Bartenders’ New Year’s Resolutions Myth..

THE NEW YEAR IS COMING AND HERE WE GO AGAIN… NEW RESOLUTIONS ANYONE?

I’ve heard this before..
I’M A TRUE BARTENDER AND WITH THE UPCOMING HERE I’LL DO THIS AND I’LL DO THAT..I PROMISE..BLA, BLA, BLA

I hope you enjoy this new video as a different way to wish you a holiday season full of joy, love and fulfilment!

TO YOUR SUCCESS!

Max La Rocca

Ben Reed Cocktail Conversations: The Samurai

The cocktail world is full of characters, from bartenders to bar owners, to night party crowd, but if you look more deeply you’ll see a greater variety of different characters with truly inspiring stories.

The amazing Ben Reed goes through the top 3 insights from ‘The Samurai’ to help sharpen the mind of drinks industry professionals in this video.

1. LIVE YOUR LIFE ON PURPOSE

The real ‘Way of the Warrior’ means loyalty, integrity, courage, endurance, frugality, sincerity and respect for learning. It’s a ‘way of being’ aimed at strengthening the mind that governs one’s entire life.

“This dude is an actual proper Samurai (the only non-Japanese Samurai for 400 years. His sword is made in 1400’s. No biggie). Thanks for bringing him to London, Cocktail Credentials!” Alex Kammerling, Founder, Kamm & Sons

2. DO ONE THING AND DO IT PERFECTLY

Specialisation, repetition and refinement are the keys to mastering one’s profession. The term “Shokunin Kishitsu” or the ‘craftsman’s spirit’ is the personal characteristic which implies not just the acquisition of technical skills but also pride in what you do for your own benefit and the wider community.

“I wish he could have gone to Ben Reed’s latest ‘Cocktail Conversations’ event with the Samurai. Perfection in movement doesn’t have to be complex (it takes two years to learn to correctly sheath your sword), it just has to be perfect.” Michael Butt, Founder, Soulshakers

3. FIND THE RIGHT TEACHER

Our Samurai holds a teaching licence from Japan’s premier classical combat school where the teaching runs an unbroken line from the Samurai battlefields dating back 1000 years. No pupil of this school has ever died in combat. So the knowledge of the masters is still alive but you have to go to the origin to find it and the tradition itself must take great care in choosing its followers.

“It’s totally relevant because hospitality – serving people – is what we do. I’m going to go back and take my team through this.” Sly Augustin, Director, Trailer Happiness

To find out more about ‘Cocktail Conversations’ live events taking place in top bars with exceptional characters, sign-up at cocktailcredentials.com

Thank you so much Ben for your amazing contribution to the Bartending World!

Original source & Creditscocktailcredentials.com


 

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TO YOUR SUCCESS!

Max La Rocca

Release your global Bartending pressure..

BAR MANTRAS striscia2

(Youtube Video Link – in English )

Buongiorno Bartenders!!

Finalmente sono riuscito ad iniziare ad allenarmi di nuovo la mattina e devo dire che non è affatto facile mantenerne la disciplina, soprattutto quando si è in diverse nazioni quasi ogni settimana per viaggi di lavoro.

Ho iniziato con un programma dove si cammina per due minuti e si corre per un minuto, poi nellla seguente settimana si cammina per tre minuti e si corre per due minuti e così via.

Sempre più in “alto”, per un periodo sempre più lungo, e proprio quando stavo iniziando ad essere soddisfatto dei miei risultati, ho iniziato a guardare alcune persone che stavano correndo più veloce di me, e mi superavano.

Così in quel preciso momento, da uno stato mentale di soddisfazione in me stesso, ho iniziato a fare il confronto tra i miei (apparentemente) buoni risultati, ed il risultato di altre persone

…ma quello non è il vostro risultato!

Non appartiene a voi, perché il più delle volte ci si paragona con altre persone soprattutto nel mondo bartending?

Critichiamo siamo gelosi, invece di concentrarsi davvero su ciò che si sta facendo

Stai lavorando abbastanza duro?

Stai mantenendo la tua identità, mantenendo le tue radici, mantenendo i tuoi valori?

..e davvero utilizzando al meglio la giornata nei riguardi di te stesso come persona e con i tuoi clienti al bar?

La maggior parte delle volte si sente un tipo di..pressione “globale” dove un attimo ci si sente soddisfatti e un attimo dopo ci si paragona agli altri..

Comportarsi da gelosi, invidiosi, pone una grande distanza tra voi e quello che volete raggiungere..come dire, quando vedi qualcuno che ha successo nel mondo del Bartending e odi quella situazione o ne sei invidioso, non lo raggiungerai mai quel successo perché generi un conflitto interno, dove una parte di te lo vuole ma l’altra lo spinge lontano e questo conflitto interno crea frustrazione e non ti prorta a fare nessun passo avanti in verità, sai?

Quindi sii te stesso, prendi ispirazione da qualsiasi cosa, proprio come io ho preso ispirazione da questo mio piccolo risultato correndo in questo bellissimo parco a Roma!

Volevo solo condividere con tutti voi un messaggio semplice..

..tutti noi diciamo di sapere queste cose, ma non ci fermiamo mai neanche un attimo per pensare su..dove vogliamo andare?

Sto facendo abbastanza? Sono contento dei miei risultati?

Sto dando il 100%? E dal momento in cui si sto dando il 100% e non mi sto giudicando (come sapete siamo i più cattivi giudici di noi stessi) continua semplicemente a seguire il flusso delle cose e vedi quello che arriva, perché cose bellissime arriveranno se solo glielo permetti, se solo lasci andare..

Vi aguro una spendida giornata e, a risentirci presto!

NAMASTE’

Max La Rocca

 

The invisible world of the Concierge

The cocktail world is full of characters, from bartenders to bar owners, to night party crowd, but if you look more deeply you’ll see a greater variety of different characters with truly inspiring stories.

The amazing Ben Reed goes through the top 5 things we can learn from a concierge in this video.

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1. Be connected
The concierge has their finger on the pulse of a city but it doesn’t come on a plate. Compiling a black book is a meticulous and systematic networking process that is constant and relentless. Dan’s voice is now recognized on the end of a phone right across the capital and this has been achieved through hard graft, always being on the ball and building lasting relationships ‘with clients, suppliers and fellow industry professionals.

2. Be inspired
Everyone can learn from everyone else and it pays to have a mentor. In the early days, Dan was thrown in at the deep end: “It’s the best thing to do in life. I would listen to the older guys on the desk who were so charismatic. I thought, crikey, how can someone have so much confidence on a desk, have that amount of knowledge of London and be talking to Elizabeth Taylor.”

3. Be optimistic
“You can get anything for anything, can’t you?” Well, with that starting attitude, I’m pretty sure you can. The concierge’s cup is always half-full and it’s a good job too as the requests keep on coming. “Can you help me find out how to ship 21 live deer to the Middle East as a surprise for my 21-year-old wife?” asked the member of the Middle Eastern Royal Family. You’ll need to speak to Dan’s boss about that one but he’s not going to spill the beans for anyone.

4. Be collaborative
The job of a concierge has been around for centuries. The term is derived from ‘comte des cierges’ or ‘keeper of the candles’ which was designated to those who served visiting nobles in castles. The Golden Keys Society is the secret society (motto: ‘In Service through Friendship’) and now a modern-day global network of 4,000 concierges in 65 countries. To receive the cross-key lapel insignia that denotes membership, it’s a minimum of 5 years service, you have to be nominated by 2 members and sit rigorous exams to test your cultural expertise. Is it any wonder that the Concierge prefers collaboration over competitiveness

5. Be positive
And finally, to the golden rule… well you’ll have to watch the film obviously but there are two possible contenders: “I don’t know if I’ve ever said no to someone” and “If you don’t like people, don’t do it.” Both seem pretty obvious on the surface don’t they – that is until you match them up against your own performance perhaps? But for the record, we also like the story about those creative folk at Apple who are well known for taking ideas from outside their industry to improve their lot. “What’s the best customer experience you’ve ever had?” asked Apple CEO Steve Jobs when his business was ramping up to open their first ever Apple stores. The answer that always came back was invariably that of a 5 star Hotel. Hence the Apple Genius Bar was born and directly modelled on a hotel concierge station of course.

Thank you so much Ben for your amazing contribution to the Bartending World!

Original source & Creditscocktailcredentials.com

Breakfast, Lunch and..HUGS

“Restaurant owner with down syndrome runs the friendliest eatery ever!”

Travelling the world nearly every week and having the chance to interact with amazing Bartenders, sometimes I get the feeling that something is missing in the approach with their guest and this is something as “easy” as really having FUN in what we do , without taking ourselves TOO seriously!!

I know that what we do is very serious stuff, like handling money, dealing with people, sometimes also arrogant people, so we need a looot of patience, but everything will be so much easier and run much smoother if we manage to have a bit of FUN on the way, in my opinion, so..

..dont’ forget to have FUN this stuff is too important to be taken seriously!!

To enforce the point of what I’m talking about , I want to share with you this video and story that really drew my attention, increasing my awareness that all of us seriously are

A GIFT TO THE WORLD” – I hope you’ll enjoy this story too and you’ll bring FUN as a serious concept in your day-by-day work behind the Bar!!!

Max La Rocca

 

Source: Amazingoasis.org (read the comments below the source Page)

and if you’re interested, Read more about Tim.

 

BALANCE YOUR LIFE! – by Gary Regan

BAR MANTRAS striscia2 GARY HEADER

Here I am with the first “BAR MANTRAS” post with GARY REGAN, renowned author, Bartender Legend, Mixology Guru and much more..

ENJOY THE ARTICLE!

Max La Rocca, my host here, asked me to write something about how bartenders can learn to balance their lives so that none of us keels over dead after living short lives full of complete debauchery and drunkenness.  And since I’ve already lived for over 62 years, and just (today) got a remarkably positive check-up from my doctor, I guess I must be doing something right.  That hasn’t always been the case, though.

I never saw the inside of a gym since I left high-school when I was 16 years old, until 2004 when I started exercising regularly.  What made me do such a rash thing?  Well, after undergoing nearly 18 hours on the operating table having my stage-2 tongue cancer taken care of, I figured it was time to reevaluate the way in which I was living my life.  Don’t let this happen to you.  Please think about taking good care of your body, and your mind, and I promise you’ll end up being much happier.

If you decide to heed my advice, it’s probably best that you do so your own way, but I can give you a few tips on certain aspects of taking care of yourself, so let me list them here.  Please remember, though, that these are merely suggestions for you to consider.  Nobody hates rules more than I.  Promise.

  1. If you can afford membership at a gym, choose one that’s as close as possible so you have no excuse not to go.
  2. Many gyms offer a workout coach for at least one hour—take advantage of that, and be prepared to tell the trainer your goal.  My goal, for instance, was (and still is) to workout in less than 60 minutes per session, simply because I know that, if I stay longer than that, I’ll end up never going at all.  Ten years later I’m still a regular at my gym.
  3. If you find that working out is boring, think about listening to music, or better still, audiobooks on your iPod.

The next part of my fitness regimen can be hard to talk about, and it’s very personal, too.  It concerns meditation and yoga, and there are people who shy away from these practices because they think of them as being tied to spirituality, and spirituality turns them off.  Let me say, then, that although many people, myself included, tie their spirituality to these practices, it’s absolutely not necessary.

Meditation can be hard to get into, but there are lots of books that can lead the way, and the rewards are massive.  Spending some time alone, or with a group, in silence, and trying to clear your mind and center yourself for five, fifteen, or 30 minutes, on a regular basis, will result in a clearer head, and a better ability to cope with the stresses of everyday life.  And we bartenders have pretty stressful lives, right?

Yoga happens to be another practice I follow to keep both my mind and my body in good shape, and I highly recommend this, but there are lots of other practices you could take up for similar results.  Eastern practices such as Tai Chi, and to an extent, any of the martial arts will probably lead to the same peace of mind, and flexibility of limbs, as yoga, but if none of these appeal to you, then JUT SAY NO!  Then look around for some sort of sport—tennis, swimming, or whatever takes your fancy—so that you have some sort of sport that you can practice on the days when you don’t go to the gym.

And finally, I advise you not to overdo any of the things I’ve suggested here.  If you’re anything like me, as soon as I start forcing myself to go to a class, or have a workout at the gym, I start to rebel against going at all.  This sort of thing requires discipline, that’s for sure, but in my experience, if you push yourself to a point where you hate what you’re doing, you’re on the road to quitting altogether.

Now you can go out and party with the best of them, and balance your life by adopting some new endevours that can help you lead a happier, healthier life.  And in all likelihood, after just a few weeks, you’ll start getting laid more often, too . . .

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Thank you Gary for being my Guest!

The Power of Bartender Community united for a GREAT CAUSE!

In Sao Paulo Brazil my great friend and amazing Bartender Márcio Silva and his friends did an event for a friend bartender who suffered a car accident and lost his right arm.

All beverage sales of this event was donated to this friend of theirs to help him get an arm prosthesis (he’s on the video at mins 2.50)

Xoquinho was hit by a car on the evening of April 10th of this year as he crossed an avenue and there was no relief. After a few hours he was found unconscious and taken to the hospital.

He had a head injury and lost his right arm and since then he is in treatment.

I know the video is in BR-Portuguese and they are working to put a caption in English and Spanish, and you also know how much I care and work for the bartender world community.

So now I ask you all your help to disseminate this video to reach a large number of access on YouTube.

If they get a large number of visits they can get more money for the cause!

Please click here to watch the video, it’s important!

Here a Video of Xoquinho on Brasilian TV working is magic before the accident

Thank you so much and bless you all!!
“Video Xoq’s Day – Encontro dos amigos do Rodrigo Xoquinho no La Maison est Tombée”

Max and Márcio