When you arrive at the place you’re going to pray...

...don’t immediately raise your hands.

It’s tempting to rush in, but instead:

- stand still
- gain your composure
- breathe
- reflect on the greatness of the One before whom you stand
- brace yourself
- say the iqamah

Then begin...

I call this simple habit: The Golden Minute.

And if you can do it, your salat will be so much better for it.

You'll create an important buffer between what’s just been going on and your prayer itself...

...and so you won’t carry as much of the mundane thoughts and distractions with you into what is the most important meeting of your day.

See if you can start implementing The Golden Minute just before you begin your next five prayers.

And see what a difference it makes!

And, related to this, consider these famous words of Hatim al-Asamm, who lived around 200 years after the Prophet Muhammad (may God grant him blessings and peace): 

“When it is near the time for prayer, I perform a thorough Wudhu and go to where I am going to pray and sit down there until I become fully attentive to what I am about to do.

I then stand up to pray, imagining that the Ka’bah is in front of my eyes, the Sirat (bridge over Hellfire) is in front of me, Paradise is to my right, Hellfire is to my left and the Angel of Death is behind me.

I imagine that it is the last prayer I will fulfill, I stand in hope and fear and recite the Takbir (Allahu Akbar) while having full attention [...] 

Afterwards, I wonder whether or not my prayer has been accepted!”

Talk about getting into the zone!