What is the value of time? How can I get more from it. The answers are everywhere. This presentation will take you from Wu-Tang to the Quran to the Rolling Stones to find the answers.

1. Time Management
DANIEL
NEHEMIAH OLIVER
Life is like a treadmill: [people] runnin‟ in place,
gettin‟ nowhere fast; a whole year done passed…
-Jay-Z

2. Dedication
Dedicated to the memories of
William Lamont Lemon, my uncle
Benjamin Gardner, my friend
and Jeremy Rees, my colleague

3. An Interesting Note about Time
1. By the (oath of) time:
2. Verily mankind is in loss,
3. Except those who affirm (the truth),
and do good deeds,
and advise one another to truth,
and advise one another to patience.
-Qur-an 103

4. Why swear by time that there is loss?
 Why not family, for example?
 You never really lose your family…
 And do not consider those killed in Allah‟s path to be dead; No,
they are alive…


Qur-an 3.169
And We gave him (Job/Ayyoob) his family and it‟s equal beside
it…

Qur-an 38.43

5. Why swear by time that there is loss?
 Why not money?
 You
can always make more money
Just ask Donald Trump

6. Why swear by time that there is loss?
 What is the connection between time and loss?
 Time
is what we lose by
 With
each passing moment we lose another chance…
 …to get ahead…
• …to achieve…
 … to live…

7. How do we lose by time?

8. Procrastination
 Time is on my side, yes it is…
 The
Rolling Stones
Was it really?
Keith Richards,
Rolling Stones
Keith Richards,
Rolling Stones

9. Procrastination
 Why do today what you can put off until tomorrow?
-Brazilian proverb
But the truth is…

10. Procrastination
 Tomorrow‟s just an excuse…
-Smashing Pumpkins
 Can‟t live for tomorrow:
I might not have that long…
-Smashing Pumpkins

11. Television
 If you watch 3 hours a day, you watch:
• 21 hours weekly = 1 day/week
 91
hours monthly = 4 days/month
 1095 hours annually = 1.5 months/year
 75,555 hours in a 69-year lifespan = 8.5 years/lifetime!!

12. Internet, Video Games, Mobile Phones
Think about it…
How much time do
you spend?
What else could
you be doing?
What else SHOULD
you be doing?

13. Music
 And as for the poets, only the deluded follow them.
Don‟t you all see how they stray bewildered through every
valley,
and that they say that which they do not do?
-Qur-an 26.224-226
Aren‟t singers, rappers and songwriters the poets of our generation?
Look at the lost lives they lead,
and the fantasies they fill you with…

14. Some of our generation‟s poets…
South Park Kurt Cobain (Nirvana) Ol‟ Dirty Bastard
Mexican
Pimp
Amy WinehouseC (UGK)
George Clinton
Rapper/Songwriter (POET)
Christian-turned-gangstaSinger/Songwriter (POET)
rapper (POET)
Singer/Songwriter (POET)
Singer/Songwriter (POET)
Father of 13
In prison for sexual assault… no to Died from overdose… drug user
Committed suicide
Said
rehab
Lifetime
Arrested and imprisoned several times,
…of a 9 year old…
…of cough syrup
after years of heroin addiction
including for failure to pay child support
Died of drug overdose
Janis Joplin Eazy E
Bob MarleyFat Pat
Tupac
Dr. Dre DJ Will their words
Screw
Ozzy Osbourne
Gangsta (?)Singer/Songwriter (POET) Gangsta(POET) (POET)
Rapper/Songwriter (POET)
Sid Vicious Rapper/Songwriter (?) rapper/producer/songwriter
(Sex Pistols) Singer/Songwriter
Producer/Rapper (POET)
Rapper/Songwriter (POET)
Notorious B.I.G.
Singer/Songwriter
Died of heroin
Claimed Died of drug age 27 (POET)
Selassie was anywhere
Name was MC New York overdose (POET)
Bassist/Songwriter 7 children byMurdered atoverdose at 29
(POET) Haile lead you God
Fathered
6 claimed Jesus
Rapper/Songwriter (POET) closely...was God)
(Haile SelassieLook
before starting beef with East Coast „nuff said… worthwhile?
Died of heroin overdose at 21
women
Murdered atFathered 6-8 children through extra- off…
24
He‟s biting a bat‟s head
Murdered at age 25
Died of AIDS marital affairs

15. But don‟t take my word for it…
…see what modern poets say about themselves…
I‟m an idiot, a loser…
-Limp Bizkit
When I die… I wanna go to hell,
„cuz I‟m a piece of ____ and it aint hard to tell…
- The Notorious B.I.G.
I‟m a liar and I‟m a thief…
I think I‟m dumb…
I hate myself and I want to die…
-Kurt Cobain (Nirvana)

16. Music = Poetry = A waste of time
The believers have surely succeeded:
 It is better for one of you to fill his body with pus
…those who turn away from useless, evil speech…
than to fill it with poetry…
- Qur-an 23.1,3
- Muhammad (May Allah bless him and grant him peace)

17. “Love” (Romance & Dating)
 What is “love”?
 It‟s deception.
"Hey, baby, you're the only one I'm on"
They kick a few lines from a slow song
Havin‟ you thinkin‟ you got it goin‟ on so strong
and can't nothin‟ in this world go wrong
They say, "Baby, I'm yours
So go and close the bedroom door”
Make sure the blinds are closed
to keep you comin' up out your clothes
The next day they don't know you no more
-Tré of Mo Thugs

18. “Love” (Romance & Dating)
 What is “love”?
 It‟s self-deception.
If my girlfriend think I‟m loyal
then that _____ is a fool.
-Big L

19. “Love” (Romance & Dating)
 What is “love”?
 It‟s delusion.
subsequent to beauty
in between
our lies and our illusions
lies reality
the eyes that cry once seemed so high
but now they see:
the game we all were playing ends in shame
and blame
and pain comes pouring down like rain
- Daniel Nehemiah Oliver

20. “Love” (Romance & Dating)
 What is love?
 It‟s an investment with no return.

Eleven years I sacrificed
And you just leave me at the drop of a dime…
- Mary J. Blige
Be careful where you invest your time…

21. Sleep Habits
Driving sleepy is like driving drunk…

…inability to focus…
And (have we not) made the night as a covering,
…forgetfulness…
and the day as livelihood?
…irritability…
 Qur-an 78.10-11
…lack of coordination…
What about doing other things sleepy,
like working or studying?

22. Hurrying
 Mistakes make you waste more time than you hope
to save…
 Slow but steady wins the race…
 I need to slow down
movin‟ through life at a high speed
and watchin‟ all these slow runners pass by me…
- Mobb Deep

23. Hurrying
Have patience, have patience:
don‟t be in such a hurry
Thoughtfulness
When you get impatient is from Allah
you only start to worry
and haste is from satan…
Remember, remember:
Allah is Patient, too
- Prophet Muhammad
So think of all the times that others be upon him)
(May Allah‟s peace and blessings
have to wait on you
- Children‟s song

24. How can we gain by time?

25. Set and Check Goals
 Daily
 Every night, before you sleep, ask:
What do I want to accomplish tomorrow?
 Did I achieve my goals from yesterday?
 Why not?

 Long-term
 What‟s your 20-year plan?

It‟s a point you must walk towards…
…not a world you‟ll wake up from a dream to…

26. Make a Schedule
 Buy a daily planner
 Keep in mind all that you need to be doing

You don‟t have time to waste time…
 Keep a calendar
 Don‟t lose sight of long-term goals

27. Role Models
 Noah/Nooh

In his lifetime, he built a ship that could hold 2 of every species

28. Role Models
 Ibn ul-Qayyim

Wrote Zad ul-Ma‟ad in a few weeks‟ time
Zad ul-Ma‟ad is an important ancient book that is thousands of pages
What have you accomplished with the last few weeks?

29. Role Models
 Bill Gates
 Started Microsoft at 20
 He started another company at 45
to help give his money away…

30. Role Models
 Eleanor Oliver




Mastered a 2nd language at 9
Graduated from high school at 16
Graduated from college at 19
4.0 Masters GPA
How old are you?
What have you accomplished?

31. Expect More of Yourself
You can't party your life away
drink your life away
Life is what you make it...,
smoke your life away
f___ your life away
I‟ma make it,
No matter what it takes…,
dream your life away
scheme your life away:
„cause your seeds grow up the same way
- The Wu-Tang Clan
we gonna take it…
-Nas & DMX

32. Settle for Excellence, not Excuses
Spectate or make a move
hesitate or regulate
it‟s on you…
-Mobb Deep

33. Check your Level of Sincerity
You can have it all
but how much do you want it?
-Oasis

34. Establish the 5 Daily Prayers
 Give everyday a regular schedule of fixed units
 Schedule and time your tasks between regular breaks

Verily the prayer is written and scheduled for the believers …


Qur-an 4.103
O ye who believe! When the call is proclaimed to prayer on the
Day of Assembly, hurry to the Remembrance of Allah, and
leave off business….
And when the prayer is ended, then disperse throughout the
land and seek of Allah's bounty…

Quran 62.9-10

35. Establish the 5 Daily Prayers
 Use the prayers to start a healthy, productive sleep schedule:
Sleep after „Isha (Night Prayer), NOT after Fajr (Morning prayer)

The prayer is better than sleep!
-Call to Morning Prayer
 After all…

Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy
and wise.
-Benjamin Franklin

36. Carpe Diem
 Take advantage of five before five :

your youth, before you get old;

and your health, before you get sick;

and your wealth, before you are poor;

and your free time, before you are busy;

and your life, before your death.
-Prophet Muhammad (May Allah bless him and grant him peace)

37. Yesterday‟s Tomorrow
When did the sunset close
above me?
Was it as two lips pour‟d
the poison of the day?
How did the moonlit morning
flow through me?
This was yesterday‟s tomorrow
everyday
I listen to the spring verve
in silence
I watch raindrops fall
and trickle towards the bay
I hear the summer‟s songso soothing
This was yesterday‟s Tomorrow
everyday
Message: Today was tomorrow when you thought about it yesterday.
Everyday is another day’s tomorrow, so when you start to wait
for tomorrow, remember that it’s already here…

38. Al-Fajr
I know when you wake up
each morning you say,
“It‟s just another day.”
You yawn and you stretch,
you blink and you scratch,
“Another day, another dollara dollar before tax.”
Your eyes and ears focus on
the clock as it‟s ticking
As each moment passes, do
you feel your life slipping?
WAKE UP
Do you know where you‟re going
or if you‟ll get there?
The truth of the matter is:
you should be scared
But what‟s out of your sight
And off of your mind
Is the same thing keeping you blind
You‟ve lost time,
FACE UP
which isn‟t money:
it‟s LIFE
and what‟s funny
is whether you grasped it
or threw it away
it‟s gone;
so benefit
before you decay
GET UP

39. The End
It‟s a trip
you‟re here today
but the next day you‟re gone…
-UGK
danyal.abdullah@gmail.com
*Note: The author doesn‟t listen to music anymore
All lyrics are quoted from memory
The signs are everywhere…