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Eric Ripert

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87
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2017-09-29
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2017-09-29
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  1. “I decide which meditation I'm going to do. Very often there are meditations that are linked to Buddhism, but sometimes it can be a meditation that is universal and secular, like for instance visualizing a weakness and finding a way to destroy that weakness. So it can be anger, it can be jealousy, it can be attachment, it can be desire, anything. But I always end up by doing the 12 link meditation, which is typically Buddhist meditation from the Vajrayana school, which is Tibetan Buddhism.”

    2017-09-29 · The Tim Ferriss Show · #268: Eric Ripert -- Lessons in Mastery and Mindfulness · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  2. “And the energy going up to the seven chakra, which is on top of the head, right? And then when I exhale, the energy goes down. It looks like it's almost like a tube in my back that carried the energy up and carried the energy down. So I do that for a few minutes. And I don't count the minutes because I don't want to be distracted by oh my God, how many minutes am I going to do 10 minutes or am I going to do only five minutes today? Or what am I going to do? So I don't put pressure on myself. What is important is not the quantity in terms of timing. It's the quality. Then, when I feel that I am really in the present and in control of my mind,”

    2017-09-29 · The Tim Ferriss Show · #268: Eric Ripert -- Lessons in Mastery and Mindfulness · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  3. “I do what we call shamata. Shamata meditation is basically being in the present and controlling your mind and not letting the mind think about the past or think about the future or start to be judgmental. We call that avoiding a monkey mind. Monkey mind is when you're not in control of your mind, but your mind is in control of yourself. That exercise can be done by focusing on the way you inspire and excel. Many people do that. For myself, it's a little bit different. When I inhale, I feel the energy coming from the first chakra, which is chakra is basically the middle of your boat.”

    2017-09-29 · The Tim Ferriss Show · #268: Eric Ripert -- Lessons in Mastery and Mindfulness · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  4. “Six o'clock, 6 30, 7 o'clock, if I rarely eight o'clock, I mean, for me, it's pretty early. After that, I look at my phone, I quickly look at the news on the phone and messages and things like that, but it doesn't take too much. After that, I go make my coffee. Then I go to my meditation room. And I do some rituals, Buddhist rituals. I make some offerings. I read a little bit. I say some mantras and then I start my meditation. And when I start the meditation, I don't even sit in a lotus position because I find it a distraction for me because my knees hurt and my back hurt and I'm not that flexible. So therefore I sit straight but comfortable and I start to look at the room and I look at the details of the room and then I close my eyes”

    2017-09-29 · The Tim Ferriss Show · #268: Eric Ripert -- Lessons in Mastery and Mindfulness · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  5. “I like to have my day, it's very repetitive. It's like a pattern. I follow a pattern. So I wake up and I force myself because I always forget to be grateful to be alive.”

    2017-09-29 · The Tim Ferriss Show · #268: Eric Ripert -- Lessons in Mastery and Mindfulness · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  6. “Well, it's both because I believe that when you do meditation, it's better to do it on a morning because your mind is... Clear usually or clearer. You don't have all the All the distraction of the day, all the actions that you have done that will potentially distract you during your meditation. Morning meditations are, in my opinion, much more productive. And then when you, like I mentioned before, when you get angry after many meditations on that dark cloud, again, you remember and it's when you apply it.”

    2017-09-29 · The Tim Ferriss Show · #268: Eric Ripert -- Lessons in Mastery and Mindfulness · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  7. “A laser coming out of your forehead and destroying the dark cloud. And if you do that every day, thinking that the anger is a dark cloud, I can guarantee you that one day, Anger is coming, and you have the almost like this Pavlov reflex of saying, oh my God, it's the dark cloud. And instead of letting anger go And blind you, you destroy that anger.”

    2017-09-29 · The Tim Ferriss Show · #268: Eric Ripert -- Lessons in Mastery and Mindfulness · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  8. “That force is blind. It's not a rational way. It doesn't make you rational. It makes you completely unaware of the consequences of. That force makes you do. So, for instance, you may very well insult someone. Like you mentioned in Japan, they beat people, some athletes or something like that. If it comes from anger, it's impossible to control. And the consequences are basically negative, obviously. And then when you come down and when the anger is gone, suddenly you're like, wow, what did I do? My God, it was not necessary. So analyzing that or making that exercise of contemplation toward someone who was angered or toward yourself, it's important. And then Use the tool of meditation for anger very often. And for instance, a very easy meditation for anyone at home is to visualize anger as a dark cloud coming out of yourself and imagining”

    2017-09-29 · The Tim Ferriss Show · #268: Eric Ripert -- Lessons in Mastery and Mindfulness · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  9. “And we say that really in a kind way without saying, please go take your time and do it again. We said we just go do it again, but in a nice way. And we do that all night long. So it's not something exceptional about it. And the cooks have the habit of saying yes and taking the plate that has a mistake on and bringing it back again the way we want it. So that's what's happening. It's important to tem anger. With the right tools. So first of all, I think it's important to. Analyze what anger does to someone. Like for myself, I realized that anger is something that is a very strong force that comes from the guts almost and comes up. Is the way I feel it in processing anger. And that strong, very strong force. As a tremendous power, of course, but”

    2017-09-29 · The Tim Ferriss Show · #268: Eric Ripert -- Lessons in Mastery and Mindfulness · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  10. “Yes, I think it's important to find tools to fight anger. Now anger doesn't help to create quality. Quality has nothing to do or standards of quality at Le Bernard have nothing to do with anger. If someone does a mistake and it doesn't realize it, or even if he realizes he made a mistake, We basically bring the person to the path, which is the table where we check the food and we pinpoint what's wrong about it and we say, look, you made a mistake right here and right here. Go do it again.”

    2017-09-29 · The Tim Ferriss Show · #268: Eric Ripert -- Lessons in Mastery and Mindfulness · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  11. “Rough words with him, and immediately I realized and I say, you know, look, I'm totally sorry, but please do not do that because our food is getting cold. I apologize for raising my voice. And he laughed and he said, take it easy, it's all good. I'm a big boy. But still, you know.”

    2017-09-29 · The Tim Ferriss Show · #268: Eric Ripert -- Lessons in Mastery and Mindfulness · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  12. “Being angry and expressing it by potentially screaming or any way of showing anger. And I say, if we do that, the cooks will forgive us, I believe, and it will also for us be a good lesson because it's never pleasant to go on the front of a team and apologize for a mistake. And it's happening. Now I see like some sous chefs sometimes they lose their temper and minutes later they go and say, look, I'm sorry, I apologize for my behavior and let's finish the night in a better way. And even myself this week, I remember I was frustrated with the Sommolier, who was spending too much time at the table explaining the wine and the food getting cold. And I called him, and I had a couple of...”

    2017-09-29 · The Tim Ferriss Show · #268: Eric Ripert -- Lessons in Mastery and Mindfulness · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  13. “A good impact, they understood that really well. And it was a good meeting that day. And I have to say, I mean, I believe 90% of the time or 99% of the time our kitchen is a very good and environment to blossom. But of course we have our moments. Of course, sometimes the challenge is so strong that someone loses it, especially in a position of command, including myself. And in that case, I have also an antidote for that. It's okay, if we lose it and it's happening and the kitchen stops and the cooks are terrorized or frustrated, what we have to do is we have to wait a few minutes and or Until the end of the service, and then we have to go on the front of the entire staff.”

    2017-09-29 · The Tim Ferriss Show · #268: Eric Ripert -- Lessons in Mastery and Mindfulness · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  14. “And I think it's actually in the Bible somewhere. But I told them that I said, look, you like when I talk to you nicely, you like when I am taking the time and patient with you and you like interacting with me and knowing that I'm a gentle soul. And you don't like if I raise my voice, which is very rare, and you don't like if you see my face looking frustrated. So if you don't like that, why do you think someone else is going to like what you do? So please treat others the way you want to be treated. And that really...”

    2017-09-29 · The Tim Ferriss Show · #268: Eric Ripert -- Lessons in Mastery and Mindfulness · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  15. “It's easy to understand that we want the cooks not to be scared and they have to be precise and they have to be pushed, of course, because it's a timing issue, but they have to be pushed in a nice way so they feel part of the team. Now the other day I had a discussion with Couple of sous chefs, and I said, I was trying to find a secular message for them that will resonate to them and that they will. Understand easily. Because I always try to not bring my Buddhist philosophy into the kitchen, except through secular ways. So I said to them, I said, why don't you treat people the way you want to be treated?”

    2017-09-29 · The Tim Ferriss Show · #268: Eric Ripert -- Lessons in Mastery and Mindfulness · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  16. “Yes, and I still have to do that because some of them have a temper and some sous chefs are joining our team and they come from other teams that are different and come from a different environment that is much more abusive than at Le Bernardin. So it's a constant communication with them. I basically said, look, for practical reasons, forget the spiritual reason, forget being nice for the act of being nice. But for practical reason, if you scare the cook and you make him shake and he loses cool and he cannot focus, that cook will not be productive the way we need him to be productive. And ultimately The product that will go to the dining room to the client will not be as nice. So on that aspect,”

    2017-09-29 · The Tim Ferriss Show · #268: Eric Ripert -- Lessons in Mastery and Mindfulness · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  17. “Because I was in the darkness. That is what triggered the change in me. It was not necessarily an employee that was fired a certain way. It was that moment sitting down or laying down, I don't remember, but saying, oh my God, I am incapable of visualizing anything beautiful. And therefore, I must be in total darkness.”

    2017-09-29 · The Tim Ferriss Show · #268: Eric Ripert -- Lessons in Mastery and Mindfulness · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  18. “No, you know what happened? It was very interesting because I knew I was miserable and I will close my eyes mostly at home after work and I will try to envision something nice, something that will make me smile or something that will make me happy. So I will close my eyes and I will say choose something simple envision a field of flowers or envision a flower, for instance. And I was not capable to imagine a simple flower. It was all darkness. And that freaked me out because”

    2017-09-29 · The Tim Ferriss Show · #268: Eric Ripert -- Lessons in Mastery and Mindfulness · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  19. “Are motivated and excited to learn what is supposed to learn. And the biggest job that I have, and that was at the time, is to convince my sou chefs that yesterday we were wrong and we have to change. The sous chefs were like, what's happening to you? You completely change. And it has been... A long journey for me to convince the Sushef that the way to educate people and to motivate people, it's Being inspirational, being kind, being strong in keeping a certain discipline in the kitchen without promoting abuse.”

    2017-09-29 · The Tim Ferriss Show · #268: Eric Ripert -- Lessons in Mastery and Mindfulness · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  20. “And I was losing the staff, they were going to work somewhere else. And I remember not understanding why they were leaving. I thought I was doing a good job trying to educate them. But ultimately, I had to one day sit down. My life as a professional and on my life in general, and I realized that I was miserable. I was not happy at all. And I realized that actually your brain cannot mix happiness and anger at the same time. And I can tell you anyone can try to be happy and angry. The brain doesn't process that. Therefore, I decided almost overnight to change the way I was managing the kitchen, the way I was conducting my life. And since then, it has been a work in progress and I'm getting better and better. And I make sure that our kitchen is an environment where people are happy to come.”

    2017-09-29 · The Tim Ferriss Show · #268: Eric Ripert -- Lessons in Mastery and Mindfulness · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  21. “Then, when I came to the US, I was convinced that it was the right way to maintain a kitchen, maintain discipline, to create some strong people, a little bit almost like you will do with the militaries during the time of war when you have to be training them to be ready to die, I guess, or to fight until the last minute. So that was my mentality. And when I became the chef of Le Bernardino, or even Souschef, when I was Souschef in Washington D.C. at the watergate hotel, I had those terrible tantrums in the kitchen because the quality wouldn't be there because the cooks were not behaving the way I wanted. And I was a terror. And the way they were scared of me and the cooks were scared of me.”

    2017-09-29 · The Tim Ferriss Show · #268: Eric Ripert -- Lessons in Mastery and Mindfulness · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  22. “Seen as a sign of power. And I learned later on in life that it's actually embarrassing. It's a huge sign of weakness. But it was the way many kitchens were training their cooks in Europe. And it was actually a reflection of the education in the society. It was totally accepted in the 1970s when I was five years old to have the teacher in school spanking or smacking or pulling the ears of a student. It was totally acceptable for parents to certainly do the same. And therefore, ultimately, in a working environment, we will see those kind of abuse.”

    2017-09-29 · The Tim Ferriss Show · #268: Eric Ripert -- Lessons in Mastery and Mindfulness · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  23. “Yes, of course. I was trained in Europe at a very young age in kitchens where The way to educate a cook was Through abuse and humiliation and the belief was we're gonna break, we're gonna break this person, we're gonna, and then we're gonna rebuild potentially a champion. And so it was allowed in the kitchen to beat the cooks, like kick them in a butt or beat them in a shoulders or even have, you know, like punching the cooks and so on. In many kitchens it was allowed and it was common practice. It was certainly more than a common practice. It was everywhere and totally accepted to have a chef being screaming, insulting the cooks and having tentroom in the kitchen and throwing pans in a garbage and plates on the floor.”

    2017-09-29 · The Tim Ferriss Show · #268: Eric Ripert -- Lessons in Mastery and Mindfulness · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  24. “The mantras that I have are either way in Tibetan or Sanskrit, and I'm not sure I understand fully the full extent of the power of the mantra, but probably the most powerful that I have on the world is a mantra that explains the theory of emptiness in Buddhism, which is basically that nothing in life or in this world which is called samsara has an interesting reality, which means is independent from anything else. In Buddhism, we believe that everything is a matter of cause and consequences and everything is interrelated. So that man tries Basically, reminding and proving the point that nothing exists by itself. And we are all one, if it makes sense.”

    2017-09-29 · The Tim Ferriss Show · #268: Eric Ripert -- Lessons in Mastery and Mindfulness · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  25. “Well, so at home, what I have done to avoid the discussion of putting too many Buddhas everywhere, I have a meditation room that is basically my world and nobody's telling me what to put in it or not put inside a room. So I managed that pretty well. And then again, the office is a work in progress.”

    2017-09-29 · The Tim Ferriss Show · #268: Eric Ripert -- Lessons in Mastery and Mindfulness · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  26. “Are religious paintings that are rolled to travel and then you put them against the wall and it's basically a painting of a deity or a Buddha that has the role to help you in meditation or to inspire you it's not just for decoration.”

    2017-09-29 · The Tim Ferriss Show · #268: Eric Ripert -- Lessons in Mastery and Mindfulness · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  27. “I remove Buddhas because I'm not being a Buddhist, you're not supposed to be attached. And obviously it's a form of attachment. And therefore, I try to give Buddhas to my friends who accept a Buddha, who are happy to receive a Buddha from me. If not, I said, yeah, you're right. Maybe I should move some Buddhas out of the house as well.”

    2017-09-29 · The Tim Ferriss Show · #268: Eric Ripert -- Lessons in Mastery and Mindfulness · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  28. “Well, my office looks like a monastery, like a Buddhist monastery with Buddha statues everywhere, tankas, pictures of his holiness, the Dalai Lama, pictures of Buddhas, mantras, candles, a lot of them, probably way too many. It's one table that I share with Katy, who's my right hand, and we basically face each other. And then we have another lady in office, Chelsea, who's working with us for different aspects of the duties. But I always ask them permission, and if I can bring another painting or another tanka or Buddha, and I ask them if they're comfortable with that. If not, I will. Remove them because I don't want to impose on them. And it's interesting because they laugh all the time, but when I remove one Buddha, they complain about it.”

    2017-09-29 · The Tim Ferriss Show · #268: Eric Ripert -- Lessons in Mastery and Mindfulness · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  29. “Don't worry. No, we don't fire easily. It's very rare that we fire someone. It's very rare that someone also leaves almost immediately after being hired because of the process, because we are slow at hiring, they understand better who we are and they understand better if we are good for them. And therefore, we don't have to deal with those painful consequences that are having someone leaving or have to let someone go.”

    2017-09-29 · The Tim Ferriss Show · #268: Eric Ripert -- Lessons in Mastery and Mindfulness · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  30. “This we sit down with them and we ask them what they think. And then if they have a positive answer and they say, well, look, I like your kitchen. I want to be with you, then we go more into details, technical details of what we expect from them and we make them come back again and we put them in a station with someone and they don't have any responsibilities, but they feel a little bit of the pressure. And it's a very slow process before we hire them”

    2017-09-29 · The Tim Ferriss Show · #268: Eric Ripert -- Lessons in Mastery and Mindfulness · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  31. “Want to be part of that team that's working tonight. And therefore, it's very light on them. They don't have any pressure. They don't have anything to do but to observe. At the same time, what they don't realize is that we are watching them as well. For instance, if I see someone two hours into the service putting his hands in a pocket and starting to lean against the wall and starting to yawn, it's not a good sign. If I see someone starting to bother the cooks by asking hundreds of questions when is the really, really difficult time of the night and the cooks need to be concentrated, I know that person is not understanding what's happening. So it's a lot of little details like that. And then at the end of the service,”

    2017-09-29 · The Tim Ferriss Show · #268: Eric Ripert -- Lessons in Mastery and Mindfulness · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  32. “So, first of all, we look at the resumes when they are sent to us or the cooks are sent by a culinary school or by another chef. They have a lot of good recommendations. And what we do, we invite them to come in our kitchen on a Saturday night because it's a busy night and it's also the end of the week and we like to have them and we don't have too many at the same time but two or three potential hires in our kitchen and we said to them look we give you a menu and we gonna put you in a kitchen in some different spots and you're gonna observe and then at the end of the night we will have a little talk with you because what we really want is for you to like what you see and”

    2017-09-29 · The Tim Ferriss Show · #268: Eric Ripert -- Lessons in Mastery and Mindfulness · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  33. “To become a good line cook. I'm not saying a chef. I make a difference in between a line cook and a chef. A chef is a manager and it's someone who has the capability of driving a team to success and who creates hopefully his own recipes and as many other responsibilities in the kitchen. The line cook is basically the core of a chef. without being a grid line cook, without mastering all the aspects or a lot of the aspects of what's happening in the kitchen, you cannot become a good manager, you cannot become a chef.”

    2017-09-29 · The Tim Ferriss Show · #268: Eric Ripert -- Lessons in Mastery and Mindfulness · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  34. “Being humble is very important because it allows you to keep yourself curious and motivated. If your ego is in a way, it makes you blind and you're not inclined to learn because you already know or you don't want to show your weakness. So those kind of things, details are what I'm looking into someone who comes to Le Guernardin. And there's a lot of other things. I mean, obviously they have to be very clean. They have to be honest. I mean, those are, of course, like the ABC of hiring someone. But again, being a team player, it's, in my opinion, one of the most important thing for someone.”

    2017-09-29 · The Tim Ferriss Show · #268: Eric Ripert -- Lessons in Mastery and Mindfulness · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  35. “At one point they will struggle during the night or during the lunch and they need to help also as well the other part of the team that struggle. So if they are very individualistic and they have a temper and they have an ego, the chances are they're not coming to Le Bernardin. They have to be humble. They have to be disciplined and clean.”

    2017-09-29 · The Tim Ferriss Show · #268: Eric Ripert -- Lessons in Mastery and Mindfulness · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  36. “They all become good at one point. And nobody's born with knife skills. Nobody knows at three years old how to make a sauce and so on. These details of craftsmanship. And I'm not worried about the fact that we will be able to teach the person the details of craftsmanship. So I'm always thinking about the mentality of the person about if they are Potentially a good team player They are not a good team player, if they cannot adapt and be part of a team. I don't like that, and I will probably not hire them because it doesn't matter if they can multitask and they are brilliant at what they do”

    2017-09-29 · The Tim Ferriss Show · #268: Eric Ripert -- Lessons in Mastery and Mindfulness · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  37. “Yeah, it was not much left actually. It's why I was smiling and laughing so much. Because this idea was to torture me, to take me and put me on the line and see myself going down, right? He thought because I was the chef of Le Bernardin, I forgot about how to cook on the line. And when he asked me, I said, oh, yeah, yeah, no, I'm coming. No problem. But you have to be on the line yourself. And he went down so quickly.”

    2017-09-29 · The Tim Ferriss Show · #268: Eric Ripert -- Lessons in Mastery and Mindfulness · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT