Sadaf Qadir shared their story and experiences with us recently and you can find our conversation below.
Sadaf, a huge thanks to you for investing the time to share your wisdom with those who are seeking it. We think it’s so important for us to share stories with our neighbors, friends and community because knowledge multiples when we share with each other. Let’s jump in: What is a normal day like for you right now?
Very busy! And I’m not sure how I am even handling it but currently I am juggling between a full-time job and doing an MBA. I work remotely on a team where I have members from all around the country. This means my typical day starts fairly early in the morning. I take some time to grab breakfast while checking my emails and then dive right into the day! Most days I’m pretty locked in to my work and meetings. I try to take a break to go outside or walk some time in the mid-morning. After my work day, I spend some time exercising and then dive right into studying. I will either study for the rest of the afternoon OR get ready to go to class. Somewhere in between I take a break to eat dinner, take a walk, FaceTime my niece, and have some family time. I usually end my day around 9:30 or 10 pm and do it all over again the next day!
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
So my name is Sadaf! I am a Marketing Project Manager in the pharmaceutical space for my day job. In the evenings, I am an MBA student. I also have a consulting brand that I am currently not taking clients for but would eventually like to grow one day. Outside of work, I love to give back to and support my community in any way I can. I also do food blogging on Instagram and TikTok for fun.
Great, so let’s dive into your journey a bit more. What breaks the bonds between people—and what restores them?
This is a really interesting and relevant question for me and where I am in my career and life right now. One of the most interesting topics I’m studying in school right now has to do with leadership, working in teams, and biases. For the most part, I feel like I have a good handle on how to show up as a Project Manager or as a friend/daughter/ sister, etc. But one thing I’ve learned as I grow older is that it’s important to stop and listen when people are talking. Something that’s really difficult for me because I love to talk! But you can learn so much from staying silent and that’s actually what informs you about how to form a bond with the people you are interacting with. A lot of the times, if we pay attention, people are telling us how to connect and communicate with them. I do think it’s pretty hard to build a bond compared to how easy it is to break a bond.
It doesn’t take a whole lot to break a bond – just be dishonest, ghost people or be unresponsive, be judgmental or unsupportive, and make things about yourself/ your ego and you will easily lose people in your life.
It’s pretty difficult to restore bonds once you’ve engaged in some of the things I’ve listed and depending on the severity of what you’ve done you may never be able to restore a relationship. But if there is still hope/ space to do so, you absolutely have to approach it with humility. Show up with kindness, be a listener, and genuinely apologize when you know you’ve made a mistake.
If you could say one kind thing to your younger self, what would it be?
I would tell my younger self You are good enough just as you are. As a first-born daughter, I’ve rarely felt like I have accomplished or done enough. And even when I do things, I’m always on to the next. While I love keeping busy, younger me was really stressed and never felt truly proud of herself or accomplished. She never really heard good job or you’re doing great or that she was good enough. She had to navigate through a lot alone and so she always felt behind or lost. I think if she heard more often that she was good enough, she would stress a lot less.
Next, maybe we can discuss some of your foundational philosophies and views? Where are smart people getting it totally wrong today?
So many people in today’s world only engage in growing in isolation. They find it difficult or painful or too time consuming to interact with others so they end up choosing not to at all. And this is really damaging to society as a whole because we no longer have communities where people can feel supported. Many really smart people are burnt out or feel unhappy. Part of that is because they have to do everything themselves and they don’t have a super strong support system to cheer them on it tough times. It can be really challenging to find time to spend with others. I’m guilty of it too! I get nervous scheduling a lunch or dinner because I start to do the math of how long it will take and how much weekend time I will have left after that interaction. But I ALWAYS leave these situations feeling incredibly renewed and ready to tackle my tasks and day with fresh ideas and sometimes even a new perspective. I think it would do us all good to spend MORE time with other people, especially spending time doing an activity or something that can build connection.
Okay, so let’s keep going with one more question that means a lot to us: If you knew you had 10 years left, what would you stop doing immediately?
I would immediately stop worrying about everything. The future gives me a lot of anxiety which is so bizarre because none of us truly know if we will even be alive in that future or not. I guess that’s why if I knew for sure I only had ten years left, I would just stop worrying. I don’t think it would make me change what I am doing right now though. I love my work and I really enjoy being a student. While it’s time consuming, I find it really purposeful and makes me feel really alive already. BUT one thing I WOULD stop is stop skipping breaks! I do a bad job of taking small breaks and I think those are super important for your brains sanity.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.thecorporatefirefighter.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/octrailsandtreats/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sadaf-qadir/
- Yelp: Sadaf Qadir on Yelp
Image Credits
Sadaf Qadir
