Meet our friend Wael Habib, MD, DC: Each week, My Morning Routine looks at how a successful member of the community starts their day — and then throws in a couple of random business questions just for fun. Speaking with us this week is Wael Habib (LinkedIn | website), who runs a unique spine and sports medicine practice in the Cairo suburb of Maadi and who is a member of both the American Chiropractic Association and the North American Spine Society.

We have a bias when it comes to Habib: He’s the reason our editor-in-chief can now raise his arm above his shoulder — and walk without debilitating knee pain. Habib brings a unique skillset to his practice as both a classically-trained MD and as a chiropractor, but ask him how he sees himself, and he’ll simply tell you he’s “a clinician who uses whatever works.” Edited excerpts from our conversation:

I’m a spine and sports medicine specialist — that’s my passion and the speciality for which I’m best known now, though I came up in trauma and emergency medicine. I graduated from the surgery and internal medicine program at Ain Shams School of Medicine and then trained in traumatology in the United States before enrolling at the National University of Health Sciences in Illinois. As a trauma specialist, I was privileged to work on everything from major incidents to planning emergency medical services for visits to Egypt by world leaders — including the US and French presidents — as well as for peace summits, the World Economic Forum, and meetings of the G15 in Sharm El Sheikh.

As I explained in my TED Talk (watch, runtime: 12:40) [smiles], I changed fields because I wanted to look at patients in total — to take a more holistic approach. I was an emergency room physician, and it was exactly the sort of intense job you want as a young MD. I thought I could handle anything, fix everything: We treated gunshot wounds, stabbings, near-downing accidents, heart attacks. You intervene, you make an immediate difference, and the patient moves on.

But over time, I found myself realizing there were many people in the ER that I couldn’t help. People with debilitating chronic illnesses that no doctor ever seemed to be able to cure. Things I considered at the time “trivial,” but conditions that altered the course of people’s lives — people who couldn’t enjoy life or excel in a job because of chronic, debilitating pain.

That’s when I started to hear about this new speciality called “chiropractic” and started on a path that today, as a spine and sports medicine practitioner, gives me great joy because I can make such a clear difference in my patients’ lives. I’m convinced much of the world has it wrong when it comes to healthcare: chiropractic and osteopathic medicine need to be seen as the mainstream, while allopathic medicine — medications and surgery — should be the “alternative.”

My morning routine is a bit unusual. I kick myself out of bed at 3am every workday. It's not that I like it, it’s a deliberate act. I try right away to get into my workout clothing before I change my mind. I’ve been very diligent for maybe the past 15 years about my workout routine, which is half high-repetition work with light weights to build strength endurance, and then half cardio.

Afterward, I sit down to have a double espresso and I get 45 minutes to an hour alone when the night predators are going to bed and the birds are still sleeping. I love the alone time. I’ve trained myself to spend the first minute or two of that time simply not thinking. Then I take out a fountain pen, my notebook, my organizer, and I get to think and daydream. I just let thoughts float into my head and basically write my resume going forward: What should I do with a specific project? Or a patient? With my clinic or my sport? Mind maps are a big thing for me at this time of day.

Other people are part of the noise I try to cut out. You can’t live your life according to the opinions of others. “You can’t study this. That’s not a career. You should do it this way, not that. What’s the point of this hobby?” And you know what? Most of the time they’re wrong — in life and in work. You need to learn to listen to yourself.

I don’t actually read Enterprise in the morning, but I read Enterprise every day, on my way back home or first thing when I walk in the door.

We usually leave the house by 6am and head to the clinic in Maadi so that I’m in the office before 6:30am. We have early appointments, but I’ll spend the first half hour of the workday going through the files of patients that I'm expecting that day or refreshing myself on new patients. I put on some music for the day, I turn on our machines. It’s about igniting my passion for what I’ll spend the rest of the day doing.

I treat people, not spines or ligaments or tendons. It’s important for me to get to know my patients as people. My work is about making a connection: If I can connect to my patents’ fears, their hopes, their frustrations, I can help them move in the right direction with their health.

Good diagnostics and a tailor-made approach are the keys to delivering a success story when you’re setting out to improve someone’s health. And that’s what really floats my boat. It’s not about sterile medicine.

I don’t have assistants. I don’t delegate to a technician or a physio. I do everything myself and I keep it this way. It doesn't matter how long I spend with every patient as long as we get results and respect every patient’s time. I have no interest in building a big, multi-person practice.

One of the most interesting things I’ve watched recently was Return to Space,about Space X. It really drives home what you can do when you take calculated risks. And, of course, Seinfeld. I’ve watched the whole series straight through seven times now. I always pick up on something that I didn’t catch the last time around.

I stay organized because of my wife. She’s Swiss and the boss, my practice manager, everything. I’m totally lost without her. She looks after the business so I can look after patients. She’s the ultimate organizer, and if I can say I’m even slightly better organized at this stage of life, it’s because of her. Without her, I’d be in La La Land.

I love golf and photography in my spare time — they’re my absolute pleasures, especially golf. It’s the perfect way to be outdoors and enjoy greenery here in Cairo. And it’s a great challenge, this silly little white ball.

The best advice I’ve been given applies to everything — to medicine, to business and to life: “Be flexible. Only fools don’t change their minds.” Be flexible and rewrite your future. If you're not happy with what you're doing, then what are you doing? You're wasting your life and time.

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