How this Ramadan could be your most productive yet

The holy month this year provides a great opportunity for us to develop on both spiritual and professional levels

Ramadan is a good time to think about renewing your subscription, updating the software and cleaning up unnecessary data from your system.

Ramadan in the past meant shorter work days and a chance to get together with friends and family over Iftar or Suhoor. But gone are those days with the coronavirus outbreak sweeping the globe. This may be the first time in our lives where not only the majority of us would be working from home, but we will not to be able to fully engage in the holy month’s rituals from praying at the mosques to breaking our fast communally.

While in some ways I feel sad about this year’s Ramadan, as I will not be able to visit all of my family and friends or meet up with my colleagues, it does provide a great opportunity for us to develop on both spiritual and professional levels.

In an article published last week, Saeed Saeed, a journalist at The National discussed how this year's Ramadan could present a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for us to focus on the holy month's meditative essence.

Working shorter hours from home means that we get to be more focused at work minus the office distractions. As we will not be commuting or spending time on the road as much as we did in Ramadan of yesteryear, fasting this year would be somehow easier.

With more time on our hands, we could utilise the extra hours to work on the administrative tasks we have been delaying for the past few months; such as renewing or cancelling subscriptions, updating software, cleaning up the drives clogging with needless data and touch base with our clients.

Ramadan is about performing our best on a spiritual level, but we could also extend that to our professional life. With our schedules lighter during the day because of the shorter working hours, we could dedicate an hour or so to learning a new skill, attending an online webinar, or joining a workshop. We may never get a chance like this again where we are spoiled for choice when it comes to e-learning. Engaging in an activity, where you are learning, or reading, could also take your mind off the thirst or hunger and make the fasting hours pass quicker.

I also make it a point to learn something different every Ramadan by reading books that are different than those I would usually pick. If you are not a fan of printed books go for audio books. They allow you to multitask so that you could exercise for instance and still listen to the book being recited in the backdrop.

There’s also no time like the present to give back to our community and support the government’s efforts. Now is the time to volunteer, spend your company’s corporate social responsibility budget to donate to a cause, or contribute to providing meals to the needy. The Abu Dhabi National Oil Company has announced support to volunteer initiatives across the country. More than 1,500 employees have already signed up as part of the the UAE volunteers drive managed by Emirates Foundation to help the government combat the spread of the Covid-19.

You do not even need to leave the house in order to make a difference. You could help feed low-income families impacted by the coronavirus crisis from the comfort of your home. Last week, Dubai authorities launched the UAE’s largest food distribution campaign “10 Million Meals”, being managed by the Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Initiatives in collaboration with Social Solidarity Fund Against Covid-19. Businesses and individuals can donate via SMS message, bank transfer, directly through the programme's website, or they can donate packaged or canned food.

Finally, just because we cannot get together and hold our annual Ramadan Iftar or Suhoor gathering for friends and family or for our clients, does not mean we couldn’t move the celebration online. Arrange a call with your colleagues/clients over Zoom and use it as an opportunity to network and stay in touch with your contacts. From my personal experience, I find that when using an online conference tool, I am able to communicate with more people in a shorter span of time and able to move faster from one meeting to the next, hence saving me more time to focus on other tasks.

Ramadan Mubarak to you. I hope it’s your most productive one yet.

Manar Al Hinai is an award-winning Emirati journalist and entrepreneur, who manages her marketing and communications company in Abu Dhabi