Today, while playing for the Art Institute of Seattle's graduation I had the pleasure of meeting Chef Tom Douglas. If you're from Seattle and you've not heard of him you've been living under a culinary rock for the last 20 years. Award winning Chef Douglas has raised Seattle's world food notoriety with his great restaurants Etta's, Palace Kitchen, and Dahlia lounge, as well as his cookbooks.
Chef Douglas was the guest speaker for the graduation which included culinary students under the tutelage of Chef Ian Mackay, who coincidentally is the son of long time Seattle bagpipe instructor Don Mackay. It is indeed a small world.
His speech focused on the question "What Is Success?" Broadly, his definition is that we are successful when we give ourselves options. Any time in my life I felt stuck, or in a rut, I certainly felt only frustration, not success, so this made sense to me. He also said we need to work as hard, if employed by someone else, as we would for ourselves. Well, I didn't always do that but sure could've convinced you, and my boss, that I did.
Chef Douglas also said it's important to give back to the community, with which I heartily agree. He said it's an obligation, not an option. Too many people are only looking for what they can get, not what they have to give to others who have less. I've blogged on this before, scroll down and read more....
But what I really took away is that like Chef Douglas, I've found an occupation, if you can really call it that, that is infinitely satisfying to me. I'm following my bliss, as Joseph Campbell put it. And as such, it ceases to be "work". I have more self-satisfaction and flexibility than at any other time in my work life. In these difficult economic times I'm not at the mercy of one employer who, like multi-national BMG, laid me off in 2003 due to declining music sales.
Instead my livelihood flows to me from limitless sources, evidence that my options are wide open.
