People have a long history of the outstanding creativity in all the fields of life. A writer creates in writing, a critic in his/her reviews, a teacher in his/her way of teaching and a preacher in his messages he delivers upon the stage (Minbar); all of them are creators in their arts and crafts, except, the poor, time. To put it clearly, people fail in investing time; no one innovates in investing it but those who are under God's mercy.

About this meaning, our beloved Prophet (may peace be upon him) said, " Two blessings are misused by people: health and free time". Why we do not make use of this blessing granted by God to us? We know that any act done by a Muslim, with a good intention for the sake God, is rewarded by God. The Prophet (may peace be upon him) taught us the five prayers Allah describes in Quran as saying, "Praying is a timed duty imposed upon the believers". Thus, our Prophet (may peace be upon him) arranged for us the timings of the five prayers.


Similarly, if a person keeps his/her time arranged and scheduled, he/she will feel stable and succeed in his/her work, becoming more productive and a better director. This is the real good fruit of time management.

To manage your time with the optimal methods, you should avoid the following:

- Living without targets or plans: This makes one's life random and purposeless; one can not focus on certain assignments, trying everything and doing anything. The bottom line is nil.
- Sluggishness and postponement: The most common factors for wasting time; postponement is usually unjustified except that one has not the desire to complete the duties or assignments. Be strict with yourself in this matter. Do not postpone.
- Forgetfulness: It happens because one does not put a to-do list, forgetting the assignments. Many of whom I recommended to record their assignments have succeeded in overcoming this awful problem. But who insist on using the memory only will of course forget many of the required duties, not to mention the mental distraction that lags the flow of one's natural life and work.
- Interruption and Distraction by Others: Others may interrupt and distract you as you try to finish something. In this case, you must excuse others politely. You have to learn the art of saying "No. I'm sorry" in special cases and situations. This skill will help you to avoid taking unaffordable responsibilities your limited time cannot contain.
- Leaving the required assignments unfinished: You may leave a certain task unfinished or unorganized because of the laziness or the passive thinking or attitude vis-�-vis the concept of organization. We always see someone commencing in a certain task or project then he leaves it unfinished after completing 80 % of this project. He leaves it incomplete, starting a new second one that he leaves it incomplete to start in a third one, etc. The incomplete projects would be piled. So, be careful to finish any required task completely, and then start in a new one. This needs nothing but the focus.
- Misunderstanding Others: This may lead to many problems killing your time passively. The origin of these problems may stem from the miscommunication with others or misuse of words. Communicating with others is a skill that needs training and practice to master the best ways of communicating with others.

These are the common factors leading to wasting time; we should avoid them as possible as we can.