“Choose a Job that you Love, and You’ll never “work” a day in your Life” (Confucius)

   A timeless quote by Confucius, and so true. Just to clarify, I don’t mind “work”, I really enjoy “working”, actually I Love my “work”. It comes down to interpretation, (and I view "work" more positively than the word "job"), but I’m sure everyone understands the premise of the title and quote. The point is I Love my Job/career/profession.

   How do you choose a job, career, vocation that you love? Well that is indeed the conundrum and as much as I’d like to say that I have the answer to that, I don’t. I can only relay my experiences to you in the hope that you may get some insight that we are all in the same circumstances when it comes to the difficult choice of what path to choose, and how appearances are not always what they seem.

   It was recently that I had a memory “pop up “in my head from my very early teens. It was possibly 7th or 8th grade and the school guidance counselor came into our classroom with a new type of survey/aptitude test that would recognize and pinpoint what our interests and strong points were to help us with our career choices. It was quite interesting, comprehensive, long and in depth. We waited for a week to get the results back, and the counselor took us into her office one at a time to go through them with us. It was my turn, I went into the office, sat down, the counselor handed me my survey with an attached cover sheet that gave the results. I looked…looked again…The #1 job suggestion, (profession, career, vocation), for Randy Burns is…”Adventurer”, (I’m absolutely serious, that was the result).

   What???, (actually I really want to say, “WTF??”). How does anyone even get a classification like that on a survey like this? Has anyone ever seen a want ad, a career posting, professional affiliations/unions, courses at your local community college for “Adventurer”? Neither have I. I must admit it did pique my interest in a romantic and fantasy kind of way, I was an avid reader of science fiction and adventure, I had, and still have, a vivid imagination, but realistically it doesn’t sound like much of a career, (or one that will pay the bills anyway); the final result that I walked away with was that this survey/test was a bust. Deeming the whole exercise as unimportant I quickly forgot about it and carried on with my life.

      I am a Chef; I have been in kitchens for over 35 years starting as a dish washer when I was 15 to earn gas and pocket money while I was going to school. I never planned on being a Chef, there were big plans for me, my mother, a PhD Economist and University Professor, and my father, a PhD Physicist, thought I would follow in their scholastic footsteps, as did I. It reminds me of a quote by John Lennon, “Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans”. Well looking back I’d have to say that cooking chose me. When I did leave University at 18 to pursue Cooking fulltime everyone considered it a sideways step in my life; looking back now it was the only step, the only path for me.

   Why do I Love my job?

   It’s a never ending learning process; there is far too much knowledge that can never be learned in a lifetime, the older I get the more I realize I don’t know. It is multi-faceted in that it involves many “disciplines”, a Cook needs to understand chemistry, math, engineering, logistics, waste management, time management, biology, hygiene/food safety science, nutrition, special diet and allergy issues, customer service with good interpersonal skills, not just the ability to cope but to excel under pressure, be physically fit. A Chef needs all of the above along with economics, shipping/receiving, inventory management, psychology, marketing, accounting, HR skills, business person, active in the community, philosopher, (some of you may question that but it really does help, most of the Chefs I worked under were quite the philosophers), A Chef is a referee, stern school principal, big brother, teacher and mentor, “corporate dishwasher”, ass-kicking disciplinarian,   an absolute leader that leads by example, and then there’s the repertoire of food and cuisine that is constantly growing. (I'm sure that I've missed some but I think that gives you an idea). It’s multi-tasking in the extreme. It is a challenge! It is an adrenaline rush.

   Although I could discuss it at great length I will just mention the artistic and expressive aspects as well. I’m creating daily and constantly.

   I Love mentoring and training,

   “Mentoring is a springboard to help others attain heights greater than you will ever reach”

   What Mentor doesn’t want to see their protégés excel and even exceed their own accomplishments? That in itself is one of the most gratifying accomplishments that I get from my “job”. Kitchen work is definitely “on the job” training, the extensive knowledge and skills cannot be learned from reading a book. I didn’t get to where I am today without the dedication of all the Mentors throughout my career teaching, coaching, mentoring me and even kicking my ass when needed.

   It is an alternative life style.

   This career has afforded me the luxury to travel, extensively, around the world, to live and work in places that people dream about just visiting.

   I could go on and on, (maybe I’ll write a book), but let’s get back to the point. What made me decide to be a Chef? What makes anyone decide to choose any particular path? It is hard to say but as I stated earlier this was not “planned” for me, after working in a kitchen for a few years it appealed to me more and more, enough that it caused me to take that “leap of faith” and leave the path that was set out for me. The unique environment and skill sets needed for the kitchen appealed to my particular nature.

   The only insight that I can give you, and I’m sure that everyone has heard this before, don’t believe what everyone else tells you about what you’re supposed to do, (most of the time they don’t know what they are supposed to do themselves), keep an open mind without drawing too many conclusions prematurely, (this ambiguous statement will become clearer by the end of this article). Don’t be afraid of failing, we all fail sometimes, (myself more so than most), that’s how we learn. 

   In closing I would like to impart an epiphany that I experienced recently that may bring this whole topic into a little sharper focus. It was a typical busy Saturday night "pressure cooker", Full dining room, noisy kitchen, peak of service and my Chef de Partie on the stove yells out to the dishwasher, "Sartenes, sartenes, rapido!!" as he throws his dirty 12" frying pan on a cart with about 40 other pans waiting to be picked up and cleaned. He looks at me, smiles and exclaims, "It's not a job. It's an Adventure!", and carries on flipping the dozen or so frying pans that he has on the stove. I smiled back...

     Now I’m sure that everyone in this business has heard and/or used this expression before, maybe others use it in other professions, I know that I’ve used it, it’s particularly useful directed at a station that is on the verge of “losing it” during the rush, it’s a reminder that NO, this is not just a job, it is a lifestyle, it is a commitment and we’re all in this together, stating this under pressure circumstances is a stress reliever and generally grounds everyone, brings everyone back on track enough to finish the service like professionals.

   Having said that hearing my Sautee Cook say this to me put a smile on my face but it also triggered something in me. I don’t know why it happened on this particular occasion, as I said I’ve heard this many times and spoken it many times but my mind started to race. I worked the "pass" through the peak of service, when the rush was over I went to my office to finish the daily paperwork, the phrase went through my head again, “It’s not a job, it’s an Adventure”, and the flood of thoughts just poured through me. Memories of the highlights of my career right from the very first day I started in this industry as a dishwasher. That very first day when I was handed a pair of hip waders and instructed to go clean the grease trap that hadn’t been cleaned in 2 years; that was an adventure, the mentoring under incredible Chefs, learning new things daily, tasting and cooking new things daily, working my ass off, that was an adventure. Competing, cooking for royalty, dignitaries, heads of state, that was an adventure. The "Philosophy" of the kitchen, that's a real adventure.Taking on greater and greater challenges, my first Chef’s position; opening my own restaurants, the adventure just kept getting more incredible.

   But this “job” offered me so much more, it allowed me to travel the world; traveling and working all across Canada, snorkeling and spearfishing in Bahamas, SCUBA diving, windsurfing in The Caymans, mountain climbing in New Zealand, Sailing in B.V.I. witnessing the Northern Lights in the Arctic, the experience of so many different cultures, people, cuisines, was all an adventure; and it all still is to this day…

   And then the real revelation hit me, that long lost memory which I mentioned earlier surfaced, something that I had forgotten for so many years… Damn! That guidance counsellor and her silly little aptitude test from some 40 years ago. She was absolutely right and that test/survey that she had given me nailed it right on the bull's-eye!  I really am an "Adventurer".

   Why do I love my job?

   It’s an adventure, pure and simple, and it will be until the day I die.

   Having drawn upon Confucius for the title, I would like to finish with something from him as well. 

                   Happy Cooking Everyone!

     (originally published on LinkedIn, July 17, 2015)