1. Before standing up for Prayer, try to deal with all the minor urgent matters which demand your attention. If you are pressed by hunger, eat first; if you are pressed to attend to the call of nature, relieve yourself; if you are the parent of an infant, feed him or her, or keep him or her busy.

2. Perform your Wudhu' (ablution) well, paying due care and attention.

3. Approach the Prayer with zest and passion as if it is the most important task in your life. Actually the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) taught us that we could do nothing in this world that could ever surpass Prayer in merit and excellence.

4. Visualize that in your Prayer you are going to have a special audience with Allah, Lord of the worlds, and that you are enjoying a direct communion with Him? This in fact is true.

5. Think of the Prayer you are performing as if it were the last Prayer of your life. In fact, it could very well be the last one, since no one is given a guarantee that he would live to perform another Prayer.

6. Picture the scene of the Last Day when people will be lined up into two groups, one destined for Heaven, and another for Hell, and ask yourself where you would be placed.

7. Focus your mind on what you are reading in your Prayer.

8. If, in spite of your best efforts, your mind is still wandering, seek refuge in Allah and bring your mind back to Prayer.