My son’s in first grade, participating in a climbing class. Standing in front of a huge wall, with hundreds of colorful bumps all angled differently.
He has one goal, to reach the top. One goal, with many ways to accomplish it. There’s an easy way for the little ones, but none of them take it, It’s too easy. It’s uninteresting, like going up the stairs. These innocent dwarves always prefer to reach the top by the most difficult route, the most challenging, the route that requires creative thinking and courage.
I ask myself, when did it this feeling go away? At what stage on the way to adulthood did we start looking for shortcuts? When did we become drawn to the mentality of maximum results with minimum effort?
One thing that hadn’t cross my mind when this whole celebration of ours called “Artander” began to take shape, is the mental challenges that awaited my students and I. The challenge of every person who comes to me is basically the same, they require patience, from the students as well as myself, It’s difficult. On the other side of this difficulty is motivation. My challenge, is to be the motivator (is there such a word?) meaning the person who helps them find that motivation, the reason to want to bartend impressively. The reason to invest months and years in acquiring skills that the (medium to very high) market does not require at all. “Why should we try so hard? What rewards awaits us at the end?” These are legitimate questions when we are facing a decision that requires us to invest time and or money.
The easy answer is opportunities and or more money. There’s no doubt that the variety of opportunities to earn a living, recognition and professional title are significantly increased when we invest in our technical and aesthetic skills, especially today, with social networks being an integral part of our industry. Virtual space aside, a customer who receives service at the bar from bartenders who learn to bartend in our language (ARTENDERS), will receive a better product worth more money. I hate this engine, “hate,” A word I don’t use often. The economic incentives to excel eventually bypass passion. The financial reward is extremely important, but as a motivational factor it wont last long.
So where does the motivation come from? What is the fuel that will ignite the necessary spark? Clichéd as it may be the best answer is the same answer to the question “Why do 6 year olds try to climb the hardest way to the top?” Because it fills them with pride, ability and confidence.
We enjoy work more, because it’s not work, it’s a dance. It’s self-expression, a movement. Art. Artender.
Just like any other “skill” (skill is a strange word,) fun is just as important as economic motivation. Ask a guitarist who plays for a living, why do they do it? What do you think the answer would be? What do they enjoy? Did they learn to play for money? It’s one for one the same. Apart from the small matter of the age at which they start.
No one starts bartending at the age of 8 or 10, and no one (or at least almost no one) knows how rewarding it can be, in terms of fun, to reach a high level.
The focus on ourselves, for our sake, is not obvious.. The question that underlies the decision why I should be an ARTENDER is often centered on the business and the customer, because it’s very easy to understand the profit from being one. The question “why is it good for me”, apart from the economic motive of course, is relevant, relevant and elusive.
My challenge, and that of my fellow travelers, is to create a vision for those who start today. A bartending course will bring you to where everyones going, it’s the easy route, I also did a bartending course but there is a significant difference between the easy route and the difficult route and what awaits at the end…
Every 6 year old knows this.
