I love hibachi-style food. Honestly, it’s a favorite that I believe I could eat multiple times a week and never get tired of it. I remember the day that I learned you can just go to a hibachi restaurant whenever you want, even if it’s not yours or someone in your party’s birthday. I was shocked. There is only one problem with this truth: these restaurants are expensive and eating in them regularly is not exactly fiscally responsible.
During my high school years, I decided to combat this problem by learning how to make hibachi-style dishes at home. Since this occurred before it became possible to carry the entire internet in your pocket, there was only one way to learn this art: careful observation of a trained professional. To that end, the next time my family and I went out for hibachi, I tuned out the noise of the restaurant, the conversation at the table, and all of the fancy knife-throwing. Was it difficult? Yes. Dangerous? Probably. Did I get hit in the face with a flying shrimp during the appetizer portion of the meal? Absolutely not. I caught it in my mouth as any pro-level hibachi connoisseur would. What I am saying, is that I was locked into the process. My number one goal was to learn how to make the rice. The other stuff seemed easy. The rice, that was where the magic was.
I watched intently as the chef dumped a large bowl of rice onto the grill. I paid careful attention to the exact amount of butter, soy sauce, lemon juice, and sesame seeds he mixed in. I was hyper-focused on every turn of the spatula and every ingredient he added. By the end of the meal, I knew I was ready. I was going to have this recipe mastered by the weekend.
There are only a few weeks left to join the
support team for my new book, “Magic in the Mug”
and get some awesome thank-you swag.
A few days later, I got the itch to test out my new recipe and enjoy some hibachi rice. This was my moment. I went to the kitchen, gathered the necessary ingredients, and got to work. I put the rice in the pan and began to mix in the other ingredients. I stirred, turned, and folded that rice for several minutes waiting for the perfection I knew was coming. Finally, I noticed that something seemed slightly off. The rice didn’t look anything like the fluffy flavorful grains I had experienced a few days prior. It was still hard and crunchy. That’s when it hit me. There was a secret ingredient to this recipe that I failed to notice as it hit the table. And that missing ingredient was preparation.
When the chef dumped that bowl of rice onto the table, it wasn’t raw, it had been steamed. This was done behind the scenes in the kitchen well before it was fried on that grill. Unfortunately, there was no saving my rice. Because I failed to do that necessary prep work the entire batch had to be thrown away.
When I think about my life as a whole, there are seasons when I try to skip the prep work. I want to “be somewhere” without putting doing the necessary work to get there. I look at other pastors, authors, podcasters, or bloggers and long to have that level of influence but often overlook the amount of work they put in to get where they are. I want to have the skills of people farther along but tend to disregard the amount of practice it took them to develop those skills. Without doing the work, we can’t get the result.
Our character is a direct reflection of our values.
if you don’t know your personal values, I’d love to help.
Click the button below to get the assessment.
This applies to any skill we are attempting to develop. Steph Curry is arguably the NBA’s greatest shooter of all time. He makes the impossible look effortless. He regularly hits shots from places on the court that most players won’t even attempt. How is this all possible? Because of the work that we will never see. Steph practices several hundred shots per day. His daily minimum is 250 shots. Because of this level of practice, his hands are rough and calloused. But this is the cost of greatness. It’s not often glamorous but the effort we put in behind the scenes is what leads to the biggest payoff. It’s the unseen work that allows us to hone our craft and expand our capacity.
Proverbs 24:27 says “Prepare your work outside; get everything ready for yourself in the field, and after that build your house.” While preparation, practice, and developing disciplines are not always fun or flashy, they are key to being ready to walk in our purpose. we can’t neglect the “out-of-the-spotlight” work that it takes to develop character, skills, or leadership capability. Gen. George S. Patton said it well: “He who sweats more in training bleeds less in battle.” While I hope you’re not fighting a physical battle or actually bleeding, I hope you can make this practice true in your life. Sweat through the disciplines that build your character. Do the hard stuff that no one sees. And when the opportunity comes, you’ll be able to step into your purpose knowing you are ready to live it out. Without it, you risk being like that uncooked rice, surrounded by all the right ingredients to make something beautiful but lacking the ability to actually put it to use. What disciplines do you need to lean into today? Where do you need to put in work behind the scenes so that you can build the skills and the character to accomplish that which God has for you? Don’t skip the crucial steps. Do the hard work, then reap the blessings.
BrandonHair.me 
Leave a comment