1 00:00:00,200 --> 00:00:01,600 Hello chefs. You're listening to chefs 2 00:00:01,600 --> 00:00:04,100 because a podcast I'm your host Entre natera. 3 00:00:04,400 --> 00:00:07,000 On today's episode, we're going to talk about getting past 4 00:00:07,000 --> 00:00:23,000 mental blocks, so stay tuned. So first, let's start with a 5 00:00:23,100 --> 00:00:25,200 simple update from last week, and I'm not going to take too 6 00:00:25,200 --> 00:00:27,400 much time on the update, because I really don't have a lot to 7 00:00:27,400 --> 00:00:33,600 talk about culinary leadership. Fundamentals, audiobook delayed. 8 00:00:33,600 --> 00:00:37,000 So Audible for some reason, says, 10 days. 9 00:00:37,400 --> 00:00:39,500 I did it 10 days ago that's still not ready. 10 00:00:39,500 --> 00:00:42,800 So, I'm not sure if they're behind due to Christmas or 11 00:00:42,800 --> 00:00:45,500 whatever the holidays. But nonetheless, I'm hoping by 12 00:00:45,500 --> 00:00:47,400 next week, the book is out. It should have been out last 13 00:00:47,400 --> 00:00:49,200 week. Anyway, audibles taking a long 14 00:00:49,200 --> 00:00:50,300 time. The book is done. 15 00:00:50,600 --> 00:00:52,800 Aw, The book is done. So it'll it'll be released 16 00:00:52,800 --> 00:00:55,000 shortly. If you missed last week's 17 00:00:55,000 --> 00:00:59,200 episode, I finalized the video course of culinary leadership 18 00:00:59,200 --> 00:01:01,200 fundamentals. It's about, you know, about an 19 00:01:01,200 --> 00:01:05,200 hour and 15 minutes or so, and it's just, it's basically the 20 00:01:05,200 --> 00:01:07,500 things that are in The Culinary leadership fundamentals. 21 00:01:07,500 --> 00:01:10,500 Book, turned into video. For those of you that are video 22 00:01:10,500 --> 00:01:12,300 Learners, you could buy it or you could rent it. 23 00:01:12,300 --> 00:01:14,600 So you know, if you don't if you don't feel like buying and 24 00:01:14,600 --> 00:01:16,000 having it forever you can rent it. 25 00:01:16,000 --> 00:01:20,100 I think for $8 link is in my bio on all my social media 26 00:01:20,100 --> 00:01:22,300 platforms. So, Anyway, those are the 27 00:01:22,300 --> 00:01:26,700 updates today's episode. So I put up a poll last week and 28 00:01:26,700 --> 00:01:28,400 asked the question. What do you what do you want me 29 00:01:28,400 --> 00:01:30,300 to talk about? You want to do, Q&A, you want to 30 00:01:30,300 --> 00:01:33,600 culinary competitions, where you want to talk about, mental, 31 00:01:33,600 --> 00:01:37,300 overcoming, mental obstacles. So, overcoming mental obstacles, 32 00:01:38,000 --> 00:01:41,000 one. You know, by quite a large 33 00:01:41,000 --> 00:01:47,700 margin and I do get a lot of DMS and requests to speak on mental 34 00:01:47,700 --> 00:01:50,500 well-being, mental Wellness obstacles. 35 00:01:50,900 --> 00:01:55,600 And I should say this, right? I am a little bit reluctant to 36 00:01:55,600 --> 00:01:59,200 speak on the subject because, you know, obviously I'm not a, 37 00:01:59,600 --> 00:02:02,400 I'm not a trained, clinical therapist, I shouldn't be giving 38 00:02:02,400 --> 00:02:05,700 out advice and I'm not going to today. 39 00:02:05,700 --> 00:02:08,800 The only thing I'm going to do today is I'm going to tell you 40 00:02:08,800 --> 00:02:11,500 what works for me, right? I can't tell you what to do for 41 00:02:11,500 --> 00:02:13,500 you. I don't even think legally, I 42 00:02:13,500 --> 00:02:14,800 could tell you what to do for you. 43 00:02:15,100 --> 00:02:17,000 But what I can tell you is, I could tell you what I do. 44 00:02:17,100 --> 00:02:21,000 And I can tell you the things that I've done to overcome He 45 00:02:21,000 --> 00:02:24,700 mental roadblocks that I've encountered and really today, 46 00:02:24,700 --> 00:02:26,500 we're going to dive into three different things. 47 00:02:26,500 --> 00:02:30,500 We're going to talk about you know confidence and sometimes 48 00:02:30,500 --> 00:02:32,600 when you're in areas of low confidence, how you could 49 00:02:32,600 --> 00:02:36,100 overcome it, we're going to talk about building a foundation of 50 00:02:36,100 --> 00:02:39,600 getting strong, mental habits. And, and then the third thing, 51 00:02:39,600 --> 00:02:41,900 we're going to talk about is creative block as a chef. 52 00:02:41,900 --> 00:02:44,200 So we're going to talk about all those three things that I'm 53 00:02:44,200 --> 00:02:46,200 going to throw in. Maybe you know, a couple of 54 00:02:46,200 --> 00:02:50,600 anecdotes and stories but I will say this so people that don't 55 00:02:50,600 --> 00:02:52,400 know me. In real life, I'll tell you 56 00:02:52,400 --> 00:02:56,500 something personal about me that you probably don't know is I 57 00:02:56,500 --> 00:03:00,400 have, you know, a very hyperactive mind. 58 00:03:00,400 --> 00:03:03,700 It's it's what has allowed me to create a podcast, right? 59 00:03:03,700 --> 00:03:04,700 Three books. Great. 60 00:03:04,700 --> 00:03:10,000 A video course, start a business without any training, how to do 61 00:03:10,000 --> 00:03:12,100 any of that, right? I'm trained as a chef and all 62 00:03:12,100 --> 00:03:14,700 these other things. I'm a I'm doing by myself and 63 00:03:14,700 --> 00:03:17,500 the reason I'm able to do it is because my mind is typically 64 00:03:17,500 --> 00:03:19,400 running yo thousand miles per hour. 65 00:03:19,400 --> 00:03:23,400 So I share that. With you is because I have a 66 00:03:23,400 --> 00:03:26,900 three-hour morning routine and my 3 our morning routine is all 67 00:03:26,900 --> 00:03:31,700 about compounding. Good habits and really tuning my 68 00:03:31,700 --> 00:03:33,100 brain and so that I could get better. 69 00:03:33,100 --> 00:03:36,400 So my whole life's purpose is just to get better and better 70 00:03:36,400 --> 00:03:39,300 every day and every way like if I don't know, something I want 71 00:03:39,300 --> 00:03:41,000 to learn it and I want to get good at it. 72 00:03:41,200 --> 00:03:48,000 I have an insatiable thirst for knowledge and I read on average, 73 00:03:48,000 --> 00:03:50,400 probably about a book a week, so for people that don't know me. 74 00:03:51,400 --> 00:03:53,800 I probably go through. I think I added this up to the 75 00:03:53,800 --> 00:03:56,700 day. I think I've read like 163 books 76 00:03:57,100 --> 00:04:00,200 and the last, the last two to three years. 77 00:04:00,500 --> 00:04:02,800 Anyway, in three years, I've read 162 books. 78 00:04:02,800 --> 00:04:06,700 Now, I don't know anyone that reads more than me and for those 79 00:04:06,700 --> 00:04:09,000 of you that are listening, if you do read more than me, I'd 80 00:04:09,000 --> 00:04:11,300 love to talk books with you. I read so many books that 81 00:04:11,300 --> 00:04:14,500 sometimes I forget what I've read and the majority of the 82 00:04:14,500 --> 00:04:17,600 books that I do read are not culinary related. 83 00:04:17,600 --> 00:04:21,100 So I give you for example, like Day. 84 00:04:21,100 --> 00:04:24,400 I received a gift. It's Christmas actually. 85 00:04:24,400 --> 00:04:26,700 So if you're listening to this on Christmas, Merry Christmas 86 00:04:26,707 --> 00:04:31,700 book that I received was it's a, it's a book that includes five 87 00:04:31,700 --> 00:04:33,600 books. So, you know, Art of War 88 00:04:33,600 --> 00:04:39,000 daodejing Confucius analects, so I like to read books on 89 00:04:39,000 --> 00:04:44,200 philosophy strategy. I love, I love like Miyamoto 90 00:04:44,200 --> 00:04:46,200 Musashi's book of five rings anyway, these are these are 91 00:04:46,200 --> 00:04:49,300 things that I read. So I don't typically read 92 00:04:49,300 --> 00:04:53,400 cookbooks but I do. Like I do like books that just 93 00:04:53,400 --> 00:04:58,900 kind of changed the way I think and challenged me to think 94 00:04:58,900 --> 00:05:02,100 differently and so there's something called the 95 00:05:02,100 --> 00:05:05,200 dunning-kruger effect and you may be familiar with it and 96 00:05:05,300 --> 00:05:08,400 basically what it means is that the more you learn, the more you 97 00:05:08,400 --> 00:05:13,600 realize you don't know. And I find that to be very true 98 00:05:13,600 --> 00:05:18,000 in life and also as a chef the more you learn as a chef the 99 00:05:18,000 --> 00:05:20,000 more you realize all the things that you don't know. 100 00:05:21,100 --> 00:05:24,000 But when you don't know a lot, you do think, you know, more 101 00:05:24,000 --> 00:05:27,000 than you you should like you're overconfident at the beginning 102 00:05:27,000 --> 00:05:28,300 thinking, you know, more than you do. 103 00:05:28,700 --> 00:05:30,700 And then as you start to learn, you realize, you don't know 104 00:05:30,700 --> 00:05:32,900 anything. And then kind of in the end, you 105 00:05:32,907 --> 00:05:34,800 realize you didn't really need to do anything. 106 00:05:34,800 --> 00:05:36,900 You just need to be good at who you are. 107 00:05:36,900 --> 00:05:38,800 So anyway, neither here nor there. 108 00:05:39,300 --> 00:05:44,800 Let's move forward and dive right into the subject. 109 00:05:44,800 --> 00:05:48,900 So the first thing I want to talk about is kind of already on 110 00:05:48,900 --> 00:05:50,300 the subject is building a strong foundation. 111 00:05:50,300 --> 00:05:57,000 And the way I do it is I like to build a strong foundation on 112 00:05:57,000 --> 00:06:02,100 compounding good habits. Now, what I mean by that is I'll 113 00:06:02,100 --> 00:06:04,100 tell you what I do. So, every day, I play a game of 114 00:06:04,100 --> 00:06:07,100 chess every day. I read, you know, x amount of 115 00:06:07,100 --> 00:06:10,000 pages in a book. Every day I do, Some type of 116 00:06:10,000 --> 00:06:12,100 mindfulness. Practice every day. 117 00:06:12,400 --> 00:06:15,000 I eat the same thing which is a healthy meal. 118 00:06:15,000 --> 00:06:19,100 So, I have all these habits that I've Incorporated in my life 119 00:06:19,500 --> 00:06:21,900 throughout the course of time. And what happens when you 120 00:06:21,900 --> 00:06:25,700 incorporate a good habit, is you start to push out a bad habit. 121 00:06:25,700 --> 00:06:28,700 So if you incorporate I'll give you an example. 122 00:06:28,700 --> 00:06:31,400 If the Habit that you're trying to incorporate as you're going 123 00:06:31,400 --> 00:06:33,900 to drink a glass of water every day and so you put a glass of 124 00:06:33,900 --> 00:06:35,300 water by your bed. First thing in the morning. 125 00:06:35,300 --> 00:06:39,800 You wake up, you drink it. That's going to be a Good habit. 126 00:06:39,800 --> 00:06:42,400 You might be replacing that with a bad habit of, maybe drinking 127 00:06:42,400 --> 00:06:44,800 something that you shouldn't drink or baby, you're staying 128 00:06:44,800 --> 00:06:47,400 hydrated. So, anyway, adding little habits 129 00:06:47,400 --> 00:06:49,400 little by little throughout the course of time will start to 130 00:06:49,407 --> 00:06:51,200 compound. And what you'll start to notice 131 00:06:51,200 --> 00:06:53,500 is the amount of good habits that you have will start to 132 00:06:53,500 --> 00:06:54,800 diminish, the amount of bad habits. 133 00:06:54,800 --> 00:06:59,500 Now, what makes that extremely difficult is that there's always 134 00:06:59,500 --> 00:07:01,100 a little bit of reluctancy to begin. 135 00:07:01,100 --> 00:07:02,300 Good habits. It's difficult. 136 00:07:02,300 --> 00:07:05,600 So, there's something called cognitive dissonance and maybe 137 00:07:05,600 --> 00:07:06,700 you know what that is, maybe you don't. 138 00:07:06,700 --> 00:07:10,200 But I'll explain it to you in a way that that I liked it 139 00:07:10,200 --> 00:07:13,700 explained to me when I first heard of it and that is that 140 00:07:13,700 --> 00:07:16,500 your brain and your body have to be in sync. 141 00:07:16,500 --> 00:07:21,000 So one thing has to override the other, so I'll give you an 142 00:07:21,000 --> 00:07:23,500 example. If you say, I'm going to go work 143 00:07:23,500 --> 00:07:25,800 out today, and you don't go work out. 144 00:07:25,800 --> 00:07:28,100 Or if you say today, I'm going to start my diet and you don't 145 00:07:28,100 --> 00:07:30,200 start your diet. What ends up happening is your 146 00:07:30,200 --> 00:07:31,900 mind starts to rewire and say, okay? 147 00:07:31,900 --> 00:07:33,500 Every time they say, they're going to do something, they 148 00:07:33,500 --> 00:07:34,500 don't. Okay, got it. 149 00:07:34,500 --> 00:07:37,500 So whenever they say that don't do it, so your mind won't give 150 00:07:37,500 --> 00:07:39,600 you the energy to do it. So I thought It was an 151 00:07:39,600 --> 00:07:42,600 interesting way to look at it. And so, one of my mentors 152 00:07:42,600 --> 00:07:46,000 explained to me the way to correct, that would be to 153 00:07:46,000 --> 00:07:50,800 instead of saying these big things that you're not going to 154 00:07:50,808 --> 00:07:53,600 do, is just say, I'm going to put on my shoes today and then 155 00:07:53,600 --> 00:07:55,000 put on your shoes. And then say, okay, now I'm 156 00:07:55,000 --> 00:07:56,500 going to open the door and then you open the door and I'm going 157 00:07:56,500 --> 00:07:58,200 to brush my teeth, and then you go brush your teeth. 158 00:07:58,300 --> 00:08:02,000 So that way your mind starts to retrain itself to say, anytime 159 00:08:02,000 --> 00:08:04,000 you say, you're going to do something, you actually do it. 160 00:08:04,200 --> 00:08:06,800 So, this is what I started doing to myself, to start building on 161 00:08:06,800 --> 00:08:08,700 those things. And I'll tell you throughout the 162 00:08:08,707 --> 00:08:11,100 course of time. Time as I've learned to say, 163 00:08:11,100 --> 00:08:13,000 okay, I'm going to do this and then you do it and then I say 164 00:08:13,000 --> 00:08:15,200 I'm gonna do this and I'm gonna do that you start with very 165 00:08:15,200 --> 00:08:16,900 little things. But what you start to notice is 166 00:08:16,900 --> 00:08:19,800 that your mind will start to push you to bigger things. 167 00:08:19,800 --> 00:08:23,100 So if you say for example, okay, I'm going to do one push-up 168 00:08:23,100 --> 00:08:24,600 today and then tomorrow, you say you're going to do two. 169 00:08:24,600 --> 00:08:26,700 And then after a while your body says okay every time you're 170 00:08:26,700 --> 00:08:29,200 going to do that you actually do it then you say I'm going to do 171 00:08:29,200 --> 00:08:33,100 500 and it's like oh shit. This is this is a real 172 00:08:33,100 --> 00:08:34,500 challenge. Is your body going to give you 173 00:08:34,500 --> 00:08:38,200 the energy and what I've noticed is in my case it does. 174 00:08:38,200 --> 00:08:42,799 So if I said Today I'm going to do 250 push-ups, which I'm not, 175 00:08:42,799 --> 00:08:45,400 but if I said I was going to do that, I would somehow find a way 176 00:08:45,400 --> 00:08:48,000 to do it, right? Your mind starts to give you the 177 00:08:48,000 --> 00:08:51,400 strength to overcome this. Now, all of this ties into 178 00:08:51,400 --> 00:08:53,000 building good habits. And what does this have to do 179 00:08:53,000 --> 00:08:55,500 with the kitchen? Well, because all these good 180 00:08:55,500 --> 00:08:59,500 habits tie into the kitchen, a better version of you is a 181 00:08:59,500 --> 00:09:02,200 better version of you in all things that you do in life. 182 00:09:02,200 --> 00:09:04,900 So, a healthier you as a healthier, you and the kitchen a 183 00:09:04,908 --> 00:09:07,900 healthier you as a healthier? You at home, right? 184 00:09:07,900 --> 00:09:11,200 A healthier you as a happier. You so all these things start to 185 00:09:11,200 --> 00:09:14,300 build and compound and all the other areas of your life. 186 00:09:14,500 --> 00:09:17,800 Like I said, I would start adding little habits day after 187 00:09:17,800 --> 00:09:21,500 day, after day, after day, and before, you know it like in my 188 00:09:21,500 --> 00:09:23,600 case, I have a three-hour morning routine that includes 189 00:09:23,600 --> 00:09:25,800 everything from Reading to playing puzzles, and brain 190 00:09:25,800 --> 00:09:28,800 games, and playing several games of Chess. 191 00:09:28,800 --> 00:09:30,700 I love chest. If, you know me, these are all 192 00:09:30,700 --> 00:09:32,900 little things that make you better weather, whatever it is. 193 00:09:32,900 --> 00:09:35,500 Now, if you could, if you could take that same idea and apply it 194 00:09:35,500 --> 00:09:37,200 to the kitchen, right? It's like every day you're going 195 00:09:37,200 --> 00:09:38,700 to do this every day. I'm going to set up my station a 196 00:09:38,700 --> 00:09:40,200 certain way. Right. 197 00:09:40,800 --> 00:09:45,000 A lot of these foundations that you build on can also be applied 198 00:09:45,000 --> 00:09:47,900 to something called decision fatigue and this is something 199 00:09:47,900 --> 00:09:50,600 that I talk about in my book culinary leadership fundamentals 200 00:09:51,000 --> 00:09:54,200 is that if you can have the majority of your good habits on 201 00:09:54,200 --> 00:09:58,300 autopilot and allows you to save that important decision-making, 202 00:09:58,300 --> 00:10:02,000 energy on the things that really require your mental focus and 203 00:10:02,000 --> 00:10:03,400 attention. So I'll give you an example in 204 00:10:03,408 --> 00:10:05,100 my kitchen. I would say cutting boards are 205 00:10:05,100 --> 00:10:07,300 set up this way. Towels are folded right here. 206 00:10:07,400 --> 00:10:11,200 Utensil beIN goes right here. REM kit goes their knives go 207 00:10:11,200 --> 00:10:13,000 here. And so you didn't have to think 208 00:10:13,000 --> 00:10:15,000 about all those things in the kitchen because everything was 209 00:10:15,000 --> 00:10:17,000 always on autopilot. So, it's repetition. 210 00:10:17,100 --> 00:10:19,000 So, the only thing you really had to think about was the food 211 00:10:19,000 --> 00:10:20,400 that's in front of you like making. 212 00:10:20,500 --> 00:10:23,000 Whatever is in front of you, perfect and delicious and 213 00:10:23,000 --> 00:10:25,100 beautiful. So if you don't have to think 214 00:10:25,100 --> 00:10:27,200 about all these other things like, oh shit, where do I put my 215 00:10:27,200 --> 00:10:28,500 knife? How do I fold my towels? 216 00:10:28,500 --> 00:10:31,200 What color socks do I wear? Today have as many of your 217 00:10:31,200 --> 00:10:35,100 decisions on autopilot so you could save your decision-making 218 00:10:35,100 --> 00:10:38,900 ability in your mental focus on the things that you're doing. 219 00:10:38,900 --> 00:10:42,600 And this is This is something that has helped me tremendously 220 00:10:42,600 --> 00:10:47,500 as having so many things just kind of on the automatic setting 221 00:10:47,700 --> 00:10:49,200 though. That's what I've done, to build 222 00:10:49,200 --> 00:10:54,600 a foundation, and apply it to life, and also apply it to the 223 00:10:54,600 --> 00:10:56,900 kitchen. So anyway, let's move on the 224 00:10:56,900 --> 00:11:00,500 next thing. I want to touch on is confidence 225 00:11:00,500 --> 00:11:03,900 and I'll tell you that, you know, when I was a young cook, I 226 00:11:03,908 --> 00:11:06,900 was I was not very, I was not very confident in the kitchen, 227 00:11:07,300 --> 00:11:10,300 you know, I was 17, 18 years old, most The chefs around me 228 00:11:10,300 --> 00:11:14,100 were men with many years of experience and, you know, back 229 00:11:14,100 --> 00:11:16,300 then. So you know, 27 years ago, when 230 00:11:16,300 --> 00:11:20,200 I first started cooking kitchens were much rougher and so you 231 00:11:20,200 --> 00:11:22,600 could only imagine what it was like for a 17 year old kid to be 232 00:11:22,600 --> 00:11:27,000 around beer Brown chefs and that arrows, it was a difficult time 233 00:11:27,000 --> 00:11:30,100 for me and I didn't have a lot of confidence in what I was 234 00:11:30,100 --> 00:11:33,300 doing and so little by little I started to figure out. 235 00:11:33,300 --> 00:11:35,600 How can I get confidence in something that I used to say? 236 00:11:35,600 --> 00:11:39,300 For me, this is this is that mental trick that I taught. 237 00:11:39,500 --> 00:11:43,500 Self is I would say to myself often on the other side of fear 238 00:11:43,500 --> 00:11:46,900 is greatness and this is like a mantra that I would repeat in my 239 00:11:46,900 --> 00:11:48,200 head. Anytime I would get to something 240 00:11:48,200 --> 00:11:51,000 that I was afraid of whether it was learning a new skill in the 241 00:11:51,000 --> 00:11:54,400 kitchen or maybe doing something that I didn't want to do like, 242 00:11:54,400 --> 00:11:55,900 talking to a guest. I used to be very shy. 243 00:11:55,900 --> 00:11:58,000 I don't like talking to people and say, on the other side of 244 00:11:58,000 --> 00:12:01,700 fear his greatness and that would push me to do all the 245 00:12:01,700 --> 00:12:03,300 things that I was uncomfortable doing. 246 00:12:03,600 --> 00:12:06,900 And what I started to realize is that whenever I would do that, 247 00:12:06,900 --> 00:12:11,600 there really was a breakthrough to move forward. 248 00:12:11,900 --> 00:12:14,800 Right there was greater things on the other side, one side, get 249 00:12:14,800 --> 00:12:17,000 past these things that I was afraid of doing. 250 00:12:17,000 --> 00:12:22,500 So a lot of times these chefs were afraid of looking stupid. 251 00:12:22,500 --> 00:12:24,200 It's what's called like a spotlight effect. 252 00:12:24,200 --> 00:12:26,900 Like you think there's this big Spotlight on you and your 253 00:12:26,900 --> 00:12:29,400 mistakes are over Amplified and everyone sees them, but it's not 254 00:12:29,400 --> 00:12:31,200 the case. A lot of people really are not 255 00:12:31,200 --> 00:12:33,900 that many people are really paying attention to you as much 256 00:12:33,900 --> 00:12:36,900 as you think. But this Spotlight effect 257 00:12:37,600 --> 00:12:40,000 prevents you from doing things because you might Be afraid to 258 00:12:40,000 --> 00:12:42,400 lose. What I would do is I would, I 259 00:12:42,400 --> 00:12:45,900 would throw myself in situations where I probably would lose and 260 00:12:45,900 --> 00:12:49,900 I would probably fail. And I would do that to push 261 00:12:49,900 --> 00:12:55,600 myself and encourage myself to get better and get over the 262 00:12:55,600 --> 00:12:56,900 fear. So, what I like to call fear 263 00:12:56,900 --> 00:12:59,600 inoculation, I would just push myself a little bit further and 264 00:12:59,608 --> 00:13:02,600 a little bit further and a little bit further, and that's 265 00:13:02,600 --> 00:13:05,600 really what made me better. And I've said this before, like, 266 00:13:06,200 --> 00:13:08,700 if you play video games, it's like the game is more 267 00:13:08,700 --> 00:13:11,000 satisfying. Sighing, when you beat it on 268 00:13:11,000 --> 00:13:13,200 hard mode, then it is on easy mode. 269 00:13:13,200 --> 00:13:16,500 So I would always ratchet things up little by little like a 270 00:13:16,500 --> 00:13:18,300 sliding scale. Like, okay, how can we make it a 271 00:13:18,300 --> 00:13:20,500 little bit harder? If I'm dicing tomatoes, and I 272 00:13:20,500 --> 00:13:24,300 finish case of tomatoes and 30 minutes, can I finish it in 25? 273 00:13:24,600 --> 00:13:27,200 But quality and time was always a metric. 274 00:13:27,200 --> 00:13:30,100 So I was not only improving trying to improve my skills in 275 00:13:30,100 --> 00:13:34,400 quality but also in time. So I would also challenge 276 00:13:34,400 --> 00:13:36,600 people, you know, you still have my culinary decathlon and 277 00:13:36,600 --> 00:13:39,300 kitchens that I would run into, you know, be a list of skills. 278 00:13:40,000 --> 00:13:43,000 And I was always up for a challenge, so a cook come up, to 279 00:13:43,000 --> 00:13:45,000 me and say, okay, I'm going to erase you and cleaning 280 00:13:45,000 --> 00:13:48,000 pineapples and I say sure or Butcher and a salmon or whatever 281 00:13:48,000 --> 00:13:50,000 the case may be, who could butcher it fast and who could 282 00:13:50,100 --> 00:13:53,000 most properly, and whoever did the best would win. 283 00:13:53,000 --> 00:13:54,500 And, you know, their name would go on the board. 284 00:13:54,500 --> 00:13:57,900 And some, you know, I didn't win all of them obviously, and I 285 00:13:57,908 --> 00:14:01,000 didn't mind losing and I did that because one it was good for 286 00:14:01,000 --> 00:14:02,700 the person that was beating me, you know, they built a 287 00:14:02,708 --> 00:14:07,500 conference in confidence up, but to it helped me eliminate that 288 00:14:07,500 --> 00:14:09,500 fear of failure and getting over the fear. 289 00:14:09,600 --> 00:14:12,000 Fear of failure is really what? Holds a lot of people back. 290 00:14:12,000 --> 00:14:16,600 You can't be afraid to to lose because losing prevents you from 291 00:14:16,600 --> 00:14:18,600 playing the game. And if you're not playing the 292 00:14:18,600 --> 00:14:21,600 game, you're never going to win. So, being able to play the game, 293 00:14:21,600 --> 00:14:24,100 at least you have a chance at winning right. 294 00:14:24,100 --> 00:14:27,200 Little by little start pushing yourself, you know, like I said, 295 00:14:27,200 --> 00:14:30,100 fear, not chelation. I'll tell you all the story and 296 00:14:31,300 --> 00:14:33,900 not many people know this, but I was in the United States memory 297 00:14:33,900 --> 00:14:38,800 championships, couple of years back put on by MIT and they 298 00:14:38,800 --> 00:14:40,700 reached out to me. They said, you want to do this 299 00:14:40,700 --> 00:14:44,800 and it's because I do these these brain games and have a 300 00:14:44,800 --> 00:14:47,200 relatively high score. So they reached out to me and 301 00:14:47,200 --> 00:14:49,300 said, you know, based on your scores, you qualify as a 302 00:14:49,300 --> 00:14:55,200 candidate to be in the MIT us memory or maybe it was the world 303 00:14:55,200 --> 00:14:57,300 memory championships. Oddly enough, I can't remember 304 00:14:57,300 --> 00:14:59,800 ironic. But anyway, I got in there was 305 00:14:59,800 --> 00:15:03,300 200 competitors and I was like, yeah, I'll do it. 306 00:15:03,300 --> 00:15:05,300 I mean, I don't know anyone that's been in the memory 307 00:15:05,300 --> 00:15:08,100 championships so I did it and out of 200 competitors that came 308 00:15:08,100 --> 00:15:11,700 in 8th, which Which I thought was funny is like I'd ever done 309 00:15:11,700 --> 00:15:13,100 it. I didn't even really trained for 310 00:15:13,100 --> 00:15:18,100 it but I placed 8th because I was unafraid of competing and 311 00:15:18,500 --> 00:15:20,800 the reason I share that is because it's a stupid story. 312 00:15:20,800 --> 00:15:23,800 It has nothing to do with cooking but it just goes to show 313 00:15:23,800 --> 00:15:27,900 you that you know, if you have the confidence to do something 314 00:15:27,900 --> 00:15:32,200 and you're not afraid of of failure that there's some great 315 00:15:32,200 --> 00:15:34,900 life experiences and there's some great things that can be 316 00:15:34,900 --> 00:15:38,300 had once you get past any fears and limitations that you've put 317 00:15:38,300 --> 00:15:39,800 on yourself. And I got to say it all The 318 00:15:39,800 --> 00:15:43,200 fears and everything. That's preventing you, as you 319 00:15:43,300 --> 00:15:46,400 write all your limitations are self-induced, the more you start 320 00:15:46,400 --> 00:15:50,000 to get past them, the more, you'll start to get past these, 321 00:15:50,100 --> 00:15:54,600 these mental obstacles. So, anyway, I'm going to take a 322 00:15:54,700 --> 00:15:57,000 quick moment and share a story with you. 323 00:15:57,000 --> 00:16:02,900 Also, this is something that a friend of mine had told me. 324 00:16:02,908 --> 00:16:06,800 It was a story and I thought it was very valuable. 325 00:16:06,800 --> 00:16:09,500 So I'm going to change the story up a little bit to make it more. 326 00:16:09,600 --> 00:16:14,900 Applicable to our industry and you some current example. 327 00:16:14,900 --> 00:16:19,400 So if you're familiar with like the Marvel Cinematic Universe or 328 00:16:19,900 --> 00:16:21,900 DC, DC movies, right now superhero. 329 00:16:21,900 --> 00:16:25,000 Movies like they have this Multiverse where where there's a 330 00:16:25,000 --> 00:16:28,900 different version of a person in every single universe and 331 00:16:28,900 --> 00:16:31,700 there's an infinite amount of universes out there. 332 00:16:31,800 --> 00:16:34,700 Now, if you could, if you could just bear with me for a moment, 333 00:16:34,700 --> 00:16:40,700 if you could imagine that it one of these universes, there's Apex 334 00:16:40,700 --> 00:16:44,900 version of you in that Universe. There is the best version of you 335 00:16:44,900 --> 00:16:47,600 in that Universe. This person is extremely 336 00:16:47,600 --> 00:16:50,200 successful. They're the most successful. 337 00:16:50,200 --> 00:16:51,600 You could be him. They're rich. 338 00:16:52,000 --> 00:16:56,500 They're worshiped, their have a lot of money or whatever. 339 00:16:56,500 --> 00:16:58,800 Whatever, you deem successful. You know, maybe that's what I 340 00:16:58,808 --> 00:17:01,400 deem successful, but whatever it is that you deem successful. 341 00:17:01,400 --> 00:17:02,900 Maybe they're the best chef in the world and they have the 342 00:17:02,908 --> 00:17:05,200 number one restaurant or they have a restaurant Empire. 343 00:17:05,200 --> 00:17:07,000 Whatever there is a version of you. 344 00:17:07,000 --> 00:17:10,599 In this alternate universe that always makes the right 345 00:17:10,599 --> 00:17:13,800 decisions. Always does their best works out 346 00:17:13,800 --> 00:17:15,900 every single day. Only eats healthy, right? 347 00:17:15,900 --> 00:17:20,400 This person, this Apex version of you exists in an alternate 348 00:17:20,900 --> 00:17:23,300 universe. Now whenever you're faced with 349 00:17:23,300 --> 00:17:27,800 difficulty, You have to stop and ask yourself, what would the 350 00:17:27,800 --> 00:17:31,700 Apex version of you do in this situation, right? 351 00:17:32,400 --> 00:17:35,400 When you're afraid, I'm too afraid to enter this 352 00:17:35,400 --> 00:17:37,100 competition, because I might lose. 353 00:17:37,100 --> 00:17:40,900 What would the Apex version of you say, when you say, I'm not 354 00:17:40,900 --> 00:17:43,000 good enough to work in that restaurant? 355 00:17:43,000 --> 00:17:44,900 What would the Apex version of you say to you? 356 00:17:45,200 --> 00:17:48,600 When you say, I'm not good enough for this position? 357 00:17:48,900 --> 00:17:52,300 What would that person say to you right when that person says 358 00:17:53,100 --> 00:17:55,700 I'm too tired to go to the gym, I'm too tired to eat, healthy 359 00:17:55,700 --> 00:17:59,300 food, whatever the case may be, what would that Apex version of 360 00:17:59,300 --> 00:18:01,200 you? And this other Universe, say, to 361 00:18:01,200 --> 00:18:03,900 you, when you have those situations arise, what would 362 00:18:03,900 --> 00:18:06,700 they say, right? And normally, they're going to 363 00:18:06,700 --> 00:18:09,700 say, don't make excuses, just do it, right? 364 00:18:09,700 --> 00:18:11,800 The reality is that's what the best version of you. 365 00:18:11,808 --> 00:18:13,700 That exists is going to say they're going to tell you be 366 00:18:13,700 --> 00:18:16,700 unafraid and do it. And when you start to realize 367 00:18:16,700 --> 00:18:19,800 that the only thing that's holding you back is you, then 368 00:18:19,800 --> 00:18:22,400 you start to be unafraid and get past these things, that may be 369 00:18:22,400 --> 00:18:23,200 holding. You back. 370 00:18:23,200 --> 00:18:25,600 So confidence is a big thing that holds people back. 371 00:18:25,600 --> 00:18:30,200 This is a mental block that we have and, you know, kind of on 372 00:18:30,200 --> 00:18:37,600 the last subject I want to talk about is creative block and I 373 00:18:37,700 --> 00:18:40,200 and one of the podcast previously that I recorded 374 00:18:40,200 --> 00:18:43,600 called techniques versus creativity. 375 00:18:43,800 --> 00:18:46,500 I go through a creative exercise on how I would come up with a 376 00:18:46,508 --> 00:18:50,600 menu and things that I would do. So I I'll share it with you 377 00:18:50,600 --> 00:18:52,700 again and I'll try and make it brief, but I set up different. 378 00:18:52,800 --> 00:18:54,200 Anchors. So what an anchor is it's 379 00:18:54,200 --> 00:18:56,400 basically a reminder of the moment, right? 380 00:18:56,400 --> 00:18:59,100 So when you hear a song and it takes you back to a certain 381 00:18:59,100 --> 00:19:01,300 place and time where you smell something and it takes you back 382 00:19:01,300 --> 00:19:04,100 to a certain place and time or taste etcetera, those are called 383 00:19:04,100 --> 00:19:05,800 anchors. So, what I want to do, when I 384 00:19:05,800 --> 00:19:08,400 get need to get into a creative mindset, is I put as many of 385 00:19:08,400 --> 00:19:10,000 those creative anchors around me. 386 00:19:10,000 --> 00:19:13,400 So in my case, I'm listening to classical music, I'm drinking a 387 00:19:13,400 --> 00:19:17,300 cup of green tea, I might be chewing some mint gum and then I 388 00:19:17,400 --> 00:19:19,300 smell these things called boom, boom sticks. 389 00:19:19,300 --> 00:19:21,800 And they're like, they look like lip gloss and they smell like 390 00:19:23,000 --> 00:19:25,400 Peppermint or whatever. So all those things are going. 391 00:19:25,600 --> 00:19:29,400 I'm going to silent room and I'm either writing or I'm typing out 392 00:19:29,500 --> 00:19:32,000 items that I want on my menu. And I know when all those things 393 00:19:32,000 --> 00:19:34,000 are happening it's like it anchors me to put me in that, 394 00:19:34,000 --> 00:19:36,600 creative mind frame, right? So that's one thing, I do. 395 00:19:36,800 --> 00:19:39,800 Another creative exercise that I do to get past mental block. 396 00:19:39,800 --> 00:19:42,400 And I shared a video on this on, on Chefs, PSA. 397 00:19:42,800 --> 00:19:48,200 Instagram feed, is that I will sometimes, let's say, I need to 398 00:19:48,200 --> 00:19:50,400 change a menu and I'm kind of stuck with coming up with menu 399 00:19:50,400 --> 00:19:53,400 ideas, I'll start every day, just like Okay, let me come up 400 00:19:53,400 --> 00:19:56,100 with 10 menu ideas today and then tomorrow 10:00 and I'll do 401 00:19:56,100 --> 00:19:58,900 that for 30 days. And at the end of the 30 days, 402 00:19:58,900 --> 00:20:02,000 I'll have a journal of 300 menu ideas, right? 403 00:20:02,000 --> 00:20:04,800 But I could pull from whenever. Now, what you'll notice when you 404 00:20:04,800 --> 00:20:10,100 do something like this, is that maybe the first couple of days, 405 00:20:10,100 --> 00:20:12,500 it's easy, or maybe the first couple of days is harsh. 406 00:20:12,500 --> 00:20:16,200 But, but anyway, by case, the first couple of days are easy, 407 00:20:16,300 --> 00:20:20,900 and then it gets extremely difficult once you get past all 408 00:20:20,900 --> 00:20:23,700 the low-hanging fruit, like all the easy You're there and then 409 00:20:23,700 --> 00:20:26,900 once you get past that then it becomes easy again. 410 00:20:26,900 --> 00:20:29,000 And that's when the true creativity comes in. 411 00:20:29,200 --> 00:20:32,000 Now you could do this with a group, let's say you have five 412 00:20:32,000 --> 00:20:34,100 chefs working on your team, you could assign everyone ten 413 00:20:34,100 --> 00:20:36,100 dishes, and then when they all come back together, you'll have 414 00:20:36,100 --> 00:20:38,900 50. So you can see how this works to 415 00:20:39,700 --> 00:20:43,400 amplify your creativity. So I highly recommend you do 416 00:20:43,400 --> 00:20:48,500 that, and then one last creative exercise that I do for myself 417 00:20:48,700 --> 00:20:52,200 when I'm writing menus, when I have writer's block, or creative 418 00:20:52,200 --> 00:20:55,900 block, What it would be like when you're in a kitchen and 419 00:20:55,900 --> 00:20:58,100 you're in a chef, sometimes you have limitations placed on you 420 00:20:58,100 --> 00:20:59,700 that are very real. By the way, these aren't 421 00:20:59,700 --> 00:21:01,300 imaginary limitations, they're very real. 422 00:21:01,300 --> 00:21:04,800 Like, the stove doesn't work or the guard monge cook, doesn't 423 00:21:04,800 --> 00:21:08,100 have any experience, they there. It's very difficult for them to 424 00:21:08,100 --> 00:21:09,600 get food out or whatever the case may be. 425 00:21:09,600 --> 00:21:13,000 So you when you write a menu you say oh I can't do that. 426 00:21:13,000 --> 00:21:15,200 I can't put that on the menu. I can my oven doesn't work. 427 00:21:15,200 --> 00:21:17,000 Anyway. You have all these excuses of 428 00:21:17,000 --> 00:21:20,800 all the things that you can't put on the menu and it stifles 429 00:21:20,800 --> 00:21:23,100 your creativity. So something that I've done And 430 00:21:23,400 --> 00:21:26,200 when I caught myself doing that, as I put myself in a frame of 431 00:21:26,200 --> 00:21:30,100 mind, I said, okay, imagine that you're in the best designed 432 00:21:30,100 --> 00:21:33,200 kitchen with all the equipment, and everything works, with an 433 00:21:33,200 --> 00:21:36,100 infinite amount of money and infinite amount of ingredients 434 00:21:36,100 --> 00:21:39,500 and resources and the best cooks in the in the kitchen and you're 435 00:21:39,500 --> 00:21:41,900 never short staffed. Now, you need to write a menu 436 00:21:41,900 --> 00:21:44,100 that impresses based on whatever parameters you've given 437 00:21:44,100 --> 00:21:47,100 yourself, write it, right? And when you have no limitations 438 00:21:47,500 --> 00:21:51,100 and money is No, Object and resources are no object and you 439 00:21:51,100 --> 00:21:52,500 write that menu, okay? Good. 440 00:21:52,700 --> 00:21:55,400 Now you've written that menu, then you could look at that menu 441 00:21:55,400 --> 00:21:58,300 and say, okay, now pair it back a little bit based on your 442 00:21:58,300 --> 00:22:01,900 limitations and what you'll end up with in my case, in most 443 00:22:01,900 --> 00:22:06,200 cases you'll end up with a menu that is more creative and 444 00:22:06,200 --> 00:22:08,300 pushing a little further than you would have when you 445 00:22:08,300 --> 00:22:11,100 originally started. So again, that's another 446 00:22:11,600 --> 00:22:16,400 creative exercise that I like, and that I use. 447 00:22:17,500 --> 00:22:21,900 But anyway, wrapping it up. I know a lot of people have 448 00:22:21,900 --> 00:22:26,600 asked me lately How do you, how do you deal with the stress and 449 00:22:26,600 --> 00:22:30,300 the fatigue of the kitchen and difficult times? 450 00:22:31,300 --> 00:22:33,600 And I will say that doing all these things, right? 451 00:22:33,600 --> 00:22:38,800 So, so having confidence building a foundation of good 452 00:22:38,800 --> 00:22:42,100 habits, all these things are going to help you with the other 453 00:22:42,100 --> 00:22:43,400 things. Because when you have 454 00:22:43,400 --> 00:22:47,100 confidence, you're able to go to your boss and say I need a raise 455 00:22:47,100 --> 00:22:50,000 your able to go to your boss and say I need days off when you 456 00:22:50,000 --> 00:22:53,100 have the confidence to speak up and like I I said you got to 457 00:22:53,100 --> 00:22:54,600 build it. It's none of these things are 458 00:22:54,600 --> 00:22:56,700 easy, right? All of their like, there's not a 459 00:22:56,700 --> 00:22:58,700 Panacea that I could just say, do this and it fixes all your 460 00:22:58,700 --> 00:23:00,300 problems. No, all everything that I said, 461 00:23:01,300 --> 00:23:04,200 requires work and effort, but doing all these things, building 462 00:23:04,200 --> 00:23:07,100 the confidence, having a strong Foundation of good habits that 463 00:23:07,100 --> 00:23:09,300 you've put in place in your life, eating, right? 464 00:23:09,300 --> 00:23:13,300 Having a mindfulness, practice spending quality time with loved 465 00:23:13,300 --> 00:23:14,400 ones. Getting enough sleep. 466 00:23:14,400 --> 00:23:17,400 Like, they're all the things that all the cliche answers that 467 00:23:17,400 --> 00:23:20,500 people tell you, right? That's, that's really it, like 468 00:23:21,000 --> 00:23:23,000 it's quite easy, you know, What to do. 469 00:23:23,000 --> 00:23:25,000 I'm not going to tell you anything that you don't know, 470 00:23:25,200 --> 00:23:27,900 you know, the right thing to do. You just have to do it doing it 471 00:23:27,900 --> 00:23:30,800 as a whole other thing, right? So when someone says, oh, you 472 00:23:30,800 --> 00:23:33,000 know, I need to, I need to get healthy. 473 00:23:33,000 --> 00:23:34,900 I don't know what to do was like, well, stop eating junk 474 00:23:34,900 --> 00:23:37,900 food, right? Easier said than done, but you 475 00:23:37,900 --> 00:23:40,400 could say little by little you could stop eating junk food like 476 00:23:40,400 --> 00:23:42,900 let's just cut out soda. And then next week let's cut out 477 00:23:42,900 --> 00:23:45,200 chips or whatever. The case may be to disconnect 478 00:23:45,200 --> 00:23:47,400 from work, sometimes put your phone down. 479 00:23:47,400 --> 00:23:50,400 Stop looking at social media, talk to your loved ones. 480 00:23:50,400 --> 00:23:55,100 Check out, establish boundaries And all of these things combined 481 00:23:55,400 --> 00:23:59,000 have helped me significantly. And now I can't sit here and say 482 00:23:59,400 --> 00:24:02,100 that I'm an expert at it, like I said, this is, this is a reason 483 00:24:02,100 --> 00:24:04,800 why I haven't really spoken on the subject too much because I 484 00:24:04,800 --> 00:24:09,600 don't like speaking about things that I'm not as knowledgeable in 485 00:24:09,600 --> 00:24:12,800 things that if it's a puzzle that I haven't solved, I don't 486 00:24:12,800 --> 00:24:14,900 think I'm in a place of authority to speak about it, 487 00:24:14,900 --> 00:24:17,500 right? So if I don't have an answer, 488 00:24:17,500 --> 00:24:20,600 there's no point in me talking about I like to focus on Real 489 00:24:20,600 --> 00:24:22,500 World Experience on things that I've actually done. 490 00:24:22,700 --> 00:24:25,900 I could speak knowledgeable on, but if I, if I haven't solved 491 00:24:25,900 --> 00:24:28,900 the issue, if I haven't figured out how to stop eating junk 492 00:24:28,900 --> 00:24:31,700 food, I can't sit up here and tell you it's easy to start 493 00:24:31,700 --> 00:24:34,200 doing this, right? It's like taking advice from a 494 00:24:34,200 --> 00:24:36,900 poor person on how to get rich. The old expression is don't 495 00:24:36,900 --> 00:24:39,200 take, don't take Financial advice from a poor person 496 00:24:39,200 --> 00:24:40,800 because they can't explain that to you. 497 00:24:42,100 --> 00:24:45,500 And so that I kind of apply by that that same philosophy is 498 00:24:45,500 --> 00:24:47,900 like I can't be giving advice on things that I haven't figured 499 00:24:47,900 --> 00:24:51,000 out or don't understand. So I hope you all understand 500 00:24:51,000 --> 00:24:52,400 that. That sometimes there's a reason 501 00:24:52,400 --> 00:24:53,500 why. I don't speak on certain 502 00:24:53,500 --> 00:24:56,200 subjects is because I just am not knowledgeable enough to 503 00:24:56,200 --> 00:25:00,200 speak on them. Now, hopefully, this, this 504 00:25:00,200 --> 00:25:04,300 episode on mental blocks. It might, it might not help all 505 00:25:04,300 --> 00:25:05,800 of you. Like I said, this, this one 506 00:25:05,800 --> 00:25:09,100 might be a little bit far off from the typical chefs. 507 00:25:09,100 --> 00:25:11,800 PS a podcast and it might not help all of you but hopefully 508 00:25:11,800 --> 00:25:13,300 some of you got something from it. 509 00:25:13,700 --> 00:25:16,600 And like I said, if I just help one person than it was worth it, 510 00:25:16,600 --> 00:25:18,300 right? If one of you got better from 511 00:25:18,300 --> 00:25:20,200 it, great then mission accomplished. 512 00:25:21,000 --> 00:25:25,200 But anyway, If you like episodes in this style of me speaking on 513 00:25:25,200 --> 00:25:28,100 subjects that are not so specific to the kitchen, please 514 00:25:28,100 --> 00:25:30,200 let me know. And if you want to support the 515 00:25:30,200 --> 00:25:33,300 show obviously the easiest thing you could do is subscribe and 516 00:25:33,300 --> 00:25:34,600 leave. Five stars, always leave five 517 00:25:34,600 --> 00:25:35,800 stars. If you haven't yet, stop what 518 00:25:35,800 --> 00:25:36,900 you're doing? Leave five stars. 519 00:25:37,100 --> 00:25:38,900 This five-star podcast, anything less than that. 520 00:25:38,900 --> 00:25:42,100 Don't leave it. Put on someone else's go to Chef 521 00:25:42,100 --> 00:25:44,500 cbsla.com. You could get the books culinary 522 00:25:44,500 --> 00:25:47,200 leadership. Fundamentals line, cook survival 523 00:25:47,200 --> 00:25:48,600 manual. How not to be the biggest city 524 00:25:48,600 --> 00:25:51,300 in the kitchen online video courses there, too. 525 00:25:51,500 --> 00:25:55,600 We have Go get it anyway. Thank you all, appreciate it. 526 00:25:55,600 --> 00:25:57,500 See you next week, hit the porno music.