Lots of cooking with a focus on healthy and vegetarian where possible: spinach and potato curry, chickpea curry and sevaiyya (vermicelli in milk) for the kids for after school.  Also lots of blogging as I try and catch up on writing up some of my blog ideas and notes.

I used the back of my 2018 journal to list 100 things I wanted to do and then started another 100.

I probably won’t be able to keep up blogging all 100 days of productivity, but I’ll try to capture some of the things I do and also if there is anything that helps me to get more productive insh'Allah.