Tag: rene redzepi

Two of world’s best chefs have tea: Jiro Ono and Rene Redzepi

I already shared this before, but I love the video and conversation so much that I rewatched it and took notes again.

Rene Redzepi and Jiro have a cup of tea

If you start saying “I don’t like this” or “this isn’t the job for me” you won’t become an expert in anything

If you don’t learn to love your work and remind your brain to make new steps every day, there can be no progress

How does he balance tradition and innovation
Innovation is good if what it creates is tastier than what existed before
If you are doing something new, it has to be an improvement on what came before

When did Jiro san feel he was a master?
Let’s say it’s 50. There is a lot of failure before that. You go through failures and success and more failures for years until it feels like you have achieved what you had in mind the whole time

Did he ever wanna stop?
No. Never. I never considered that question. The only question was, “How can I get better?”
Son: “I have been working at this for 37 years and I still feel I have only achieved half of what my father has. I am always chasing my father. Sometimes I feel like I am getting closer, but then I remember just how far I have to go”

I didn’t think to myself that I didn’t want to lose. I told myself that I wanted to overtake the others.

I can work. That’s the first and most important thing. I can work. After that, it’s especially great if you enjoy what you do.

The person who has hit 60 or 70 and has achieved what they originally set out to do will never say “That’s enough”. They’ll keep looking for the next step, the next goal. I can assure you. Human are like that. When you have achieved something or begun to have a sense of accomplishment, you’re not going to say “This is enough”. You think about how you can challenge yourself in a new way

But from that struggle you can be bold and improve

If you aren’t a strong willed person, you can’t get to this. (Son: And you are sensitive, too). Both have to be there to become like this. See, the person who is recognized by the whole world wouldn’t ever quit so easily. They have so much skill. That’s why they have garnered so much attention.

Your Personal Bible: making a handbook of your most treasured text

Since publishing the below post I’ve finished and shared mine publicly. You can read about and download the file here

Your Personal Bible

I’ve come to really value the process of reading the same content over and over and over, until I feel that I know it inside and out like a favorite song or an old sweatshirt. It’s a habit I’ve grown to enjoy and I think it has many uses. Today I want to take the concept a step further and share the idea of building your own Personal Bible.

The Judeo-Christian Bible, from my perspective, is a set of stories and lessons that have not only survived but thrived for millenia. It is both a historical document (who, what, when, where) and a doctrinal one (how you should live, and why). Believers read the Bible weekly if not daily, both silently and out loud, in private and within groups. For many centuries, the Bible was a growing, changing document to which its authors added and removed, edited and curated.

A few weeks ago I began to build my own such “bible”, by collecting my favorite texts from blog posts, books, poems, notes, and the like. (I mean no offense to Christians or anyone who may be put off by a perceived misuse of the word)

My goal for this Personal Bible is to have a handbook of the most inspiring, powerful, and interesting content I’ve experienced. Something I can read every day or as often as possible, a resource I can turn to when facing important decisions or tough emotional times. Together, they represent the ideas and beliefs and insights that I want to remember forever, concepts that I want to become a concrete part of my daily life.

Here are some examples of content that I’ve included in mine:

  • Richard Hamming: You and Your Research [link]
  • Paul Graham: How to do what you love [link]
  • David Brooks: The Heart Grows Smarter [link]
  • Paul Buchheit: Applied Philosophy, a.k.a. “Hacking” [link]
  • Robert Greene’s 48 Laws of Power [Kindle]
  • Steve Pavlina: Broadcast Your Desires [link]
  • 38 insights from Alain de Botton [link]
  • The Scott Adams happiness formula [link]
  • Jiro and Rene Redzepi have a cup of tea [link]
  • Derek Sivers: Hell Yeah or No [link]
  • Patrick McKenzie: Don’t End The Week With Nothing [link]
  • George Saunders advice to graduates [link]
  • Jure Robic and “That Which Does Not Kill Me Makes Me Stranger” [link]
  • The BVP Anti-Portfolio [link]

When I struggle to commit to a project or path, I read about Jure Robic and how he pushes his mind to near insanity. When I want to be more effective with my time and efforts, I read Richard Hamming’s advice on how to do great work. And so on.

(please note: for most of the above content, I do not include the full text in my bible, but rather my notes and select quotes and excerpts that I pull from the pieces)

And within this document I also include a few of my favorite poems, such as:

The Man Watching by Rainer Maria Rilke

I can tell by the way the trees beat, after
so many dull days, on my worried windowpanes
that a storm is coming,
and I hear the far-off fields say things
I can’t bear without a friend,
I can’t love without a sister.

The storm, the shifter of shapes, drives on
across the woods and across time, and the world looks as if it had no age:
the landscape, like a line in the psalm book,
is seriousness and weight and eternity

What we choose to fight is so tiny!
What fights with us is so great.
If only we would let ourselves be dominated as things do by some immense storm,
we would become strong too, and not need names.

When we win it’s with small things,
and the triumph itself makes us small.
What is extraordinary and eternal does not want to be bent by us.
I mean the Angel who appeared to the wrestlers of the Old Testament:
when the wrestlers’ sinews
grew long like metal strings
he felt them under his fingers
like chords of deep music

Whoever was beaten by this Angel
(who often simply declined to fight)
went away proud and strengthened
and great from that harsh hand,
that kneaded him as if to change his shape.
Winning does not tempt that man.
This is how he grows: by being defeated, decisively,
by constantly greater beings.

Alain de Botton said something like, we are already far better read than the great Greek philosophers of old, yet we are still think we’re not well-read enough. We hunger for the new. Instead, why not spend our limited time to really understand and know deep within our soul the great stuff we’ve already enjoyed?

World famous chefs Rene Redzepi and Jiro Ono on habits: “The people who are truly at the top won’t say they want to retire after they are 70 or 80. They just fasten their belts after that.”

Jiro and Rene run Michelin-starred restaurants and are among the most respected chefs in the world. For twelve minutes they drink tea and talk about mastery. I wanted to share parts of their conversation. You can tell both chefs have built great habits of hard work and good attitude and pushing, always pushing.

Jiro: If you start saying “I don’t like this” or “this isn’t the job for me” you won’t become an expert in anything

Rene: When did you feel like you were finally a master?
Jiro: 50.

Rene: Did [you] ever want to stop?
Jiro: No. Never. I never considered that question. The only question was, “how can I get better?”

Rene: What makes you happiest?
Jiro: I can work. That’s the first and most important thing. I can work. After that, it’s especially great if you enjoy what you do.

Jiro: If you don’t learn to love your work and remind your brain to make new steps every day, there can be no progress.

Jiro: [on Rene] You are stubborn, right? If you aren’t a strong willed person, you can’t get to this. And you are sensitive, too. Both have to be there to become like this.

Jiro: The people who are truly at the top won’t say they want to retire after they are 70 or 80. They just fasten their belts after that.

Two masters discussing what they do best. A highly recommended video. 12 minutes long. Simply filmed, well executed.