BUSY MUSLIMAH: LIVING LIKE A BOSS

By: Aminat O. OdunEwu-Seese @Lady_Meansie

Every business owner has a lot of priorities to juggle and managing how to balance all of these priorities is definitely an art form. If you follow me on social media, you know that not only do I own and manage Striving For Modesty, I am also the owner of Striving For Clarity and Flawless Academy. Alongside all of this, I recently joined the leadership team of an all-women travel company, Girls LOVE Travel as their Community Development Manager. On top of all of this, I still have my #1 job of being a wife and mother. ​

With all of these roles comes a lot of various responsibilities. I’m known for saying “ I thrive on being busy” and it’s true. I enjoy having a lot going on. On an average day, I’ll have over 20-30 things to do consisting of  multiple video meetings scheduled, articles to edit, numerous emails to respond to from SFM manufacturers, SFC Guest Contributors and other contacts, finances to balance and more. Of course, this is only the beginning. I also have an avidly mobile nine month old who must be fed and played with throughout the day, and lastly, prepping and cooking our family meals. ​

You’re probably wondering, “How does she ensure that she takes care of all of her responsibilities?” Well the key to ensuring that all my responsibilities are done is scheduling. I have a daily schedule that I essentially live by. In my schedule, I allot times for each area in my life. For instance, 9-10am is when I respond to messages,  12-1pm is when I pray zuhr and work on dinner prep, 1-2pm is when I “learn”(sometimes it’s business related and other times its Islam related). Overall, every second of my day is generally booked from 6:30am-5:30pm. After 5:30pm, I am usually still working but with less structure.

Do I get distracted? Yes, Getting distracted definitely happens but that’s where Salah comes in. Stopping what I am doing to go and make salah gives me an opportunity to clear my head, concentrate on my prayer and then refocus on work.

So, how do I make sure I get everything done with my insane schedule?  A planner! I am really into organization(a necessity when you’re working for yourself) and a planner, to-do lists and other task management tools are a favorite of mine.

When I was still in school, I utilized the New York Public Library planner. I was a big fan of the layout. Lately though, I've been using the Striving flawlessly Muslimah Planner and The Daily Planner.

My SF Muslimah Planner is where I note all of my day-to-day and monthly outlook events. The Daily Planner is where I write my appoitnments and more daily tasks/reminders. I also Keep a notebook handy. In my notebook, I have sections for each business, personal projects, and family notes.

Having my planner and notebook with all these sections allows me to keep everything organized without needing a bunch of different tools.

Despite the workload and constantly being busy, being a business owner is fun. I enjoy the work that I do. I love getting messages from customers letting me know how much they loved their scarf or abaya. I enjoy editing articles for SFC and assisting GLT with building the online community.

Overall, being a Busy Muslimah definitely has its challenges but with structure, great organizational skills and a nice planner, things can run smoothly.

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How do you stay organized? Are you #TeamPlanner or #TeamMentalReminders? Let us know in the comments. ​

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