Founders #219 Tony Bourdain: The Definitive Biography
Unwavering Work Ethic
- Bourdain embodied a "job must get done" mentality.
- Even while struggling with addiction, he maintained a strong work ethic.
Redirect Your Energy
- Apply the same energy used for self-destructive habits towards self-improvement.
- Bourdain's dedication to writing while working full-time demonstrates this principle.
Promote Your Work
- Promote your work relentlessly; visibility is key to success.
- Bourdain embraced self-promotion, recognizing its importance.
What I learned from reading Bourdain: The Definitive Oral Biography by Laurie Woolever.
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[28:32] All the energy he'd put into trying to destroy himself, he put that into building himself back up. All that negative energy became something else. He became so serious, and so driven and focused. He worked really hard. It takes a lot of determination to wake up early in the morning and write, and then go to a job in the kitchen, and come home at god knows what hour, and get up the next morning and do it again. He was a fiend. One time, he said about his disciplined writing regimen, "Such was my lust to see my name in print." He threw himself into his work in a manner that I found astonishing.
[41:17] He gave me really good advice: "Stay public. You gotta promote, promote, promote, or it all dies. You just gotta be out there all the time." Tony embraced that.
[56:17] He proceeded to tell everyone to ignore the network. He said, "Completely ignore everything they're saying about music, about story, about shots. Let me deal with it all. I'm gonna make the show I want to make, across all fronts.” I had already been editing for ten years, and this was the first time I'd heard anything like this. Everyone is always just trying to make the network happy.
[1:01:51] The line between Tony and the show was very thin, if it existed at all.
[1:07:07] This life isn't a greenroom for something else. He went for it.
[1:20:50] He demanded excellence, and he never settled for shit. He just wanted the show to be the greatest thing ever, all the time.
[1:22:48] It was his life's work, and he never slacked.
[1:34:56] Tony gorged himself on being alive.
[1:46:13] The world is not better off with him not here. It's just not.
[1:45:46] I liked him better when he was just kind of living his best life and looking in the rearview mirror like he stole something. This beautiful life that he had, something people would dream of, and no one else could do it but him. A "slit my wrist" love story is just the shittiest ending to it all.
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“I have listened to every episode released and look forward to every episode that comes out. The only criticism I would have is that after each podcast I usually want to buy the book because I am interested so my poor wallet suffers. ” — Gareth
Be like Gareth. Buy a book: All the books featured on Founders Podcast