Insights
"I wish I could have more time!" A statement that most of us have said at some point in time. While we might not be able to get more than 24 hours in a day we can achieve more in our life if we understand where our time goes. The video below demonstrates what percentage of your life goes to what:
Note: The lifespan used in the video is 79 years. According to the Prophet (SAW)'s hadith the average lifespan of the Ummah is 60-70years, anything beyond is a bonus.
Once you understand where your time goes you will find ways to gain back years of your life; this is where the Swahili saying "Haba na haba hujaza kibaba." (literally translates to "Little by little fills the measure") hits the nail right on the head. It's the same as saying a great journey is begun by a single mile. For example:
Those two hours you spend watching that EPL team you love so much per week are equivalent to 104 hours a year or 4.33 full days (13 eight hour working days), the four day weekend you had been longing for, or 4680 hours over 45 years or 195 days. And for most of us, there's also the FA cup, League cup, Champions League and then every four years we add the World Cup to our watch list. Are the numbers adding up?
An example for our beloved parents, who love to watch news at least one hour a day, which is equivalent to 365 hours a year or 15 full days (45 working days)! Considering that TV media only began to be widespread about two decades ago this still results in 304 full days or 912.5 working days.
This is only at the individual's level, how about at the community level? We are lagging behind as a community yet hours upon hours are being wasted on trivial matters that have no benefit in this life nor the next.
All is not lost though. Once we recognize that the first step is understanding where our time goes and then second is to change the ones that we have control over, third: find ways to take advantage of the situations that we do not have control over. For example: traffic.
As Kenyans we spend a lot of time in the car and not always because we love it. Thanks to technology many of us can easily download audio, put it on our phone and play it in the car. Let us put this into perspective: we spend at least one hour a day if not a lot more in our cars and that by itself is equivalent to 15 full days or 45 working days in a year. The unfortunate part is that most of us waste this time listening to music or useless talk shows about the ills for society, how much better would it be if we were to spend this time listening to lectures that increase our knowledge, bring us closer to Allah and add to our good deeds for the scale on the Day of Recompense?
Note: The lifespan used in the video is 79 years. According to the Prophet (SAW)'s hadith the average lifespan of the Ummah is 60-70years, anything beyond is a bonus.
Once you understand where your time goes you will find ways to gain back years of your life; this is where the Swahili saying "Haba na haba hujaza kibaba." (literally translates to "Little by little fills the measure") hits the nail right on the head. It's the same as saying a great journey is begun by a single mile. For example:
Those two hours you spend watching that EPL team you love so much per week are equivalent to 104 hours a year or 4.33 full days (13 eight hour working days), the four day weekend you had been longing for, or 4680 hours over 45 years or 195 days. And for most of us, there's also the FA cup, League cup, Champions League and then every four years we add the World Cup to our watch list. Are the numbers adding up?
An example for our beloved parents, who love to watch news at least one hour a day, which is equivalent to 365 hours a year or 15 full days (45 working days)! Considering that TV media only began to be widespread about two decades ago this still results in 304 full days or 912.5 working days.
This is only at the individual's level, how about at the community level? We are lagging behind as a community yet hours upon hours are being wasted on trivial matters that have no benefit in this life nor the next.
All is not lost though. Once we recognize that the first step is understanding where our time goes and then second is to change the ones that we have control over, third: find ways to take advantage of the situations that we do not have control over. For example: traffic.
As Kenyans we spend a lot of time in the car and not always because we love it. Thanks to technology many of us can easily download audio, put it on our phone and play it in the car. Let us put this into perspective: we spend at least one hour a day if not a lot more in our cars and that by itself is equivalent to 15 full days or 45 working days in a year. The unfortunate part is that most of us waste this time listening to music or useless talk shows about the ills for society, how much better would it be if we were to spend this time listening to lectures that increase our knowledge, bring us closer to Allah and add to our good deeds for the scale on the Day of Recompense?
Plug, Play, Benefit.
We all need to make better choices with our resources and I will end with the Prophet (SAW)'s hadith:
The Prophet (saw) advised to: “Take benefit of five before five: Your youth before your old age, your health before your sickness, your wealth before your poverty, your free time before you are preoccupied, and your life before your death”
(Narrated by Ibn Abbas and reported by Al Hakim)
There are no comments