Three Mistakes I Made Early In My Career

A couple of links on survivorship bias:

(Please share more if you have them)

Links:

[sjcajw]

I enjoyed this video enough to actually pause it while the toilet was flushing so that I didn't miss what you were saying.

[TerranceKwok]

I don't work in coffee, but a lot of these lessons can be applied more broadly. Thanks for the video 👍

[infinitebodyslammer]

Its so refreshing to have just honest humility that is lacking in our culture right now. Your advice is applicable to my own experiences even if our career fields are vastly different. Cheers and keep up the good work!

[ZeldaOfLegend]

when you said you apologized to your employer for the disconnect in empathy, it made me want to do the same. i wish i could take back walking out on my job, but 3 years later and many jobs later i found myself working at a coffee shop again. we are gaining knowledge everyday to become a better person, or barista, and it made me realize not everything is the employers fault, sometimes its just a misunderstanding and im happy to say theres been a clear difference in the way i work now because ive learned how to communicate properly

[thomasotness]

What I really appreciate about your videos is a constant expectation of connecting with your subscribers. Wanting to hear our thoughts makes us feel valued and creates a unique dynamic. Love the content and I will continue to support what you are doing here on YouTube!

[EastofSublime]

Three lessons from James Hoffman that you can apply to your own life:
1. (0:55) Apply what you learn. Don't just consume information, convert it into knowledge.
2. (2:30) Ask what you can do for your job (or employer), not what it (or they) can do for you.
3. (4:14) Build a range of skills. Technical skills in your discipline is only the minimum.

[michaelmott]

Good advice. I'm 75 and a retired aerospace engineer. I'll comment about employer empathy.

Midcareer, I pursued an MS in Computer Science. Two of my required courses were business and marketing. In those courses, I learned what management wanted from me. I always thought it was an ability to design products. That was part of it. My real job was to make products that made money for the business. Additionally, my job was to develop young talent.
After learning what the business wanted, I moved into an executive position in a few years.

[shaileshshahi]

Thank you for your motivating words james, "Often successful people dont really understand why they have succeeded."

[saxdude]

Your humility is the most engaging thing about your videos. I really enjoy learning about coffee from you.

[pandaotoya]

I watch some of your videos recently and what i learn so far is that, not just about coffee but other beautiful thing that come with it. It is very pleasant and motivating at the same time. Hopefully I can get more from you. Keep up a good work.

[WesJones]

Pure gold. These are life lessons that the wise will take to heart! I come for the coffee talk but then you thoughtfully share about your experiences so others can learn from you and hopefully make better choices. Wisdom vs knowledge - you're definitely on to something there. Thank you for your generosity and keep up the great videos!

[ArseneaultKaren]

The difference between information, knowledge and wisdom.
Thanks for sharing this precious info, I'm gonna try my best to make it useful in many aspects of my life from now on.

[thesebastiansanchez]

James is just awesome!! I'm finding his advice very valuable for my own career in Particle Physics!

[RebeccaBrand]

Didn't know coffee was such a huge world!! Til you!

[garrettjeffries]

James, I want to thank you for making such great videos, whether it’s a product review, your take on coffee events, or brilliant nuggets of wisdom like this. Your videos have helped me through my infancy in coffee. As for this video, your second mistake really hits home for me as I hadn’t thought about the employer employee relationship that way. It definitely gives me some perspective and a new approach to reaching my goals in the coffee industry. Thank you again!
P.S. As always, the hair is looking great 👍🏼

[haribhabib]

honestly, i believe its a phase most of us go through, regretting means you accept your faults and that's just amazing to hear and see on your face because not many are capable of doing so, and sharing it with your subscribers basically shows your wisdom know what i mean? And when you said you apologized, gosh you really are a good member of society, being naive and selfish is a core dark part of us and removing it is a challenge and challenges take time and effort that you clearly seem to have put in, knowing that you actually thought about the employee's side just proves that you care and if you care about someone else's feeling, that is not called being "hard on yourself" guess

[unclebrizz]

Thank you for your vulnerability and humbleness, and for sharing your wisdom with us.

[cinemaocd]

I work with a lot of people who are finishing college and or grad school and being too specialized/focused is a universal problem. I think we put so much emphasis on a career and this idea that there is progression from one step to the next to the next etc. that we don't think about what happens when life pitches you something you weren't expecting. The world doesn't work like that anymore and I'm beginning to wonder if it ever really did.

[shahryarshon]

I was watching another video of yours about espresso pressure. Then I accidentally dropped my phone in the middle of the video. While picking it up I accidentally tapped this video and it started to play. I couldn't go back to the previous video without finishing this off-subject randomly played one. This is how much I'm addicted to your content.

[isaacgoncalves]

Hey James,
I really appreciated this video. I was recently laid off from my full time job due to Covid-19. During this time I decided that I would dive deep into my coffee obsession and take steps toward this longstanding dream of mine to have a coffee business. But I am starting out with little to no money and little to no background in roasting coffee. Suffice it to say that the learning curve has been steep. To make up for my lack of knowledge I started to do what you described— hoarding information. In the past couple of weeks I’ve nearly watched all of your videos and a ton of other videos from other coffee icons and roasters all over the US.
Im a huge fan and appreciate you taking the time to makes videos like this. If you have any tips at all for people like me who are just starting out into roasting I’d be honored to receive it although I have no expectation that you’ll even see this comment among the flood of other comments I’m sure you receive regularly. I also know you were doing some giveaways in other videos that I’m sure I missed out on but I would love to try your squaremile coffee someday. All the best, Isaac.