20 Minutes With: Tauseef And Sarah Mehrali, Founders Of Jeem Life And Creators of The Jeem Journal
We caught up with Tauseef and Sarah Mehrali, founders of Jeem Life and the creators of Jeem Journal – a journal designed to help you plan your life and increase productivity whilst instilling Islamic values like a prayer tracker. Having launched their product two years ago, they have been helping hundreds of Muslims around the world “find greater peace, purpose and productivity”.
For 15% off your next Jeem purchase, use the code HALALGIRL15 upon check out. Order yours here.
Q1: What is the Jeem Journal and what makes it different from other journals out there?
The Jeem Journal was born from a need and a realisation.
The need was for a modern journal that reflected our various identities. Specifically, one that allowed us to seek strength through our Islamic faith tradition, reflected up to date science and slotted seamlessly into our lives.
The realisation was that after trying out all sorts of journals, what was missing was a journal that squared all those circles for us, so it was up to us to put that right!
As busy professionals who like everyone else, juggle work, family and life, we wanted to create a toolkit that would allow us, and you, to convey and capture your thoughts and brain waves, whilst inspiring you to keep going and plan for the months ahead. Crucially we wanted this to take place within a framework that draws inspiration from Islam. Meditation, mindfulness and gratitude are all concepts housed within the building of Islam so we have tried to incorporate them in an up-to-date context to help navigate the highs and lows of daily life.
The Jeem Journal stands out with its minimalist tactile design, courtesy of a former Dyson creative, its ease of use, unisex appeal and its compassionate approach to help users become the best version of themselves. There’s nothing overtly gender specific and from our customers we hear that couples love journaling together – much the way we do too! It gives them something to talk through and discuss. Importantly, by supporting Jeem, patrons also support the Muslim Youth Helpline: www.jeem.life/pages/give-back.
Since we launched two Ramadans ago we’ve been overwhelmed by the response and there are now Jeemers all over the globe and the likes of the wonderful Wardah books based in Singapore are now stocking Jeem Journals. Our New Year, New Hope campaign helped inject some positivity into an otherwise gloomy start to 2021.
Related: 20 Minutes with: Tauseef and Sarah Mehrali, Founders of Jeem Life and Creators of the Jeem Journal
Q2: What is the meaning of “Jeem”?
The letter jeem (ج) encapsulates the jamali, beautiful (جمالي), and jalali, mighty (جلالي), attributes of God. So in essence the letter subtly alludes to the names of Allah, in their entirety.
We’ve had Jeemers reflect on what the ج means to them and have been blown away by the connections. One connected it to the qur’anic punctuation mark meaning ‘permission to pause’. One shared how the ج reminds them of jannah. Arguably our favourite connection though is from the Jeemer who felt that every time he sees the ج logo on his bookshelf it reminds him to go to the gym!
Q3: Your journal has a Qadr Destiny Drive and a Life Mapper – features that we haven’t seen in a journal before – would you be able to tell us more about them?
The Qadr Destiny Drive and Jeem Life Mapper serve as a toolkit to flesh out your plans for the year ahead and capitalise on the enormous spiritual energy contained within these holy nights.
Specifically, these two tools are a theoretical and practical way of maximising the power of Laylatul Qadr (The Night of Destiny) which occurs in the last 10 nights of the holy month of Ramadhan. This unique element to the journal is placed at exactly the half-way point in the book as a standalone section.
The Jeem Life Mapper is a practical exercise in which one is encouraged to flesh out plans for the year ahead. The plan is mapped to 6 core areas of life which include Spirituality, Relationships, and Career. Goal setting made easy.
The beauty of the framework above is that it can be called upon at any time, not just the Nights of Qadr. Use it to create New Year’s resolutions, to turbo-charge a poignant event or even when you’re just feeling reflective.
Q4: What can an individual expect to achieve by journaling using Jeem? Any tips on staying consistent with journaling?
We love to journal primarily because we’ve experienced the positive impact of writing down our thoughts, worries and hopes, practising gratitude for the small things in life and feeling inspired by quotes that lift us up after a long day.
Journaling has helped keep us calm and grounded through difficult times and has enabled us to take our careers to the next level by creating a place for focus and action.
In terms of the specifics, there is science in gratitude – research shows that adopting an “attitude of gratitude” can measurably improve your level of well-being.
Regular gratitude practice such as through a journal, can have the following benefits:
1. Better mood – increased happiness, reduced depression, increased resilience
2. Better physical health – lower blood pressure, less chronic pain, increased energy levels
3. Boost self-esteem and increase empathy
4. Enhanced sleep by capturing grateful thoughts before bed
5. Stronger immune systems
We have a tonne of tips on how to kick start your journaling journey and get the most from it over at our blog and we’ve even put together a video series on how to journal.
Q5: What is your overall goal for Jeem?
To inspire peace, purpose and productivity for both men and women by harnessing the incredible power of gratitude.
Q6: As parents, starting a business can be tough! Do you have any tips for budding entrepreneurs, especially for those who have kids?
We can’t argue with that, it’s certainly tough, but can be incredibly rewarding. Our kids (boys aged 11 and 8) seem to have been really quite inspired by us launching Jeem (and are never short of marketing words of wisdom!) They melted our hearts though when we launched by recreating the Jeem logo with Lego!
It’s possibly never been easier to launch an e-commerce business but equally, this shouldn’t be to the detriment of doing your homework: write down a 1-page business plan, check out the competition, what makes your product unique?
Mindset is so important too. Things will go wrong and do go wrong and the sooner you can reframe these setbacks as challenges, the better!
We’ve found that having a good set of digital processes and systems in place is key as is the advice as well as the services of a solid accountant.
Your network of friends, family, colleagues, random uncles and aunties are vital to the growth of your endeavour and it’s important to overcome the shyness that comes with sharing a new business journey as engineering serendipity can have wonderfully unexpected outcomes.
For 15% off your next Jeem purchase, use the code HALALGIRL15 upon checkout. Order yours here.
