Answer
Wa `alaykum as-salamu wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh.
In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.
All praise and thanks are due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon His Messenger.
In this fatwa:
With regard to your question, I would like to tell you that it is great that you have the passion for a highly-rewarding Ramadan. That is, indeed, the first necessary step which you can build on.
The following tips will help insha’Allah:
– Seek Allah’s help. Be keen on making sincere du`aa’, as much as you can, that Allah grants you the chance to live for the whole month of Ramadan and that He enables you to make the best of it. When Allah sees that you are sincere enough and that you are really eager to get closer to Him, certainly He will not let you down. The following beautiful hadith confirms that:
“Allah says, ‘I am as my servant expects Me to be, and I am with him when he remembers me. If he thinks of Me, I think of him. If he mentions Me in company, I mention him in an even better company. When he comes closer to Me by a handspan, I come closer to him an arm’s length. If he draws closer to Me by an arm’s length, I draw closer by a distance of two outstretched arms nearer to him. If my servant comes to Me walking, I go to him running.” (Al-Bukhari)
– Set SMART goals for your Ramadan. The SMART here stands for specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and time-bound. This is what we do in our daily life with any new project. We plan ahead and set goals, evaluate and re-evaluate to achieve our objectives.
– Check your friend list. Friends are an important factor that either pull you up to high levels of iman (faith) and practicing or, otherwise, distract you from the straight path of Allah. So, look for good friends and associate with them. That is, in itself, is a great `ibadah. The Prophet (peace be upon him) listed among the seven categories of people who will enjoy the special shade prepared by Allah on the Day of Judgment “two persons who love each other only for Allah’s sake and they meet and part in Allah’s cause only” (Al-Bukhari)
– Continuous evaluation is very important. Start the habit of assessing your daily performance from day one. Make a checklist of four or five items that you commit yourself to (e.g. praying Fajr in the mosque, reading one part of the Qur’an, etc.) and set specific times (at least once a day –e.g. before sleeping) to check what you achieved. Throughout the week monitor your progress and make the adjustment needed and take the necessary measure to address any shortcomings in the fulfillment of the items you are committed to.
– Eliminate the time wasters. Train yourself to overcome tendencies to waste time in useless activities. I would like to refer here to Facebook and Twitter in particular as many of us waste too much time using them; such precious time could be better spent in reciting the Qur’an, praying few rak`ahs, remembering Allah, etc.
– Make use of the special offers. Learn more about this topic by reading: Huge Reward for Small Acts: Why?
Almighty Allah knosw best.