What sushi can teach you about mastery

Sushi is an art. The chefs behind the delicacy are masters of their craft. They're disciplined, organized, and devoted to what they do. The way sushi works, chefs are practically doing the same thing everyday. The beauty in sushi culture comes from the simplicity of it all, and the risks the chefs take on making the Japanese dish.

These attributes are culminated when the omakase course is ordered. Omakase means "I leave it up to you." You being the chef. It's a simple process. The chef takes into account the season and weather, his customer's temperament, and the array of fish he has for the day. With this info, he creates a menu and delivers the meal in increments. He tweaks the meal according to your reaction and alters the meal accordingly.

I think the omakase course is the hallmark of sushi because it encapsulates everything sushi can teach you about mastery. There are two main points I'd like to go over in regards to omakase:

Risk
Simplicity

Risk

The Michelin Guide says "few formal dining experiences are as revered or as intimidating" as omakase.
Due to the nature of an omakase course, all chefs can offer their clients is their word and reputation as a master. It's not like having a menu where if you don't like the food, you can partly blame yourself, you chose. The Chef bares full responsibility over your meal. It is the physical form of confidence in his/her craft. The customer sees everything being made in front of them and the chef sits across you as you sit.

The art of omakase is a true testament to benefit of the risks and responsibilities of being an expert.

There's one major takeaway here:

Your customers and clients should be leaving it up to you. Your opinion should be revered, that is your role as the expert. You should be paid for what you think.

Simplicity

The omakase course avoids the complexity of a menu and leaves what you're eating up to the chef.

The omakase has a fixed price for the service. Sushi chefs preparing a omakase course know the exact amount of people they are seating and the exact amount of dishes they are preparing per course. These metrics never change. Sushi chefs are work with the same array of ingredients all the time as well.

This way of cooking allows sushi chefs to become experts because they are working with the same material under the same circumstances every time.
For anyone to become an expert they need to get their reps in. The set price, scope, setting and timeline of the omakase course gives sushi chefs an outlet to do just that.

Main takeaway:

Put yourself in an environment to do the same thing and rework your 'menu' (service, product, etc) to make sure you're doing the same thing everyday. You'll find these constraints allow your creativity to flourish and put you on the fast lane to expertise.

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