New Year, new you? Inshallah these tips can help you no matter where you are in your journey of faith.
New Year, new you? Inshallah these tips can help you no matter where you are in your journey of faith.
Are you struggling with getting the best daily routines in place? Here are 15 daily routines to improve your life.
These are fantastic habits that I find have given my life the most impact when I include them in my daily routine.
Keep in mind that in order to have the best productive days of your life, you need to start doing preparations the day before so that you can have a head start the next day. Without further ado, let’s get into it!
The Day Before
Daily Routine No.1 – Make A To-Do List
“Allah intends ease for you, not hardship, so that you may complete the prescribed period and proclaim the greatness of Allah for guiding you, and perhaps you will be grateful.” (Al-Baqarah 2:185)
Make a to-do list of all the things you want to get done by tomorrow. The main purpose of having a to-do list the day before is for your brain to be mentally prepared first thing in the morning.
Remember, your mornings are very important. It sets the tone of your entire day. If you can master your productivity in the morning, insyaAllah the rest of your day will be a smooth ride.
Your to-do list can be as short or as long as you want. It’s not about the number of your tasks but rather the quality.
Sometimes when you’re working on a big project, you just want to get that one significant task done by tomorrow and can call it a successful day. Go for it then!
This to-do list can be on paper or a to-do list app. Apps give you the advantage of not misplacing your list. You can just open your phone and check out the things you’ve done throughout the day.
An example of a daily to-do list:
- Do the laundry
- Write 100 words on ‘How to have a successful day’
- Sarah’s dentist appointment
- Visit atuk (grandpa) in the evening
- Call mama
Daily Routine No.2 – Plan Your Day
“… do good as Allah has done good to you…” (Al-Qasas 28:77)
When you’re planning your day, you’d want to look at the timing that best suits each task. So according to the to-do list above, perhaps you want to do the laundry first thing in the morning so that you can dry them when the sun is high up.
Next, when it comes to writing, perhaps your brain is most fresh and you have many ideas in the morning. So make sure you set aside a specific time in the morning to write that 100 words on your article.
Sarah’s dentist appointment maybe after lunch so you jot that down and that’s how you go through the list. It’s important to roughly plan your day ahead so that you can fully utilize each hour of your day.
Even if you’re just staying at home the whole day, it’s important to learn how to plan your day at home.
Sometimes the biggest distractions come from the people in the home, especially if you have kids. So you need to know how you’d want to structure your day. If you master this, insyaAllah it will be a great daily routine to improve your life.
Today
Daily Routine No.3 – Start With Tahajjud
“And rise at the last part of the night, offering additional prayers, so your Lord may raise you to a station of praise.” (Al-Isra 17:79)
I love Tahajjud because I feel it is truly magical. It has changed my life for the better in so many ways. Alhamdulillah. I always feel calmer and more grounded compared to the days I missed Tahajjud.
This is mainly because I’ve centered my heart back to Allah first thing in the morning by letting out my worries, making the most heartfelt duas in the dark and just talk to my Lord. It is truly liberating subhanAllah. If you have done Tahajjud, you know what I’m talking about.
But Yasmine Mogahed reminded us of something very important about Tahajjud. Usually, people engage in Tahajjud because of the ‘spiritual high’ that we get from it. We feel as if it lifts up our spirit and gives us that new profound strength to take on the world again.
But even though this may be a brilliant side effect of Tahajjud, we shouldn’t engage in Tahajjud just to seek that ‘spiritual high’ per se. Rather, we should sincerely engage in Tahajjud with the sole purpose of wanting to connect with our Maker on a deeper level.
This daily routine to improve your life needs to be done at a specific time. Tahajjud time is one-third of the night, which is the perfect time for us to connect with Allah deeply since our minds are not busy and occupied by the errands of the day.
Daily Routine No. 4 – Recite Your Favourite Duas For The Day
“O believers! Always remember Allah often, and glorify Him morning and evening.” (Al-Ahzab 33-42)
Duas are simply a remarkable tool we need to make full use of as Muslims. You can opt for the daily adhkar which is a compilation of what Prophet Muhammad SAW used to make duas for.
Allah loves it when we ask Him for help even for the smallest things. If you want your day to be productive and successful, make dua for it. You will see that Allah will help you in ways you never thought possible insyaAllah.
People will make way for you, your mood will be better, you can think more clearly etc. There are many duas you can make like dua for success in difficult tasks, dua for starting something new and even dua for wishing someone else success.
But of course, the best duas are the ones that come from Quran and Sunnah itself. So here’s a dua you can recite at the start of your day for a more successful day insyaAllah.
Daily Routine No.5 – Perform Every Salah On Time
“Recite what has been revealed to you of the Book and establish prayer. Indeed, genuine prayer should deter one from indecency and wickedness. The remembrance of Allah is an even greater deterrent. And Allah fully knows what you all do.” (Al-Ankabut 29:45)
Firstly, you need to know why praying is such an important ibadah/ritual for us Muslims. Salah is the second pillar out of the 5 Pillars of Islam after the Syahadah.
As soon as you said your Syahadah, the next proof that shows your devotion to Allah is your 5 daily prayers/Salah.
It is the number one way we communicate with Allah on a daily basis.
The Surah Al-Fatihah that we recite in each prayer is made mandatory because it has the main reminders that every Muslim needs to remember throughout our lives, ie. to turn only to Allah for help and to ask Allah to guide us to the straight path etc.
So, as Muslims, how can we ever call a day successful without performing the Salah prayers on time? But I understand, if you’re just starting out, getting the hang of praying on time will take practice. It’s okay. Start small.
If you can only do Dhuhr prayer right now, aim to make that Salah on time every day for a week or two and see if you can add another prayer without falling off from the first one. It’s somewhat like stacking a habit that James Clear talks about in his book Atomic Habits.
You build a habit on top of the ones that you’ve already established in order to not feel overwhelmed compared to if you were to start from scratch.
Daily Routine No.6 – Read Quran
“Say, O Prophet, ‘The Quran is a guide and a healing to the believers.'” (Al-Fussilat 41:44)
The Quran is your lifeline. If you feel down or demotivated, just try to read the Quran even just a few ayats, you’ll feel a lot better insyaAllah.
I love to read the Quran with its translations early in the morning with my husband. Before he goes to work, we try to make it our family’s daily routine to read the Quran first before starting our day. InsyaAllah, this will put us in the right mindset to start the day.
If you haven’t yet learn how to read the Quran, try to listen and read the quran at the same time. Look up on Youtube for the surah you want and try to read along.
Be sure to read Quran in Arabic and English translation. Try to understand what the Quran is telling you. It will change your life insyaAllah.
Daily Routine No.7 – Move Your Body
“Perhaps you dislike something which is good for you and like something which is bad for you. Allah knows and you do not know.” (Al-Baqarah 2:216)
Move your body everyday or exercise. It is very beneficial to your health. There are many benefits of exercise on mental health, physical fitness and overall health. You will feel a lot stronger and energized as you engage in regular exercise.
It can be as small as 5 mins a day, no problem. Ever since I started exercising, my body starts to feel stronger and my steps become lighter.
Not to mention how confident I feel in my body as it takes a beautiful shape. I personally love workouts by Daisy Keech but if you have other preferences, go for it!
Just be sure to move your body every day. The benefits of regular movement are undeniable. Start this daily routine to improve your life for the better.
Daily Routine No.8 – Have A Good Breakfast Before You Jump Into Work
“O believers! Eat from the good things We have provided for you. And give thanks to Allah if you truly worship Him alone.” (Al-Baqarah 2:172)
I love a big hearty breakfast in the morning. I don’t know about you but I usually get super hungry in the morning. So a healthy hearty breakfast is essential before I start my day.
If you have no idea what to eat in the morning, try some simple cereals made of organic ingredients like nuts, oats and seeds. Chia seeds and flax seeds are considered very healthy and cheap too!
So they make the best breakfast in the world! – for me at least. Add in your favorite fruits like bananas, berries and strawberries and viola! You’ve got one easy healthy breakfast.
Remember the importance of breakfast. You need energy at the start of your day because you’ve been ‘fasting’ the whole night in your sleep, so you need to ‘break your fast’ with a good healthy breakfast.
Daily Routine No. 9 – Get To Work
“My Lord! Uplift my heart for me, and make my task easy, and remove the impediment from my tongue, so people may understand my speech… “(Taha 20:25-28)
Before you start your work for the day, make dua Allah ease your affairs and put barakah (blessings) in everything you do. It acts as a positive reminder that Allah SWT is the one who has ultimate control over your life.
You might feel like your efforts determine the outcome, of course they do, but it is by the permission of Allah that you receive every result in your life.
Be a humble slave of Allah and remember Him in every situation.
Daily Routine No.10 – Have Qailullah (Afternoon Nap)
Qailullah is a short afternoon nap of about 10-20mins a day. Why do you need a nap every day? Well, the benefits of taking a power nap are plenty.
This includes improving your memory, lifting your mood and not to mention that it’s better than taking too much caffeine.
“Seek help by eating Suhur for fasting that day, and by taking a brief rest (at midday) for praying at night.” (Sunan Ibn Majah 1693)
Note: the hadith here is da’if, meaning the authenticity of this hadith is not strong but we can still practice its teachings, just don’t associate it with Prophet Muhammad SAW.
Daily Routine No.11 – Batch Your Time/Tasks
“Surely humanity is in grave loss, except those who have faith, do good, and urge each other to the truth, and urge each other to perseverance.” (Al-Asr 103:1-3)
Have you ever heard of a productivity technique called task-batching/time-batching? It is a really effective way to get more done in less time. Basically you batch similar tasks together to do in one time so that you don’t have to switch too many mental space to finish every project.
Task batching example:
If you have 3 articles to write during the week, you batch similar tasks done in the process of writing. Example, Mondays – do research for all 3 articles, Tuesdays – Create outline for all 3 articles, Wednesdays & Thursday – write all 3 articles and so on.
Instead of doing individual tasks for each article on different days, I batch them together so that it’s more efficient.
That’s how I write for my blog. Find out what tasks you can batch together and see how much time you’ll save insyaAllah.
Daily Routine No.12 – Plan For Tomorrow
“They planned, but Allah also planned. And Allah is the best of planners.” (Al-Anfal 8:30)
Ideally, towards the end of each day, you need to start planning for the next day and have a clear idea of what you’re going to do for that day. It’s not productive to leave things to chance.
You are not allowing your mind to have a head start or mental preparation to prepare you to have the most efficient day.
If you look at people who end up binge-watching Netflix, Youtube or Instagram the majority of their day, it’s because they don’t plan to do anything else for the day.
Thus, their default is to be dragged by all these enticing social media and entertainment outlets.
Contrast that to someone who has a goal and has specific plans for each day in order to achieve that goal. Their minds are wired differently.
They already know what tasks need to be done for the day because they already made the proper planning. So what are your plans for tomorrow? Plan for tomorrow today so that you can have a head start.
Daily Routine No. 13 – Reflect On Your Day
“Do people think they will be left without purpose?” (Al-Qiyamah 75:36)
At the end of your day, reflect on your progress and level of productivity. This will help you identify your weak and strong points.
Maybe you had trouble finishing that essay today because you had too many distractions, find a solution for it. Maybe you need to get out of the house and go to a library instead.
Tony Robbins said, ‘the key to happiness is progress‘. Do you realize how happy you are when you know you’ve made progress in something in your life? It’s not about the end goal but it’s about the progress you have made towards that goal.
Once you achieved that goal, you’re just going to get another bigger goal and the cycle continues. Only progress is the constant in success. Strive to have progress in your daily productivity.
Jot down what you achieved during the day, how did you achieve it and how you overcome the obstacles along the way.
Here are some questions to reflect on your day:
- What are the 3 top things you did that please Allah SWT today?
- What did you accomplish today?
- What challenges did you overcome and how would you handle them going forward?
- What strengths and weaknesses did you discover about yourself today?
- What lessons did you learn today?
- What are you most grateful for in your life at this moment?
- How is this day different or special than other days?
Daily Routine No.14 – Re-Charge
The Messenger of Allah (صلى الله عليه وسلم (disliked going to bed before the ‘Isha’ (night) prayer and indulging in conversation after it.” [Al-Bukhari and Muslim].
My recharge time is usually after the Isya’ prayer. It means that after the Isya’ prayer, I let my brain and body rest and stop all work.
This helps my body wind down and get ready for a good night’s sleep. It includes turning off your phone because the blue light can disrupt the quality of your sleep.
So you need to turn off your phone at least 2 hours before you go to bed. This includes other devices like laptops and ipads that have blue rays too.
Daily Routine No.15 – Sleep
“He is the One Who has made the night for you to rest in and the day bright. Surely in this are signs for people who listen.” (Yunus 10:67)
Go to sleep! Yayy. Sleep is the best nikmah (blessing) Allah has given us as human beings. People who don’t get enough sleep have panda eyes and it is torturous!
You will wake up like a zombie, go through your day like a zombie, and never optimize to your full potential. All because you lack sleep, isn’t that sad!
So try to sleep at the same time every day. This is the best way to regulate your body into a healthy nighttime routine. I love to sleep at 10pm and wake at 5am for Tahajjud.
There are some days I tend to sleep but Alhamdulillah, for the most part this has been my regular routine. And I find that it works best for me. I have lots of energy during the day and I always look forward to achieving my goals. It’s really a game-changer.
“Strive for the cause of Allah in the way He deserves, for it is He Who has chosen you, and laid upon you no hardship in the religion…” (Al-Hajj 22:78)
We all have our ups and downs in life. No matter what Allah destines for us, we should always do our best for Allah SWT.
These daily routines to improve our lives as Muslimah helps us keep track of our daily progress to achieve our goals, be motivated and productive every day.
I hope this list of my ‘15 Daily Routines To Improve Your Life As A Muslimah’ has helped you find ways to be a better version of yourself each day insyaAllah.
