Life Lessons from a Great Chef

During my travels to New York City the last two years, I have been fortunate to meet many interesting people, who have become great friends.

One of those people is the Chef Miguel.

Miguel has a wealth of international culinary experience, and is currently running a very successful catering business.

So what can someone like me, with very little culinary skills, learn from Miguel?

Lots.

Here are 3 of the biggest lessons I have learned from Chef Miguel:

1)  Passion and  postive enegy is everything -    When creating excellent dishes it is critically important that you are passionate and fully present in what you are creating.  The energy you bring to the process will show in the end result.  To have outstanding results you must bring positive energy to the creation process.

“Every job is a self portrait of the person who did it. Autograph your work with excellence”

2) Always be Learning - The only way to continue to improve is to be open to learning new ways of doing things everyday.  Miguel is both a master in the kitchen but equally important, a student; he never stops listening and learning from others.

3) Be Confident in Yourself - One of the biggest things that I noticed when first going to New York, was how often people walked against the little “stop” hand when crossing the road.  Nothing wrong with it; it’s just a “New York” thing.  I still find myself “hugging” the curb waiting for that little “walk” sign to give me permission to cross the road.

To say I have been teased a little about this is a major understatement.

When I asked Miguel, how he just does it, his response: “You have to own the road”.

Interesting, and I got the message.

Just yesterday I had a major presentation to make and I thought of Miguel’s words as I walked in confidently and “owned” the room.  The ironic thing is that I have this confidence in most areas of my life, especially when I am presenting, but somehow Miguel’s words struck a cord with me.

Thanks Miguel for the great advice.

Sincerely,

Your Canadian Curb Hugging Friend