source: www.magpictures.com

For the record, I don’t like sushi, and I have never dreamed of it. I wish I liked fish, but I can’t stand the taste of it. This post, in a sense, has nothing to do with eating sushi.

I did, however, recently see the beautiful documentary Jiro Dreams of Sushi. Wow, This powerful documentary follows Jiro, an 85 year old man in Japan, who has been working to perfect the art of making sushi for about 70 years! Could you imagine doing one thing, being razor focused for 70 years?

For Jiro it is sushi, what is your sushi?

As I watched the documentary I felt so many connections to education. In fact, Jiro talks about his educational experiences. Jiro said that just because you get good grades doesn’t mean you are going to be successful in life (how ironic because I just blogged about this yesterday). Jiro believes in hands-on learning. He wants kids and adults to follow their passion. It’s interesting, as you will find out in the documentary, that Jiro only deals with suppliers (fish, rice, etc) who are passionate about their profession.

Here are my takeaways from this documentary:

• Find something you are passionate about and follow you passion – For Jiro it is sushi – What is your sushi?
• Plan for the long term – In Jiro’s kitchen you have to apprentice for 10 years cleaning fish before you can make one menu item.
• Once you build your sushi, it is important to train everyone in your vision – Jiro laughs when people think he does everything at his restaurant. He says that 80% of the work is already done by others. He is just there to put the sushi on the plate. He has spent years training and empowering others to perfect their craft.
• Stick with it – All too often we are looking for the next mountain to climb. In Jiro’s world, his mountain, his challenge is always focused on one thing… making better sushi.

What is your sushi?