Should You Follow Your Passion?

This week, I talk about the commonly given poor advice of following your passion. I speak to my own experience from shifting from corporate life to cooking and then back..ish.

The Sponsor I Wish I Had is Underwood Bubbles – a vineyard that among other things, produces bubbly in a can – great for outdoor events and affordable. @unionwinecompany

I also discuss an alternate route to ‘following your passion’ – what do you like about your passion? Why do you like your passion? Answering those questions might be the key to unlocking your next career move…or first career move. 

The Just The Tip segment today is all about using frozen foods to amp up your next smoothie instead of ice. Also, avocado in a smoothie = greatest texture of your life. 

For the Whisper In, it’s none other than Trevor’s Liquor in Scottsdale – you’ve got to hear this to believe it. @trevorsliquior 

Music by purple-planet.com
music by Wondershare Filmora 12

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@saturdayisdadurdaymedia on IG
@Saturdayisdadurdaymedia on YouTube

Transcript

Holy shit. Did I follow some bad advice?
Hello, welcome into the story lesson advice podcast. Thanks for giving us a listen. Do not forget to check out the website Sid media dotnet that is up and running. I've got all the podcasts links there, blog posts, I have three or four blog posts going right now, all the YouTube video links are there as well. We also have a YouTube page. Saturday is Saturday media search for that on YouTube, you'll find it and if you enjoy this podcast, consider giving it a follow consider sharing, and podcast with friends, family, anyone else you so choose. Alright, so I said Holy shit, did I get follow some bad advice. So here is the story of that. I graduated college in 2003. And did what most people did, which was I took the first job that I could hopefully that was somewhat related to the major that I selected when I was 17 years old, more on that in a minute. And I went to work for the company. And that's what I did. And I was fortunate enough, I had a couple of great friends that helped me get connected with a company that I did. And it was in transportation and logistics, not exactly where I thought I would be. But I was 22 years old and said I need a job. And this is a great way to build a resume. So I did that for a year or two got promoted once or twice, and then had the opportunity to move to Chicago for the company in a different type of jobs. So I did that I really enjoyed it a year later, we were going to do another office like that in Dallas, Texas. So I decided, You know what, I'm young, I'm single, I've always wanted to live somewhere warm, you don't have to shovel snow. So I took that job and was there for the next five or so years. And at first I really enjoyed it. And I went from being a sales person to a trainer, and then to a manager and then recruiting and doing all sorts of stuff. And I thought, Okay, I'm starting to build my resume here, I've got a couple of different things of experience. And maybe one day I can put that into kind of combine it all and do something with this company or maybe move somewhere else and do something else. But I was enjoying it for the most part. And then the last two or so years, the office that I was working at was really really not a great place. It was borderline toxic. Now the company itself great company back then great company now, but the office that I was at just had, you know, a handful of people that really kind of influenced the the behavior of the office, and it was just toxic leadership. And it was not a good scenario. So about that time, I was also kind of pondering, okay, I'm 2728 years old, I want to do this for the next 2030 years of my life, probably not. And I started looking around and then oh, yeah, it's 2008. And the housing market took a giant poop all over the economy. So not a lot of places were hiring. So I thought, okay, the best thing to do is just to kind of stay put for now, I have job security and figure out what I want to do. And I really started to get the itch to start thinking about cooking professionally. And I knew it was not going to be very glamorous, even though my ego took told me otherwise. I knew it was going to be nights, weekends and holidays. And I was okay with that. Because I knew hopefully it wasn't going to be forever. What I was thinking of, in my mind, I said, Okay, I've got, you know, sales experience, I've got training and managing experience and recruiting. Well, what if I take all that and put that together, and go learn how to cook. And then I'll have some business acumen, I'll learn how I know how to cook. And maybe one day I can open up a restaurant, and I've got formalized training, and how to train other people and how to recruit people and how to manage people. And I thought, Okay, well, maybe this is the right path. So that's what I did, and continue to work there for another two years, went to school at night, and graduated culinary school and went started cooking. And I did that for about five or so years. And I enjoyed it for the most part as time went on.
And my father got sick. And that sort of kind of reframed my perspective, which I've talked about in other episodes, but the plan was before my father got sick was that I was going to cook for, you know, 10 to 12 years, get as much experience as I could on the restaurant side. And then when my parents were retiring, and we had my wife and I had some money in the bank, to look at potentially opening up a restaurant, have grandma and grandpa around to watch the kid or kids. And then my wife and I would be able to kind of take to the restaurant that was sort of the plan.
It didn't work out that way. And thank God Everything happens for a reason. And ended up being at the company that I'm at now, which is almost 10 years later. So really weird path. But the reason I tell that story is is because of the decisions that I made. And I kind of forced onto myself, which was I looked at it that if I was going to move I had to make a career change. And that was completely the wrong way to do it. But I didn't have a mentor or anybody like that. So
having been through that
I have a lesson that can be helpful. Oh.
But before the lesson, it's time for today's sponsor I wish I had. And unfortunately for the video audience, I do not have a can of this. But there is a company that produces bubbles, champagne bubbles, which is some of my favorites. Same with my wife. They are called Underwood. And they produce bubbles in a variety of ways. But my favorite way that they do it is in a 12 ounce cans. And they also have Pinot Noir and a Can I think Chardonnay and a can or something. But the Underwood bubbles, it's a can. And it is one of my favorite things. It's incredibly budget friendly. It's like five or six bucks that can 12 ounces. So basically two glasses. And the reason that I like this so much is because my wife and I have used this a million times going with other friends, we have some great friends that we always go to the arboretum used to go to the arboretum where we lived in Dallas, like this big outdoor area with lots of flowers and decorations and everything, you kind of make a makeshift picnic or whatever. But these cans are perfect, because you just crack them open instead of bringing a huge bottle of bubbly, and with glass and everything, and it's just aluminum cans, and you can recycle them afterwards. So I highly recommend if you can find them in the store should be available at any grocery store at a Total Wine, maybe at some liquor stores, Underwood bubbles, check them out today's sponsor, I wish I had, oh, okay, so I gave you the story. Now it's time for the lesson and the advice. And this time, the lesson and the advice are tight, pretty close together. So the lesson that I learned was two things. Number one, not always a great idea to follow your passion. I think a lot of times that advice is well intended, but misused and misguided. And the second lesson that I learned is, if you're looking at making a change, it doesn't have to be this radical sweeping change, that you go from one street to the other, or completely change what you're doing. Now it can be if that's what you want, if you need a change of pace, and you need a break, or whatever, absolutely. But I kind of felt like I was backing myself into a corner without realizing it, that I could have just gone and done something else at another company or the same thing at another company. But the advice that I would give myself and my daughter when she's older, and anybody else that might be struggling with something like this, I think is better than just the lesson. So people will tell you follow your passion. Right? And that sounds great and romantic. And I did. And it's not always all it's cracked up to be. Sometimes it is. So I'm certainly not discouraging anyone from following their passion. However, most of the time, people don't understand what their passion is until later on in life. And that makes sense. Because how do you know what you really like until you have enough life experience to have tried a handful of things to figure out what what you do like. And then oftentimes, once you figure that out the mistake that I made, which was okay, I need to go directly into that particular job or that particular industry. So the advice that I would give is to step back and think about why you like those things. Why are you passionate about whatever it is, and for me, it was cooking. And when I think about that, like yes, I love food, obviously. But besides that, what I really found that was passionate to me about the cooking side was the creativity. Now I don't fancy myself a creative, but I enjoyed the process of being able to experiment and kind of play around. I also, I really, really love the idea of just taking a couple of simple ingredients. And with some basic technique, just turning onions and garlic and some fresh herbs, and some tomatoes into like the best tomato sauce you've ever had. Right. So I really liked the idea of the creativity, I liked the idea of sort of the simplicity. And I also liked the idea of the collaboration. It's really fun when you're talking with someone that likes food, or likes movies, or whatever it is the same way that you do. It's just a great free flowing conversation. And I really liked the idea of collaborating and working as a team and a kitchen is a is a team. It's a small team, or it's a big team. And everybody has to do their part and everybody feeds off each other metaphorically and literally. So I really liked that. And I noticed that when I was at my previous careers, the types of work that I also really enjoyed were those same kind of things. I really enjoyed the training aspect of it because I like being able to help people and kind of coach people. I liked the recruiting and the collaborating aspect of it and being able to work in groups and figure out a problem and everybody kind of pitch in and help out. And I really liked those kinds of things. So if I were to do this all over again, I would say okay, I know that I really liked food, and I know the reasons that I like cooking and that kind of stuff are I like to creativity I like to cook
Collaboration, I do like the the feel good of being able to serve someone and have them enjoy an experience or have your restaurant be the place where families can go to celebrate birthdays, and anniversaries and all that kind of stuff. That's, that's really nice. That's really great to feel. So I like all of those things. But instead of just going and diving headfirst into a line cook job making 950 an hour, what if I looked for a career that could have kept my life in normal balance could have kept my pay in normal balance. And I would look for a job at a company that had those attributes. So my advice to myself back then, and to my daughter, maybe anybody else that that needs to hear it would be, think about why you like the things you do or why you like the things you're passionate about, and see if you can find other opportunities that will lean into those things. Because I also imagine that's probably where each of us feels that our strengths are, as well. So that would be my advice. I'm following up with that. One of the problems that I've had, and I'll debate some people to the ends of the earth on this, but you are you said, I started by taking the first job that I could write. And that's what so many other people do is they get out of college and you take the first job that will hire you and you just go from there. And backing up before that thinking about, well, my major in business, whatever they've shipped that means. So I gotta find a job that's quote unquote, business, again, whatever that means. And I think it's ridiculous that you're asking 16 1718 year old kids to make a decision about the type of education that they want to pursue at that age. I mean, none of us, any of us that's in our 30s 40s 50s. Like, you look back when you're, you're 16 to 18 years old. I mean, that's, you're not even a fully formed person yet. And you can't even drink but you're expected to be able to decide what you want to pursue as a lifelong career at that age. I just I don't think that's fair. And I don't want to go down a whole rabbit hole of that. But I think it's really difficult to understand that as well, when you're that young. So what I would tell my daughter, if she was in college, for example, is, well, what are the things that you like? Just like I was saying, what are the things you enjoyed about different subject matters in high school? And okay, well, did you like the collaboration? Did you like the individual work? Did you like the paper trail, whatever that is, and maybe let's lean into two majors or areas of study that kind of include more of that, rather than less of that. And that might be a good place to start. But you know, it's too big to change, it's too big to fail, but it almost seems like it's backwards right now. And you should get out of high school, you should go have to work for three to five to seven years, get some life experience work in a couple of different positions, or a couple of different companies, then go to college and say like, Okay, I'm, I'm 28 now, and I'm gonna go to college, because I've had 10 years of living and working, and I kind of have an idea of things that I might enjoy a little bit. And obviously, that's not going to happen. But to me, I think that's a real struggle about trying to figure out when you're young, and then how that kind of just backed you into a corner when you get out of college. And not only are you surrounded by enormous debt, in most cases, but you're like, I don't even know what business means. I don't even know what communication is a major means. And you just go work at some company doing some thing. And then the next thing you know, you're 30 years old, and you're like, I just wasted eight years of my life, doing a job at a company that I don't even care about really, or anything like that. I'm not trying to talk bad about, you know, people that do that, because I did that. But I it seems like a backwards way to live. So my advice would be think about and lean into the things that you like about the work that that you're doing, and go find a job that allows you to do more of that. And it's maybe a little bit freer and a little bit more open.
And when you think about college, I mean, looking back at it, let's be honest, going to college is not about getting the education. And that's not to poopoo anybody's education, if you're going pre med or, you know, pre law or something like that. Yes, but by and large the lion's share of people that go to college, your education is not the education, your education is living on your own for four years. And having to confront your fears and your vices and your time management. And who are you at 22 when you graduate Have you grown from when you came in at 18 years old? That's really what college is all about. And I actually wrote this I'm proud of myself for writing this so I want to read it. So if you're watching on video, I'm looking away at my iPad here that is also covered in my daughter's fingerprints. Because it's now her iPad, not my iPad anymore.
And I put let's see here.
The table has been set. I can't reset the table for our daughter but you know what I could do
I could set a new table. The purpose of college, as I mentioned, is to learn how to live. It's not to remember the bullshit English literature class, or how in philosophy one on one, about how you learn to think about what thinking is. And if thinking is actually thinking or just a metaphorical manifestation manifestation created by your subconscious mind, I almost got through the purpose of college is your first test to see if you can recognize and overcome some or all of the things that are wrong with you, all of your inefficiencies, all of your inadequacies, what choices you will make when you are confronted with your vices, with the devil on your shoulder. By the time you graduate, what have you learned about yourself, about your vices about your dark side and how you will combat that when you are released to the real world. If you can begin to get a handle on those things, begin to develop a routine for yourself that helps you perform better, not one you need in order to function but something that accepts you something that helps lift you up, if you can begin to piece that together. And if you can leave with an understanding of what you liked about college and apply those likes to finding a job and a career. Then you my friend, get an A for college, just like me, who graduated with a 2.7 GPA. Oh,
all right. And now it's time for today's just the tip. And this is another food related just the tip. And today I'm going to talk about something that's kind of related in theory to what I talked about a few weeks ago, which is, hey, if you wanted to salt your food or pepper you fruit or add those salt or peppery notes, to whatever you're cooking, you can incorporate not just salt and pepper, but you can incorporate foods that have salty your notes like olives, or peppery or notes like arugula. So for this just the tip I'm talking about when you are making smoothies, which is something I love to do. And I'll throw a YouTube video up at some point on the smoothie that I make all the time. A lot of people do this one thing and it drives me nuts. They put ice in their smoothie. Now that seems totally logical. And if you have a chain location, like a smoothie king or something like that, they've got standardized recipes. So they account for how much ice is going in when they blend or whatever. I'm not talking about that. But if you're making a smoothie at home, or even if you're a small restaurant or whatever, if you're making smoothies.
Putting ice in your smoothie does two things. You think it freezes it but it actually makes it more of a slushie and then you think it adds volume and it does but it also dilutes what you're doing, because you're adding ice, which last time I checked is frozen water. So what I recommend is instead of using ice, similar to what I mentioned about the salty foods and the peppery foods is instead of using ice us foods that are frozen like frozen blueberries, or frozen bananas or frozen strawberries, something like that frozen spinach, use frozen foods to help make the smoothie frozen and then for your emulsifier to make it nice and blend and have a nice creamy texture and mouthfeel to it. Think about stuff like using an avocado or even some peanut butter. And a lot of people will put peanut butter in but if you have a nut allergy and also peanut butter tastes like peanut butter. Avocado has a very, very mild taste. So you grab some fresh avocado use like a fourth of an avocado if it's like a normal size, not one of those giant ones the size of this microphone, but if it's a normal size avocado, cut it in for us about a fourth of the avocado and have that in there with frozen blueberries, which is the smoothie I make avocado, frozen blueberries, some protein powder, and some almond milk and you end up getting a really really nice cold smoothie that has a great texture all the way through. It's super smooth and creamy and velvety. As opposed to if you throw a bunch of ice in there, the smoothie is gonna get cold it's going to be frozen or more like a smoothie, but it's just extra water it's going to dilute the taste of the other stuff you put in there and it's not emulsified so it'll start to separate. So I say skip the ice add frozen foods in in small pieces when you're putting it in a blender. And then for your emulsifier you can add something like peanut butter. I prefer adding avocado because it's a much milder taste. Prepare to be amazed today's just the tip. Oh,
okay. And now it's time for today's whisper in
and today's whispering is going to be for people that live closer to where I live which is in the Phoenix Arizona area. There is a liquor store
and it is not like other liquor stores. It is the greatest liquor store I have ever painted. And even if you don't live in the Phoenix area, you will want to hear this. The name of this liquor store
RT is called Trevor's,
it is the most unbelievable place I have been into. Because when you walk in, not only is it one of the nicest liquor stores you've ever been in with one of the best selections you've ever been in. But that is only less than half of the story, because at the back of the liquor store, which is one of the nicest liquor stores we've been in, and the back is a fully last in cigar lounge that is also a full service bar and restaurant, which is also one of the nicest places, you will enjoy a cigar. It has giant glass windows facing the inside. And on the outside, it has the roller garage doors to open up to the fresh air. That is awesome. But again, that's not the half of it. The other literal half of the establishment is a multiple bar setup, with great craft cocktails, and bourbons, and all of that stuff, which I love. Right behind that is a kitchen with a pizza oven. And they make fresh pizzas and sandwiches and Takota reports, which I love. And then behind that are two giant B G, A approved golf simulator pays with TVs and couches and chairs at full service of bar and restaurant, which I love. And then on the other side is a giant patio with more TVs and a built in fireplace and a bunch of great seating and great views of the mountains, which I love. So if you live in the Phoenix or Scottsdale area, you need to go to traverse it is the greatest place in the world. And if you do not live in the Phoenix or Scottsdale area, you need to take an airplane air and go to traverse and then do some golf while you're at it. Traverse today's Westbourne
All right, that was Bryn didn't number on my throat here. So as we wrap up, let's talk about the story, the lesson and the advice. The story is I graduated college like so many of us do, it took the first job I could, like so many of us do. And before I know it almost a decade went by and I thought is this really what I want to be doing for the rest of my life. So I made the wrong decision, right decision, whatever you want to call it, to quote unquote, pursue my passion, and go to culinary school and then cook for the next five or so years. Now all things worked out for a reason I ended up with the company I'm at now that's wonderful. I have a culinary tie in so I'm kind of still one foot in the industry with that. But looking back, the lesson from that is maybe don't rush into following your passion. And don't look at a possible change in what you're doing for work as what I did, which was an ultimatum of sort of an either or I've got to go into a different industry, I got to pursue something completely different. You don't, you could just go do what you're doing and work in a different company, or do something similar and a different company or whatever. But give yourself permission and give yourself the room to just explore and figure out what's best for you. The advice that I would give on this is instead of pursuing your passion, find what you like about your passion, find what things you liked about it, and lean into that and try to find a job or a career that incorporates more of those kinds of things. So this way, instead of just being following your passion and going to cooking school and working on a cooking line like I did, I might have rethought it and say hey, I really liked food and I really liked collaboration and I really liked this. Maybe I could go into something marketing related for food or maybe I could go into event planning or whatever and I still would have had some exposure to that or who knows. So my advice to you on that is don't be in such a hurry just to rush and follow your passion. Instead think about what you like about things that are your passion and lean into that. Today's sponsor I wish I had was Underwood bubbles, great champagne in a can portable, recyclable all the things if you're going out anywhere cooler weather, going to look at holiday decorations or if you can think all the way to the summer when you can be at a pool or at a beach again or whatever great solution. Really, really awesome Underwood bottles and they taste really great.
The sponsor
The just the tip segment was about instead of using ice to make a smoothie, use frozen foods like frozen blueberries or frozen spinach or frozen bananas. And for your emulsifier you could use something like peanut butter. I always opt for avocado because it has a much more mild taste. And it really helps them also buy whatever it is that you're blending. So you have a really great creamy, great mouthfeel texture to that smoothie and it won't separate five minutes after you make it. So when you're drinking it and you take 1015 minutes to drink your smoothie, it's still going to be one drink, it's not going to be all slush on top and all the other stuff on the bottom. So that is by just the tip segment. The Whispering is the greatest liquor store known to man Trevor's in Scottsdale and I think there's there's two in Scottsdale one is close to me. I live in Phoenix and one is just a few miles away greatest liquor store in the world. Awesome liquor selection, full cigar lounge, which is really nice and finished out like an actual really nice restaurant. But on the other side of the building is a really cool bar setup that has two different bars, a full kitchen with a pizza oven, cranking out awesome pizza and foods. And then golf simulators in the back, full service, lots of plush seating and then a huge patio out front. All of its connected. So you go in there for a bottle of bourbon, you stay a couple of hours, have a couple of drinks, have some pizza, enjoy all the TVs and all the things so that is the the
that is the whisper in for today. Thank you very much for listening to the stories lesson advice podcast this week. We'll be back next week. Again if you enjoy this, please consider giving us a follow. Consider sharing with your friends. Don't forget to check us out on social media at Saturday is Saturday media on Instagram and YouTube and our website s IV media.net. Thanks for listening and we'll see you next week.