"The first thing that I learned is that success takes time. When I first encountered him, he's already a celebrity, a superstar. Everybody knew about his name. Only at the age of 43, then does the first taste of success come in. I found it inspiring to hear somebody who wasn't succeeding for many years, but obviously having a decent lifestyle and career by having all those skills that were all in bits and pieces and all the ingredients were there, but reassembled in a different way, a different recipe and allowing him to finally crack and be successful at 43, and then snowball that and have that hockey shape in terms of success. That's inspiring for people who in their twenties or in their thirties like me because it gives us hope that no matter what age you are, it's a function of self-discovery and exploration and experimentation until something works." - Jeremy Au
"The second thing I learned was about the dynamic of being a public success and a private failure. This is a phrase that's always resonated with me from my mentors about not being somebody so caught up in a public exterior, but making sure that you also take care of your private world as well. The world thinks that he has a dream job, but he doesn't feel the same. There are so many celebrities in the world that are also very inspirational. At the end of the day, everyone's human, and with their mistakes, as well as their inspirational moments. Seeing the whole of them is something that only close people get to see. And so, this makes me reflect a lot on my own dynamics, which is how do I focus not just on my career and my public orientation, but also on my private life to make sure that I'm focusing and investing in the right things, because I would rather be a public failure and a private success rather than a public success and a private failure." - Jeremy Au
"The third thing I learned was that relationships matter. The big factor for why he lost it was because of his success that required him to be in the public eye, but to also travel a lot, not be able to have the same rooting in the local community, to be able to spend personal, in person time with the people that he loved and loved him back. Because of this travel, he returned to old habits: prostitution, alcohol and drugs to fill the void. What I took away from this is that relationships matter, family matters, investing in friends who like you and want the best for you and that you like them and that you want the best for them. It's not a luxury. It's not optional. It's the daily moment of our lives. We're all going to go one day and we might as well live life full of the relationships that really matter." - Jeremy Au
In this episode, Jeremy Au speaks on three lessons from Anthony Bourdain's biography 'Lost In Paradise'.
Keywords: Anthony Bourdain Biography, Lost In Paradise, Three Lessons, Purpose, Thought Leadership
