​So, as many of you may know, my husband (Barrie McConachie) is a contestant on Masterchef Canada Season 4 – in fact, he was one of the top four finalists. I could not be more proud of him and what he has accomplished. Whatever the final outcome, this experience has been the most incredible journey and has opened up so many opportunities for him. I can’t wait to see what the next chapter of our life looks like!

As this whole experience has progressed, both of us have had a few ‘a-ha” moments discovered a lot of life lessons that are applicable whether on the set or off. Here’s a few of them...

You must persevere!

While Barrie was ecstatic to make it onto Season Four, the truth is, he had actually tried out for previous seasons but was unsuccessful. When it was announced that they were accepting applications for Season Four, he initially did not want to apply again, thinking that the potential disappointment of being rejected again would be too much. The only question I posed to him was “What if this is the last season and you won’t get another opportunity?” So, apply he did – and successfully onto the show he went.

The life lesson: The road to success isn’t always a straight line. There will be some curves here and there that test our resilience and may cause us to lose focus and dwell on potentially negative results rather than on the potential for success. If something is important, we must have the perseverance to stay the course to reach success.

Success is not an accident.

Throughout any season of Masterchef Canada, it is no secret that contestants will be tested through a series of both cooking and baking challenges. Barrie considers himself more of a cook than a baker – so when he got word that he would be on the show, he spent weeks reading about baking, trying out baking recipes and memorizing ratios of dry ingredients, fat, sugar and eggs for various baked goods. As a result, when his baking skills were tested, he had a good sense of what he needed to do to make it through that stage.

The life lesson: Success is not an accident. Successful people are disciplined – they identify what they want, they anticipate what they think may happen and they prepare accordingly. They don’t leave success to chance!

Appreciate the journey, not the results.

When people hear about my husband being on Masterchef Canada, the first question many of them ask is “Did he win?” I am, of course, sworn to secrecy and cannot answer that question but the question itself is interesting to me. I think many people have the notion that only the winner gets any benefit from being on the show. I could not disagree more. As the show progresses, you can see those that are there just for the win and those that are there to learn and grow. If you are there just for the win, you will miss out on so many opportunities to learn not just about culinary skills but also what you are capable of. If you have watched MasterChef Canada, you know that the contestants are challenged every show – and many of them go into the challenge thinking they would never be able to pull it off in such a short amount of time…but when they do, contestants have the opportunity to develop a new confidence in themselves. And that lesson goes far beyond the winner’s circle.

The life lesson: Appreciate the journey, not just the end result. Try to learn something every day that will help you become a better person, a better employee, a better leader…that’s the real win. And ultimately, that will lead to long term success.

Who knew that reality TV could be packed with so many life lessons? I guess if you are open to it, learning opportunities can take many different shapes.

Tune in to CTV on Thursday nights at 9:00pm to see the next installment of learning! And follow my husband’s journey on instagram and twitter under the handle @dateplates!

#thebearcooks #sauceman #topfour #dateplates #teambarrie

#thebearcooks #topfour #dateplates #sauceman #teambarrie