By Peabody Awards (Anthony Bourdain and Charlie Rose) [CC BY 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

[Ed. Note:  We are devastated at the tragic loss of Anthony Bourdain.  We are re-publishing this piece, originally published 5/15/2011, to commemorate his multi-talented life. If you ever have thoughts of harming yourself, please tell someone. Get help.  In USA, call 1-800-273-8255.  In Canada, click here for crisis centres in every province.]  

Anthony Bourdain is a chef who loves to write.  When he was the executive chef at Les Halles in New York City, he started writing novels.  That he was able to write and publish his first novel while simultaneously fulfilling the 24/7 responsibility of the head chef in a major restaurant speaks to just how important his writing is to him.  His passion for both cooking and writing — and his dedication to both talents — is impressive indeed.

Bourdain’s blockbuster autobiography, Kitchen Confidential, revealed the nitty gritty of life in the food world and propelled him into a travel series on Food Network, A Cook’s Tour, the honing of a new talent (making entertaining television) as well as the creation of a companion book documenting his adventures.  He subsequently moved to the Travel Channel where he writes and stars in No Reservations…and has published a chronicle of those adventures, too.

In addition to these best-sellers, Anthony Bourdain has written three novels, a cookbook and many food-related essays that have appeared in major magazines and newspapers as well as in a published collection (Nasty Bits).

His newest writing gig?  As a television writer on HBO’s acclaimed series TremeHere’s an interview in which he discusses his newest creative outlet.

Anthony Bourdain cooks well, writes well, makes entertaining television and has found a way to combine and enhance all those skills with each other.

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Activity:  Use his example as inspiration.  How could your talents work together?  How could you combine your talents in interesting ways?

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Want to re-publish this article? Go for it – just include the author’s name, a link to this original post and the following text blurb:

Are you struggling with too many talents, skills, ideas? You may have The DaVinci Dilemma™! Find tools, fun quizzes, coaching, inspiration and solutions for multi-talented people at http://www.davincidilemma.com/ .

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