A few years ago, I decided to join the holiday masses in their grand tradition of eating lots of food, getting some exercise, catching up with family and friends, reading some books, and watching a movie or two. Put more simply, I decided to take a break. I ended up watching the documentary Jiro Dreams of Sushi, and I attempted to read David Foster Wallace’s magnum opus, Infinite Jest. I still haven’t finished the thousand-plus-page novel, but I got so much from the documentary that I feel like I have to share some applicable business lessons that came to mind as I watched. So here are five specific lessons that I’m keeping in mind today (and will try to keep in mind for the rest of the year): Jiro Ono, the main character in Jiro Dreams of Sushi, is a master sushi chef and has even received the highest commendation in the cooking world—three Michelin stars. He dedicated his life to perfecting how sushi is prepared. He’s far exceeded his 10,000 hours of practice, and it pays off in the form of guests who are willing to wait months for a seat at his 10-stool restaurant.

When you put it in perspective, 10,000 hours doesn’t feel so long if you’re spending those hours pursuing what matters to you. I’ve been in the energy industry for over 10,000 active learning hours, but it doesn’t feel like that much time has passed because I still love it. When you find something you love, the hours you’ll put in becoming an expert at it won’t feel like much work at all. While you’re working towards your 10,000 hours, there’s nothing wrong with apprenticing yourself to some experts for awhile. Jiro, and his son after him, would go to the fish market every morning for raw materials. Jiro was the sushi expert, but there was the octopus expert, the tuna expert, the squid expert, and others. Jiro knew he was a novice with these other foods, so he chose to trust and learn from these experts instead of trying to pass himself off as knowing enough. When you respect other people’s expertise, they will usually help you along your own way as you work towards becoming an expert.

There will always be new things to learn. As the world continues to change and long-held beliefs fall, you must continue to nurture your own expertise. If you don’t, you’ll run the risk of quickly becoming irrelevant. In the movie, the chef whose expertise is tuna says, “I am always learning.” He’s already an expert, but he has an insatiable drive to keep learning. And if he needs to keep learning about tuna, then you need to keep learning about your area of passion. When Jiro came back from his time in the war, his sushi master told him, “There is no new way to make sushi.” That could have been the end of Jiro’s journey. Instead, he chose to keep innovating. His desire to make new things (or make things in new ways) earned him three Michelin stars in 2008. It’s all the more incredible when you consider that his restaurant only seated ten customers at a time, and their seats were next to an outdoor toilet! Jiro could have easily found himself ignored, but his commitment to innovative cooking methods and continued growth in his particular area of expertise kept those 10 seats filled.

You never know where a creative idea will take you. Apprenticeship, expertise, lifelong learning, and innovation all have one thing in common: people. It may sound cliché, but people make the world go round.order sushi platter online As you go through each day, focus your energy on learning something from every person you meet. jiro dreams of sushi chefReach out to people who think differently than you. jiro dreams of sushi where is restaurantThere’s a good chance they’ll help you see life in a whole new way. mac sushi kiss for saleAnd when you start to see life in new ways, you’ll only be giving yourself the opportunity to grow in your expertise beyond what you could have previously imaged.sushi in dublin city

If you only take away one thing from this post, make it this single idea: whether in your everyday life or in your business, it’s all about loving, learning from, and growing with people. yo sushi menu pagesNow I have to get over my aversion to sushi so I can find a way to become friends with Jiro!how to make sushi rolls without seaweedShinzō Abe is the Prime Minister of Japan. Being Japanese, his sushi standards are high... Prime-Minister-high, you might say.So where does Shinzō Abe take Barack Obama for dinner during the President's trip to Japan last April? He takes him to Sukiyabashi Jiro, a small sushi restaurant that's hidden away, underground, in a Tokyo subway station.Sukiyabashi only seats ten people. There are no tables, just the one bar. It's reservation-only -- and unless you're the country's Prime Minister, you'll need to reserve your seat three, even four months in advance.

Jiro, the head chef, doesn't serve appetizers. He only prepares sushi. And for his work, the Michelin Guide has awarded the restaurant "3 stars" (NOTE: only nine "3-star" restaurants exist in the US).That's why Shinzō Abe chose to take Obama to Sukiyabashi Jiro. And that's whyObama said it was the best sushi he'd ever eaten.Jiro Dreams of Sushi, a 2011 documentary, profiled Sukiyabashi Jiro and its namesake owner, Jiro Ono. You can find it on Netflix.I watch it a couple times a year, but not because it's beautifully shot (it is) or because every scene makes my mouth water (it does). I watch it because of its title. That's right, its title.It's called "Jiro Dreams of Sushi" because he doesn't merely make it or prepare it or serve it.There's a scene in the movie where the master chef -- who's in his eighties -- explains that as a younger man, sushi recipes would come to him in his sleep. And he would jump out of bed to write them down, lest he forget them by morning.It was that level of passion that led to his unprecedented success, to being the best in the world, to being honored by Presidents. 

Sure, the movie is entertaining... it will keep you peeled (and it will teach you a lot about raw fish and Japanese culture in the process). But as far as I'm concerned, Jiro Dreams of Sushi isn't about sushi...The title says it all: It's about love.Love so profound that you dedicate your life to it. Love so pure that it wakes you up in the middle of the night.Jiro is in love with his profession, which, by the way, is not making sushi.I would say that "making sushi" is his job. It's what his hands do all day. His profession, then, is making sushi better.Year after year, Jiro strives for perfection (an unattainable yet commendable goal). And how he finds the drive to do so... well, that's what the movie is really about.According to the chef, he made his decision a long time ago:"Once you decide on your occupation... you must immerse yourself in your work. Every time I watch Jiro Dreams of Sushi, I'm reminded that my profession is not merely writing copy... it's figuring out how to write copy better.