IN LOVE WITH YOUR JOB
Love what you do and you never work a day in your life
Making a choice what you want to do in life can be a though one. Making a choice to become a Chef can only work for you when you love cooking and food. Passion is the word, be passionate about your work. I came to the realization, that if you are not passionate about cooking and food, you have no hope to become a top chef. I am sure that this applies to any trade.
One of the biggest mistakes some people do is to choose a occupation that pays well. Yes, money makes the World go around but it will not give you job satisfaction.
The secret is; if you love your job, any personal sacrifice will be easy for you to handle.
Personal and social sacrifices
When I started with my apprenticeship, I was a member of a large march music band with 124 members, I was also active in the boys scouts and I had many friends. When I began my apprenticeship, I spoke to the Executive chef about my activities. He told me to stay with my activities for now. I was lucky first, as my working hours allowed me to continue with my music and having some weekends off, to be able to keep going with the boys scouts.
However, that all changed. About 6 months into my apprenticeship, were I was able to do more tasks in the kitchen, I had to work more nights and weekends. My choice was to quit with the music because some members starting to complain that I only appear once and so often, We had muisic training on a Friday night, when every good hotel was busy with functions and all the restaurants. I had to work and could not attend the music training. I was not to happy about it, but becoming a good chef was more important for me. Eventually, I had to quit the boys scouts as a leader and member. I only got one weekend off per month and that was not enough to continue with the boys scouts. Also seeing my friends became a less frequent activity. Most of my friends started also a apprenticeship with working hours from Monday to Friday, evenings off. So over time, I lost some friends too.
I had to realize, that we all have to make personal sacrifices in order to get ahead in our professional life. But I learned to master the art of sacrifice into a opportunity to do something different. Something that will work well with the lifestyle of a chef.
It is important to have a hobby or two. Keep your mind active with different subjects, not just cooking. I made a decision to take up a hobby where I can enjoy without interuption from my work. A hobby I can enjoy that is not limited to a time or place. I still enjoy those hoobies until this day. Here they are:
1) Fishing
2) Stamp collecting
3) Coin collecting
4) Reading fantastic books
Later in my chef's career in Australia, I took up one more hobby. Gold prospecting. I was lucky enough, to get a job in Australia's largest rural city, in the center of the Victorian gold fields.
Many chef's I met in my time, did not apply this method. They started to drink, using drugs and boredom got the better of them. Be careful, don't fall into this trap!!
Been a chef, we spend a lot of time in our job. Long days, split shifts, working when others are out having fun, working on public holidays including Christmas, working nights. It is important to find social activities outside your work. One way to do that is to have friends from the Hospitality industry. Also people from other trades with similar working hours can become friends.
Falling in love and stay in love
Now I like to touch the subject about relationships with a few words. I am not a relationship expert but I made my experience about relationships been a chef. Sadly, most chefs I met over the time are divorced. I am not married either, but more by choice.
With the work stress and work times, we need a partner who has a broad understanding about the industry. For a chef, finding a suitable partner is most of the time only possible, when this partner is also from the hospitality industry or a similar industry. I know chef's who are in a happy relationship with a partner from the same industry.
(I only talk about my own observations and not to be taken as fact.)
Some last advice from personal experiences
First: Love your job, but never fall in love with the company because you never know when the company stops loving you.
Second: Doing what you like is freedom, like what you do is happiness.
Third: Don't pick a job with great vacation time, pick one that doesn't need escaping from.
Forth: Some last words of a famous Japanese Sushi Chef: "You must immerse yourself in your work. You have to fall in love with your work...You must dedicate your life to mastering your skill. That's the secret of Success.
Next week I will talk about a vital part of handling food and food safety at work and home. Have a great week and enjoy life and fantastic food. Cheers
No comments:
Post a Comment