What Was Missing Was the Pain That Made It Non-Negotia
You can’t find time to exercise.
You can’t find time to eat a proper breakfast.
You can’t find time to meditate, to breathe, to simply sit in silence for 10 minutes.
You definitely can’t find time to put your phone down before sleeping. The WhatsApp notifications won’t allow it.
But somehow —
You find time for the physio appointment.
You find time for the doctor.
You find time to take medicines at exactly the right hour.
You eat on time — because your stomach has now developed certain problems.
You exercise — because your lower back, shoulder, and neck have forced you to.
Funny how that works.
The time was always there. What was missing was the pain that made it non-negotiable.
We Don't Have a Time Problem. We Have a Priority Problem.
We tell ourselves we are too busy to take care of ourselves. It is a story we have repeated so many times it has started to feel like fact.
But look closely at what actually happens when the body breaks down. Suddenly, appointments get made. Schedules get rearranged. The meeting that could not be missed gets missed. The deadline gets extended. Time — that elusive, scarce, impossible-to-find resource — materialises.
Because pain changes priorities. And priorities create time.
The tragedy is not that we are busy. The tragedy is that most of us will only reprioritise our health after our body sends us a bill we can no longer ignore.
What I Hear Across Pakistan's Corporate Sector
I have sat with thousands of professionals across Pakistan — in banks, in manufacturing plants, in energy companies, in tech firms. Senior managers, directors, C-suite leaders. People who have given decades of their lives to their careers.
The most common regret I hear is not about a missed deadline or a lost business deal.
"Main pehle se karta toh aaj yahan nahi hota."
“If I had started earlier, I wouldn’t be here today.”
A 52-year-old CFO, recovering from a cardiac episode, telling me he wishes he had taken his doctor’s advice seriously five years ago instead of promising himself he’d “start after Ramadan.” A 44-year-old HR Director who developed chronic anxiety and insomnia — not from a single crisis, but from ten years of accumulated stress with no recovery built in.
These are not cautionary tales from a self-help book. These are real people, in real organizations, paying real costs for a choice they did not consciously make — but made by default every time they put themselves last.
You Are Not a Resource. You Are a Human Being.
Somewhere along the way, corporate culture convinced us that our value is measured by our output. That rest is inefficiency. That taking care of yourself is a weekend activity, something you earn after the deadlines are met and the targets are hit.
This is not ambition. It is attrition dressed up as dedication.
You are not a machine that runs on caffeine and adrenaline indefinitely. You are a human being with one body and one life. That body is not a vehicle for your career — your career is something you pursue with your body. The distinction matters.
When the body breaks down, nothing else works. Not the ambition. Not the strategy. Not the relationships you have spent years building
Take Care of Yourself — While It Is Still a Choice
The professionals who sustain high performance over decades are not those who push hardest — they are those who recover well. They sleep. They move. They protect time for silence and stillness. Not because they are less ambitious, but because they understand that peak performance is not a sprint. It is a practice.
You do not need a medical scare to start. You do not need to wait until the back gives out or the blood pressure hits a number that frightens you.
Start now — while it is still a choice and not a prescription.
Sleep 7 hours. Walk 20 minutes. Eat one proper meal without your phone. Say no to one commitment that is draining you. These are not luxuries. They are the foundations of everything else you want to achieve.
The time was always there.
The priority just wasn’t.
Change the priority — before your body changes it for you.
Tanzeel Raza is the CEO of Meaningful Lives and facilitates the Meaningful Wellness Program — a corporate wellness intervention designed to help professionals build sustainable performance habits across mind, body, and work. Learn more at www.meaningfullives.pk connect@meaningfullives.pk | #RiseAboveOrdinary
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