Do your daily habits serve your growth or keep you stuck on autopilot? In this episode, Saeed Al-Ghafri breaks down a clear method to evaluate your routines, make purposeful shifts, and test new approaches that boost efficiency (featuring a real example with 17% time saved). Discover how to balance sticking with proven methods and knowing when to innovate for better results.
What You’ll Learn in This Episode:
Timestamps:
1:13: Habits build consistency and efficiency but can make actions robotic over time.
3:11: Common response to questioning habits is "we've always done it this way."
5:20: In business, resisting change can lead to losing market position.
6:33: Adopting new processes requires balance between sticking to scripts and creativity.
8:09: Avoid living on autopilot; balance safety with creativity and intentional action.
9:21: Story of challenging an existing process leading to improved efficiency.
12:54: Stepwise process to break habits: audit, shift with intention, and know the why.
If this episode sparked new ideas, please like, comment your thoughts, and subscribe for more valuable content. Share with friends who could benefit, and let’s keep growing and improving together. Your engagement helps build a stronger, smarter community!
(0:00) Doing a lot of changes may confuse people sometimes. (0:03) Why do you really have to wait for four days for this process? (0:07) Habit can make you really efficient, but over time it makes you blind (0:14) and innovation will not happen. Our job is not to blindly repeat and be in that autopilot, (0:24) but to question how can we refine things and really grow.
(0:36) Marhaba and how's it going everyone and welcome back to Yuwab. (0:41) I'm your host Saeed Al-Ghafri. Yuwab is all about giving you the right tools (0:46) to thrive not only at work but also life.
Thank you for being with me (0:55) and thank you for sharing this episode and if you are here it tells me that being resilient, (1:02) growing and focus are your main priority. You know we all love habits. I one time read a book (1:13) on how to basically stick with a specific habit or changing thing and the guy was very much (1:24) quoting or giving examples on how to quit for example smoking.
God forbid that you don't smoke, (1:30) but it was all about sticking to a habit and being consistent because habits usually (1:37) teach us being consistent at what we do. So it makes us really good at what we do. (1:44) It makes everything that we do very much stick, but you reach a point where you become very much (1:56) robotic. It becomes very much one plus one equal to very much. Now what's really important is that (2:08) having those habits because we want that consistency and you know when you look at everyone (2:16) around you or maybe yourself you're gonna see that habits are everywhere. You will see it at (2:21) work, you'll see it at home, you're gonna see it everywhere in your even any decision that you do, (2:29) but you're gonna see that when you are sticking with the habit you're not gonna get better at (2:37) what you do.
This episode is all about how can I get better? How can I get away from a habit? (2:48) So stick around because we're just gonna talk about one of the things that I enjoy (2:53) really doing which is stepping away from the habit and being always outside the box as much as I can. (3:03) So question, how many times, and this is something that I used to see a lot, (3:11) how many times you've asked someone, it could be at work or even someone who's very much dear at (3:18) you, you go to that person and you're like why do you do this task or this work the way it is? Why (3:29) do you do it this way? And the answer usually and most of the time is they will be like because (3:39) that's the way we've always done it. And they're gonna look at you as if you are really a stranger (3:47) seriously or you don't know what you're talking about.
(3:51) Or some of them may tell you yeah because my boss told me to do it this way. (3:58) Or someone may be like okay probably he told me how to do it this way. As if they're just (4:03) throwing the blame or you're criticizing them when you tell them why you do it this way.
(4:08) Now that answer usually drives me really really nuts and drive each one of us crazy. You know why? (4:19) You know because when I follow that with a question I'm like then what will happen if you (4:26) change? Like what will happen if you change doing the task? And you know what would the answer be (4:34) in most of the time even 99 percent? The answer would be yeah we can do it better. (4:41) Then why don't you do it better? Why don't you change? Now that doesn't mean like this person (4:48) is an idiot.
No. It just tells you that this person has really stopped thinking. (4:57) They're just there.
They're just doing the habit as if they're following a script. (5:03) They're just being robotic. And this happens a lot in business where things becomes the status quo (5:13) and people don't really want to change usually.
You know what will happen ultimately especially (5:20) in business? Other people will do it better than you. And when that happens and look back at the (5:27) history one day you're gonna be out of that market. You're gonna lose.
And let's be honest (5:35) we are all guilty of doing the same thing in our lives. Honestly we're all guilty. Let me share (5:47) with you a story and now this could be contradicting to today's episode but again just to show you the (5:56) importance of habits. When you basically start a new process or when you want to do something new (6:03) in a company it's very important to stick to a script or a process because you want to embed (6:12) that in people's mind. This is the most important thing. Other than that forget it.
If you (6:19) want to improve you need to go basically outside that script. I remember one time and people know (6:25) me for being very much challenging the status quo and this and that but I don't do it too soon. (6:33) One time we basically adopted a new process and you know we said okay we're gonna do this meeting (6:41) this way.
One guy the next day changed the way the meeting is done and I went I'm like why did you (6:48) change it? They're like yeah we need to be creative but that's not really creative. That's (6:55) basically too soon because you haven't really used the time to judge whether it works or not (7:01) and what new changes you need to do because doing a lot of changes may confuse people sometimes. (7:08) So this is a bit contradicting but again you have to manage that when you are in a process (7:14) and you see that you are reaching a point where it's becoming habit or no change are happening (7:20) probably it's time to change to become much more better because you care about being creative and (7:25) you want to go.
Let me share with you a quote from a famous philosopher his name is Misonius (7:35) Rufus. What he said is that in most things we address circumstances not with the right assumptions (7:47) but by following rich habit. The person in training must raise above pleasure, fear, (7:59) money and comfort and choose with reason.
Now you may be wondering what the hell is this guy saying (8:09) in simple terms he's just saying don't live on autopilot. Although I love to be sometimes an (8:19) autopilot especially in situations where I'm not really in the mood but again don't be on an (8:25) autopilot because what happens is that you're just going to be reacting and you don't want that (8:33) because that will not make you move and that will not move you forward. You know sometimes autopilot (8:40) is amazing because you want to do things safely consistently and safely and we need that.
Let's (8:49) say you want to fly an airplane you need to basically do it safely there's no compromise (8:55) you can be creative imagine you are on an airplane and the pilot is becoming creative (9:00) you don't want that you want to be basically very much sticking to that process so it's very (9:08) important to basically follow that but again the intent of today's episode is how can we do things (9:15) better and how can we be creative. Let me share with you a story I'm very much known to be a person (9:21) who challenged the stethoscope and part of my previous job was to pass by the factory the plants (9:30) meeting people seeing how's it going with them and one time I passed by a guy who was doing a (9:37) task I stopped I looked at him and I was observing then I approached him (9:45) assalamu alaikum I was like alaikum salam why I was like how's it going this and that and after (9:53) all this I'm like what are you doing start to explain to me what he's doing with passion and (10:02) I was like can you really do this better and he was like you know sorry I cannot and his face (10:13) expression became someone as if I was insulting him I'm like listen man I'm just asking you can (10:20) you do this really better I was like no we cannot and he started giving me explanations (10:26) this cannot be done this way and if we do it this way it will be this this and this and that (10:32) as if it was really someone really protecting their kids or protecting something (10:41) very simple question can you make this better and look what happened to him he became very (10:47) protective very protective now I'm like may I know why are you talking to me this way (10:56) and he basically paused he couldn't really continue and I'm like do you know that the (11:04) other person that I that I basically passed by he was doing exactly the same job and when I asked him (11:12) he changed the way within the procedure okay not something crazy or out of the mind (11:19) and they are basically achieving a 15% reduction in time so that's one hour it's a lot of time by (11:30) the way and I'm like what's really the deal here and you know what happened after a lot of back (11:38) and forth with the guy he actually adopted that process and he changed very difficult one (11:46) and guess what he did he achieved actually 17% 2% increase which is even better than (11:54) that other person so let me throw that challenge to you find one thing that you're doing today (12:03) out of habit anything anything it could be the way you start your morning when you wake up (12:09) it could be that task that you do it in a certain way or it could be running a meeting or it could (12:16) be responding when you're really stressed it could be shouting or shutting someone down (12:23) or maybe you're overworking a specific thing I just want you to stop and ask yourself (12:32) is this really the best way to do it now if you answer this with no then it's really time for you (12:46) to rethink really it's really the time for you to rethink so let me give you this simple stepwise (12:54) process that will break out this and will take you away from this trap step number one is look at (13:03) your habits very important look at it don't really assume that you know it write it down explicitly (13:15) and ask yourself why do I do it this way seriously I mean sometimes when I pass by people like why do (13:23) you do this way can you change because sometimes when you get into this autopilot thing you ignore (13:29) yourself but have the habit to say can I do this better what's up with this habit (13:38) does this really look better when I do it this way the more you ask questions the more you audit (13:43) the more it will be better I remember one time when I be a long time ago I was a manager I basically (13:51) this is what the first time it happens to me so became a manager I went I called for a meeting (13:57) I met with my three or four people who were reporting to me I'm like okay guys what do you (14:03) guys used to do they're like Saeed and you know proudly Saeed we're used to have this meeting (14:10) and we have this meeting and we have that and I'm like okay awesome let's do it let's basically have (14:16) those meetings and after four weeks and I think probably four or five weeks maybe I met with them (14:24) and I'm like what do you think guys do you do we really need to basically have these meetings and (14:33) they were like Saeed probably not probably not this really surprises you when you basically (14:41) start to ask yourself why or I remember this is classic actually I remember (14:48) I asked a question to someone and I was like why do you really have to wait for four days (14:55) for this process because they do something they wait for four days and then they go to the next (14:59) step and they're like yeah it's very important it's part of the process and we have to wait if (15:06) we don't wait it will be a nightmare so it's important and we need to have it I'm like okay (15:12) why because we need to send confirmations we need to send reminders and we need to tell people that (15:19) listen and we need to satisfy that specific requirement you see what I'm saying you're (15:26) basically now seeing why it's important why are you doing it and can you do this better you're (15:30) auditing you're challenging it which takes us to the second step now that autopilot behavior (15:38) change it to be more with intention (15:42) listen I'm not asking you to stop the habit here but shift with intention now (15:50) remember when you wake up early in the morning if you if the first thing that you do is reach out (15:56) to your phone and checking what's up in the morning checking your whatsapp messages or (16:01) checking this and that maybe it's better that you replace it with journaling for maybe I don't know (16:09) couple pages or maybe having a five minute reflections your intention should be more like (16:17) not checking the phone but probably I need to plan my day better or organize my thought around it (16:24) you see how your intention changed it's not about reaching to the phone and seeing what's up it's (16:30) about how can I basically plan my day to be much more better you do that with intention then you're (16:36) just eventually day two day three you're just not going to look at the phone and you're not going to (16:42) let your phone override you very important or let's go back to that you know when I met with my team (16:49) and they told me to have those meetings you know what happened when I observed people they were (16:55) very much looking at their phones and laptops their mindset was very much not in the meeting (17:03) and then we stopped and we circled around that and they were we were like can we do this better (17:11) the intention was not to be basically escaping that meeting but to be much more creative to grow (17:18) to do things much more better to be efficient so maybe we should cancel it you see how it happens (17:25) and that four days of wait if you remember the example I told you because people were (17:32) sending confirmations and reminders and the idea was how can we be creative around that because it (17:38) was important to send the reminders and get the confirmations but it's so draining and it's not (17:45) really efficient so the intention now is how can we basically be more creative and how can we (17:52) innovate to be much more efficient so you see when you flip that autopilot and make it much (17:58) more intentional it becomes much more stronger and this takes me to the last step which is (18:04) knowing the why you know the why is honestly a very powerful word for me and it's really the (18:13) first step when you want to change you know it's always important when you have a habit to ask (18:23) yourself why why is that because it always takes you back to the purpose because you're just going (18:32) to be blind in that autopilot mode and the purpose will be more linked into growth it could be more (18:39) linked to clarity better relationships or maybe a better health and that's the most important thing (18:47) so if you really don't know the why the habit will really own you let's have a reflection (18:57) think about habit this way habit can make you really efficient but over time it makes you blind (19:09) and innovation will not happen and you'll be like (19:17) I'll do this the same way as it is while you should be like how can I do this better and that's (19:25) the most important thing and that's the most important way forward you know as leaders (19:32) maybe parents or entrepreneurs our job is not to blindly repeat and be in that autopilot (19:43) but to question how can we refine things and really grow all right so here is a reminder for (19:54) don't let your habits run your life let your purpose run your habits always link it and bring (20:04) it back to your purpose all right if you know someone who is on autopilot share this episode (20:13) with them you really don't know this may change their life and thank you for tuning into this (20:20) episode until next time stay intentional stay clear and keep growing