How Do You Cook Your Fish?

Originally published on www.mohamedhanbal.com

Julia is an amazing cooker and one of her specialties is cooking fish. During a day, one of her friends ‘’Natalie’’ was visiting her at home and she asked Julia to share some tips about how she is cooking fish in this amazing way. So the following dialogue took place:

Julia: ‘’Well, you get the fish, and then cut the head and the tail. Then you put the fish in the Pan and….’’.

Natalie interrupted and asked: ‘’Wait a second, but why should I cut the head and the tail of the fish before I start cooking it?’’.

Julia:’’ I learned this way from my mom, and I was always doing it for the past 20 years in the same way and you see the result: ‘an amazingly cooked fish’. However, you have a point, I will call my mom and ask her’’

So Julia ran away to grab her phone and directly called her mom.

Julia: ‘’ good morning mom, I have my friend Natalie here at home with me, and I was teaching her how to cook fish in this beautiful way that you taught me. But When I was explaining to her, she asked me why should she cut the head and the tail of the fish before cooking it. Can you please tell me so that I can answer her?’’

Julia’s Mom: ‘’Sure sweetheart, I was teaching it to you this way because we were having a small pan at our home and we couldn’t afford to buy a bigger one. That’s why we were cutting the head and tail first so that the fish can fit into the pan. For you, you have already big pans at your home so you do not need to cut the head and the tail before cooking’’.

If Julia asked herself one time through the past 20 years: ‘’Why am I doing what I am doing?’’, she could have easily figured out that she is wasting time and effort on an unnecessary cooking step. Maybe she could have come up with a better, shorter or even more efficient way of cooking the fish. This is only one side of the damage.

However, the real damage will occur when she starts teaching the wrong ways & methodologies to other people such as her family and friends, or the upcoming generations such as her kids.

How many times have you done something without knowing why you did it? How many times have you participated in transferring the wrong methodologies, techniques and beliefs to others around you  unconsciously, because you never stopped and asked yourself:’’Why’’ or understood the purpose of what you are doing? And finally, what’s stopping you from being a leader who creates the rules- in other words your ways and techniques-  instead of just following what’s given to you?

Julia was lucky because the time she wasted was limited and short. Guess how much time, effort and even money you can or have already wasted on doing meaningless things which will result or resulted already in bigger damage?

Start with yourself now. Question everything you do and try to come up with easier, smarter ways of doing things. And if you are not sure about something, then, at least, do not pass it to others.

Be a person who create the rules, not just a blind follower…..Be a leader who lights the way to the people around him.