14 Things Successful People Do On Weekends

Bismillah,

Hujung minggu datang lagi! Hoyeaah semua bersuka ria dengan pelbagai aktibiti kecuali I sebab my hubby is working today, wuwuwu (T___T). But is ok, baby Haura' is here temankan dan hiburkan I, alhamdulillah and plus my hubby selalu cuti pada hari minggu di mana pasaraya lengan dan jalan tak jem sebab semua tengah kerja, siok tuu, ngeh3.. So, di pagi yang hening ni, I pun memulakan aktibiti menggodek  bahan bacaan then terjumpa lah article by Jacquelyn Smith, on 14 things successful people do on weekends atau apabila diterjemahkan kepada bahasa ibunda adalah 14 perkara yang orang-orang berjaya lakukan dihujung minggu. I copied it intentionally to my blog as a note for me and to share with you. There are good points  and very productive activites, so tanpa berlengah lagi, let's check it out :)

Here are 14 things successful people do (or should be doing) on weekends:

1. Make time for family and friends. This is especially important for those who don’t spend much time with their loved ones during the week.

2. Exercise. Everyone needs to do it, and if you can’t work out 4 to 5 days during the workweek, you need to be active on weekends to make up for some of that time.

3. Pursue a passion. “There’s a creative director of a greeting card company who went back to school to pursue an MFA because of her love of art,” Kurow says. “Pursuing this passion turned into a love of poetry that she now writes on weekends.”

“Successful people make time for what is important or fun,” Egan adds. “They make space for activities that add to their life balance.”

4. Vacation. Getting away for the weekend provides a great respite from the grind of an intense week at work, Cohen says.

5.  Disconnect. The most successful people avoid e-mail for a period of time, Vanderkam says. “I’m not saying the whole weekend, but even just a walk without the phone can feel liberating. I advocate taking a ‘tech Sabbath.’ If you don’t have a specific religious obligation of no-work time, taking Saturday night to mid-day Sunday off is a nice, ecumenical time that works for many people.”

6. Volunteer. “I know a commercial real estate broker who volunteers to help with cook-off events whose proceeds are donated to the Food Bank,” Kurow says. “The volunteer work provides a balance to the heavy analytical work she does all week and fulfills her need to be creative — she designs the promotional material for the non-profit.”

Cohen says a lot of successful people participate in fundraising events. “This is a great way to network and to meet others with similar interests,” he says. “The visibility also helps in branding a successful person as philanthropic.”

7. Avoid chores. Every weekend has a few have-to-dos, but you want these to take the minimum amount of time possible, Vanderkam explains. Create a small window for chores and errands, and then banish them from your mind the rest of the time.

8. Plan. “Planning makes people more effective, and doing it before the week starts means you can hit Monday ready to go, and means you’ll give clear directions to the people who work for you, so they will be ready to go, too,” Vanderkam says. Trunk agrees. She says successful people plan their month and year because “if you get stuck on short-term lists you don’t get anything big accomplished.”

9. Socialize. Go out with friends and family, or get involved in the local community.

“It has been demonstrated that successful people find great satisfaction in giving back,” Cohen says. “Board membership, for example, also offers access to other successful folks.”

10. Gardening/crafts/games/sports/cooking/cultural activities. This is especially important for those cooped up in an office all week.

“For the pure joy, some folks find great satisfaction in creating beautiful gardens,” Cohen says.

Kurow knows an attorney who uses her weekends to garden and do mosaics and tile work to satisfy her creative side. “Filling her life this way enables her to be refreshed on Monday and ready to tackle the litigation and trial prep work. Artwork for her is fulfilling in a way that feeds her soul and her need to connect with her spiritual side.”

Bridge lessons and groups can also sharpen the mind and often create relationships among highly competitive smart professionals, Cohen says. “I once saw a printout of a bridge club’s membership list; its members were a who’s who of Wall Street.”

Theatre, opera and sporting events can also enrich one’s spirit, he adds.

11. Network. “Networking isn’t an event for a successful person, it’s a lifestyle,” Trunk says. Wherever they go and whatever they do, they manage to connect with new people.

12. Reflect. Egan says truly successful people make time on weekends to appreciate what they have and reflect on their happiness and accomplishments. As Rascoff said, “weekends are a great chance to reflect and be more introspective about bigger issues.”

13. Meditate (Pray for muslims). Classes and private instruction offer a bespoke approach to insight and peace of mind, Cohen says. “How better to equip yourself for success in this very tough world?”

14. Recharge. We live in a competitive world, Vanderkam says. “Peak performance requires managing downtime, too–with the goal of really recharging your batteries.” That’s how the most successful people get so much done.

Successful people know that time is too precious to be totally leisurely about leisure, Vanderkam concludes. “You’re not going to waste that time by failing to think about what you’d like to do with it, and thus losing the weekend to TV, puttering, inefficient e-mail checking, and chores. If you don’t have a busy workweek, your weekend doesn’t matter so much. But if you’re going from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. every day, it certainly does.”

As for surirumah (Ye ke?) like me, hari-hari adalah cuti, sooo heaven but that also means that everyday is a working day for me, amikaw! All those activities I can do on weekdays except activities that need transportation, haisy..  Inshaallah kalau ikhlas banyak pahala, selalu betulkan niat dan ingatkan diri bahawa surirumah sebenarnya tunjang dan tulang belakang kepada ummah, hoyeaaahh! Caiyok3! All the best to semua surirumah muda dan comel like me di luar sana! :)

Focus Folks!

"You see that lady? I don't know why she changed so sudden, she's covered up before and now look at how she dresses up. Oh I can't believe my eyes! Couldn't she feels the burning fire of hell! " *Oh could you feel?!* 

"Hey, look up! Why do you think she covers up now? She's not like that before! I wonder, maybe she was forced by her parents, oh poor girl." *You are the 'poor' one lad*

 "Why do you think he picks her? She's unfaithful girl, you know, just a normal girl and he is a pious person.  Oh! I know that because she's beautiful, you see, even a pious man look at the beauty rather than religious aspect. What a world!" *What a 'definite' presumption you just threw?!* 

Ok, stop it already. Folks, don't be so easy and quick to judge people, we have absolutely no idea about their journey. If you are in this situation, please keep your mouth and heart shut from any judgmental statement, make the best du'a for that persons.Or if you want to be just, go straight to that person, approach them and ask them nicely about what is going on, what makes they choose that way. Come on, we never know how are we tomorrow, maybe we are believers  in the morning and become disbelievers at the evening, there's no guarantee my friend. Our iman always goes up and down, it's needs some efforts to maintain. 

So, what to do? FOCUS, yes FOCUS, what to focus? YOURSELF, yes yourself first, focus on yourself rather than others, focus to improve yourself and be a better person, make a strategy, plan and work on it. How to be a better person? Obey God, thats it. Obey God, means you have to do what He recommends you to do and what He don't (Well, in another word, obey Him in the way He wants us to obey Him not in our own way). Started with obeying the obligatory thingy like solah, fasting and so on. Then, be good to your family and people around you, treat them nicely, be good to animals and environment. Maintain good attitude, have a positive thoughts toward others, live your life fully with healthy and good lifestyle (big NO to haram foods and drinks, huge RESIST to modern western social lifestyle), do things that can benefit you and others. 

In your journey to be a better person, please don't forget people around you, invite them too, give good advice to remind yourself and others or at least be a good example to them (in another word, recommend the good deeds and forbid the bad deeds). Spread a positive words and thoughts, leave the bad talk and negative thoughts. Well, the list is on and on but the question is, can we do that? Ok, before that, lemme ask you, have you started yet? Of course we can if we want to start it on. 


Do good and being good is a fitrah, means natural thing that cannot be denied, just like when we see a good person, we will like that person, we want to be that person and  when we do things that go against out fitrah, we will feel unhappy, sad, always irritated, negative and so. All this negative thoughts and behaviors can be cured by obeying God because He never recommends us to do bad things. Every commands from Him have it own hikmah, there's a reason behind where at the end of the day, we know that its good and benefit us a lot. Lets make a move buddies, we never know when is the time where our soul will be taken away! It's never too late :)

Secret of True Love

I once had a friend who grew to be very close to me. Once when we were sitting at the edge of a swimming pool, she filled the palm of her hand with some water and held it before me, and said this: "You see this water carefully contained on my hand? It symbolizes Love."

This was how I saw it: As long as you keep your hand caringly open and allow it to remain there, it will always be there. However, if you attempt to close your fingers round it and try to posses it, it will spill through the first cracks it finds.

This is the greatest mistake that people do when they meet love... they try to posses it, they demand, they expect... and just like the water spilling out of your hand, love will retrieve from you. For love is meant to be free, you cannot change its nature. If there are people you love, allow them to be free beings.

Give and don't expect. Advise, but don't order. Ask, but never demand.

It might sound simple, but it is a lesson that may take a lifetime to truly practice. It is the secret to true love. To truly practice it, you must sincerely feel no expectations from those who you love, and yet an unconditional caring.

A good companion is not like the rain, which comes and goes. It's like the air, sometimes very quite!

If you love something, set it free; if it comes back it's yours, if it doesn't, it never was:)


Shared from facebook sister Mercel, jazakallah kheir :)

Lets Travel to The Past!!

Time machine! Woah time to travel to the past!

Well, life is about making a decision and you have to believe that I made a decision to post about this today. Ok, now imagine, I have this time machine and I give you a chance to travel to the past, a year before you were brought in to the world. You tell me, what do you think, you'll see? Yeah, it's your parents whose made decision to spend their whole life together, they decided to get  marred and tadaa after 9 months you are ready to kick the world. When we are still a baby, our parents decide on every single things for us, like what we eat, what we wear, where we go and even the first word rolled out of our tongue, like mummy/daddy, umi/abi. While we are growing up, our parents guide us to make a decision, they give their opinions and advices and our decision was always influenced by their thoughts. But when we are no longer an adolescent, we are the one that made the decision according to our thoughts. Sometimes it comes out with a very good impact and sweet moments but sometimes otherwise happened. 

I've heard some said about if God does exists why there are bad people and why God don't use His power to just created a good human on earth? Simple, Allah can do whatever He wants, and not what we want. He knows everything and He's totally different from any creatures. We were born with a very clean pure heart, no sins, no passions, nothing, like a plain canvas ready to be painted. Well, don't you think that we, human always demand a freedom? So, that what's Allah gives us, a freedom to choose either bright or dark path, either good or bad. God is Fair and He gives us freedom to choose what we want to do, what we want to be and how we want it to be, and at the end, we are the one that would responsible for the choice we had made.  So we can say that, those bad people, they decided to be bad. Perhaps you wanna say that they become bad because of their family background? Like he became a robber because he was born in poor and naive family. Ok now, let use the time machine again. Zuuuuuuuuuuup! 

Cute baby boy born in a very poor family. At 10 years old, he started his first carrier as a small thief because he made decision to steal and not just borrowed. Then, his parents got to know about it and they decided   to punish him like a hell. He chose not to take the lesson and he chose to grasp the hatred deep down his little heart. He chose to let the heartburning inside guides him what to do and there we go, he became a real bad boy. At this point, the parents chose to let him be, acting like they don't care about it, to show him that they disagreed about what he did. They don't approached him wisely and the child did not response to their cold treat. Time goes and each time, he made the decisions by himself, no one forced him, no one urged. He  rounded himself with all bad attitudes because he chose not to learn a good value and not to adopt it in his life. When he was caught by the police and dumped into the prison, he has a choice either to fix his life or to keep it the way he had molded it. See??

Ok, back to the present, yes, we always have to make a decision. The simple one is the decision we make every single day when we wake up about how to approach the day. Are we going to feel sorry for ourselves, or are we going to take responsibility for our own happiness? Will we be the part of the problem or part of the solution? and so forth.All these questions can be bundled up into one package called attitude and attitude can be summed up in one word-choice. We have the choice to make our day joyful, adventuresome, exciting and full of magic! Don't demand that life should be a certain way and when it doesn't meet our expectation, we whine and complain, or we can choose to thank God for giving us more days, so that we can spend it wisely. Lets start to choose to be a good daughter, sister, friend, worker and student. Yes at the end, attitude is a real big deal. You feel me?

Have great day ahead buddies :)

Smile Or Die :O

I have no idea about my future, but I'm working so hard for it! Just like I don't know whether I qualified enough for Jannah but am striving for it! and lets Allah decides for me the rest! I choose to believe that everything that has happened in my life happened for a reason. I have made good decisions that support a positive, wonderful life. I will not look back unless it is to learn or appreciate something or to teach someone else a valuable life lesson.




...If you feel that you don't live well, Know that, you don't pray well

"....when you have taken a decision, put your trust in Allah, certainly, Allah loves those who put their trust in Him" Surah 3 Al Imran - Ayah 159

Please, don't give me that face

My dear sister, it's so sadden and heartbreaking to see your pale and gloomy face because I used to see your shine and bright face, smiling to me. Won't you tell me, what had seized your smile and make you look so sick? What's had broken your heart, and what's had brought your tears this much? Tell me, share with me, you always know, am here for you. What does it mean when I am here, but I wasn't be useful even for listening? So here i am.

Subhanallah, I can't believe that he had done this to you, he gives you hopes, dreams, all sweets words, he makes you feel like you are the only girl he ever loves, he acts like he never will let you down, he behave so nicely in front of you, he never talk harsh to you, he said he will definitely married you one day, that you are the Queen of his life and you believe him full-heartedly, you dreaming about him everyday, how good he is, how charm he is, how polite he is, how wonderful it would be if you're married him and having a family! Perfect!

But now, he's turn away, so far from you, he left you with all your dreams, he's looking for other girl more beautiful than you, when you remind him about a dreams that you'd shared together, he's laughing at you and said "Thats your dreams not mine and you are just not my taste". To  hear that and to see him with another girl, you're so upset, you feel like it was the end of your life, you giving up all your dreams, you lost your appetite, you feel like there's nothing could interest you at all, you just sit at the corner of your room and weeping the whole day. 

Now, give your ears on this, my dear sister, don't forget that you have your lovely family, you have your parents, your buddies and your world! He left you not because you don't deserve him, but that means he don't deserve you, you are too precious for such kind of man. That's how Allah discarded that kind of person from your life, if not he might ruin your life. Why you are crying that much for such man? By that action, he proved that he is too flaky to do the husband work, he's not really good, he just pretend so and when he's getting boring, he's find another girl and you are crying for that man? 

Come on my babe, have you forgotten about your parents' love? How many years you knew him and how many years you live your life with your parents? You have live without him before, you are so happy with your family and buddies, but when he interrupted just for a while, it looks like you had given all your loves to him and there's no space for others in your heart anymore and now, when he left you, you've lost all your loves, your desires and passion. If you can live without him before, so will you now, you will get better and you'll find the peace within your heart!  Now, wipe off your tears, take a deep breath and say "Alhamdulillah, another bad person had left me", stand up and hold my hand, I'm gonna show you what's the best things you should do in this situation:

1. Make a pure intention in your heart: "Bismillah, I want to change, he has made a chaos in my heart once and I won't let him to do so to my life! I will definitely live my life better without him."

2. Delete everything related with him, physically and emotionally, replace it with your love to your family and buddies. Prove to him that you are much better without him and he doesn't give effect to your live. 

3. Give your attention on your family and friend relationship(Go for a trip if you are able to do so). Focus on what's you work on now(Study or career), explore and make it your priority.

4. Fill your days with various activities, make your life busy, cheers up with your buddies (Watch movie, playing game with sisters). Don't let your mind think about him, you have a lot of others thing to think about.

5. Listen and read to the motivational speech (Whoever you love to listen to). Get along with sisterhood and make friends.

6. Make your heart peace with a prayer to God oftentimes.Recite Quran which you had abandon before. If possible, make an extra prayer (Tahajjud), wake up in the middle of night and tell Him everything, ask Him anything, as He is the source of strength and hopes. 

7. Always remember, the only one that truly love you is God and your parents. They never leave you like what's your boyfriend did. So be loyal to them, never betray and love them full-heartedly. 

8. Think positively towards your life, never look back unless to teach others about a valuable life lesson. Everything happened for reasons and you'll reveal the reasons one day, inshaallah.  

9. Don't try to fall in madness love again before marriage, of course it's not wrong if you like somebody, but don't love him damn much until he has become your husband.(Don't make another boo-boo!)

10. Ask forgiveness from Allah, as you had neglected Him in your life before (that's why your life was messed up) and believe that Allah will definitely replace what'd you lost with a better husband, inshaallah!

That's it my dear, be happy, I can't wait to see your sweet smile, your silly jokes and your giggles echo again. Be happy that you are surrounded with loves from Allah, your family and buddies. One person left, but you have so much people around you, you just don't need him in your life! Allah will send you the right man, at the right time (The indicator is-if you get closer to Allah, it's a good sign but if it's otherwise, that's a bad sign!) Well, if you feel like the whole idea was bust, I don't know what else to say. Peace out! 

“Women are like apples on trees, the best ones are on the top of the tree. The men don't want to reach for the good ones because they are afraid of falling and don't want to get hurt. Instead, they just get the rotten apples from the ground that aren't so good but easy. So, the apples at the top think something is wrong with them, when in reality they are amazing. They just have to wait for the right man to come along, the one who's brave enough to climb all the way to the top because they value quality.”

P/S: This post is a spontaneous response to so many stories I heard about brokenhearted sisters that make a wrong person as their world. May Allah forgives and guides us all. Well, Single ladies remember: U are not a side item, an appetizer, or an after-dinner dessert. U are the WHOLE MEAL or no deal !

When Your Dream Is Not 'In Season'

Assalamualaykum All,

Alhamdulillah it such a serene and beautiful  morning. Yes it so early  in the morning  when I post this  note while I'm trying to finish my air modeling!  I just can't stop my fingers to type something that I eagerly wanna share with all of you. Its about a dreams, something that we couldn't escape as a human being. We live  a life and grew up with a  lot  of dreams, as we getting elder, our dreams developed to suit our age. But sometimes its seemed didn't work,  its so  hard to achieve  with such a tired and long journey, then we started to give up  and felt unhappy.The truth is our dream  is just not 'In Season'. This  is a simple story about a dream from my  sister in Islam, that we could ponder on for a seconds:

One time, I was in my backyard talking to a man who was helping me with my landscaping. It was the middle of winter and the grass was very brown. It looked as if it was totally dead. I commented to the man about how bad the grass looked and how dead it was. He said, "Well, Feriel, it doesn't look very good now but the truth is the grass is not dead, it's just not in season. In the springtime, this same grass will be just as lush and green as it can be." Sure enough, just a few months later that same brown, dry grass was a gorgeous bright green, filled with life and vitality.

I've found that life works the same way. Sometimes our circumstances look dead. It may look like a dream is dead, a relationship is dead, or a promise is dead. But you have to realize it may just be that it's not in season. It may be that it'll come back around in a new season. We can't give up just because things don't look the way we want them to in the season we are in. We have to dig our heels in and look with our eyes of faith to the new season that is on the horizon.

What am I saying? Just because something looks dead, don't write it off. Our Allah is a God of new beginnings. When we go through disappointments or setbacks, instead of getting down and discouraged or giving up, choose to have the attitude, "Even though it doesn't look good, I know the truth. It's not really dead; it's just not in season. I'm in springtime, but I know summertime is coming. So I'm going to lift up my head and get ready for the new things Allah is about to do." Friend, if you'll keep that attitude of faith you will receive strength to make it through to the next season and it won't be long until those dreams and desires will flourish in every area of your life! 

Keep dreaming friends!

 Trust in Allah, He knows whats best for us, when the dream is not whats best for us then why we should cry to lost it?  Thanks my dear sister, You give me some refreshment and reminder. May Allah bless you and all  of  us. Have a great day ahead and don't stop dreaming friend! :)

وَلِلّهِ غَيْبُ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالأَرْضِ وَإِلَيْهِ يُرْجَعُ الأَمْرُ كُلُّهُ فَاعْبُدْهُ وَتَوَكَّلْ عَلَيْهِ وَمَا رَبُّكَ بِغَافِلٍ عَمَّا تَعْمَلُونَ

All that is hidden in the heavens and the earth lies within the power of Allah. To Him are all matters referred for judgment. So do serve Him, and place in Him all your trust. Your Lord is not heedless of what you do.  (11:123)

P/S: I think I need to talk to You  now my  Lord. Please gimme a strength  coz I know You would never lemme down. I put my trust on You..

Don't sweat the small stuff

Assalamualaykum all, its been  a while I haven't update my blog, I've been busy with campus stuff and all students routine or should I said, this is just an excuse? Honestly, I was tensed with all the tasks, sometimes I felt  i can't stand anymore, i can't complete my tasks, it so difficult! What a silly though I ever had. ROFL. This is all dunya stuffs, small stuff babe! 

Yesterday, I went to book store with my best ever friend just to forget for a while about our study, get off from the giant fridge and seeking for a best book. After half an hour, in Xcess book store and  have a scanned read at some books, my eyes still glared at one small book, wrapped with yellow paper.  "Easier Than You Think", the title really attracted me as I'm really in a hard situation (Thats just what I though!!!). 

Don't sweat  the small stuff!  I keep repeated this  as I'm reading this book written by  Richard  Carlson. Just do it, give your best shoot! Tawaqal and make du'a. Thats what I should do, give my best on whats in my hand now. Don't keep worrying about anything that not yet happen, keep away the negative though and keep the good spirit up. We are the one that make a choice. I would like to share a story taken from this book, about the choices that we made and how it influence our daily life:

I woke up early today, excited about all I get to do before the clock strikes the midnight. I have responsibilities to fulfill today. my job is to choose what kind of day i'm going to have. I can complain because the weather is rainy or I can be thankful that the grass is getting watered for free.

today, I can feel sad that I dont have more money, or be glad taht my finances encourage me to plan my purchases wisely  and o guide me away from waste. Today I ca grumble about my health, or I can rejoice that I am alive. Today I can lament over all my parents didn't giveme when I was a child, or I can be grateful that they allowed me to born.

Today I can cry because roses have thorns, or I can celebrate that thorns have roses. Today, I can whinde because I have a job, or I can shout for joy because I have a job  to do! Today I can complain because I have to go to school, or I can eagerly open my mind and fill it with new tidbits of knowledge. 

Today I can murmur dejectedly because I have to do housework, or I can feel honored because the Lord has  provided shelter for my mind and soul. Today stretches ahead of me waiting to be shaped and here I'am the sculptor who gets to do the shaping. Whats today will be like is up to me. I get to choose what kind of day I will have. 

So have a great day-umless u have other plans.

So, why choose the path of complaint over the path of gratitude? Being grateful or being overextended~ Dont sweat the small stuff, please!! 

 

"And this life of the world is only amusement and play! Verily, the home of the Hereafter, that is the life indeed (i.e. the eternal life that will never end), if they knew"

(Al-Ankabut:64)