The Loneliness of a High Volume Eater

Approximately twenty-four years ago, I snuck backstage at a Cheap Trick concert at MIT in Boston. It actually wasn't that hard as I portrayed a harried roadie and burst past a college frat boy security guard who was daydreaming about co-eds, keg parties and his bitchin' Camaro.....certainly not about algorhytms, numerical coefficients or Newton's Three Laws of Motion.

As I confidently entered the sanctity of the rock & roll nirvana better known as the backstage area, I was immediately greeting by the stunned/inquisitive/bemused lead guitarist of the band, Rick Nielsen, who gave me a quick eyeballing and said, "Who the hell are you?" Recognizing that I was neither a groupie with wares to display nor a record executive with the ability to turn singles into chart toppers, I decided to do what I was born to do - tell the truth. "Who I am Mr. Nielsen, is the biggest Cheap Trick fan in the world who has gone to incredible lengths to meet you," I replied. I ended up with a handshake, an autographed baseball cap and a memory that resurfaces every time that "Dream Police" or "I Want You to Want Me" comes on the radio.

My passion for rock & roll was rewarded with a cool story, some neat swag and the appreciation of a bow-tied rock God. Passion folks...you need to have it to survive the banalities of life.

Which brings me to the curious story of Takeru Kobayashi, the world's foremost competitive eater. You want to talk passion....this guy set a record last year by eating 68 hot dogs and buns at the annual Fourth of July hot dog eating contest at Coney Island.

First of all, do you know what's in hot dogs? When you read a package that trumpets that your ballpark treat contains "variety meats," you can rest assured that you're ingesting a fair portion of kidney, heart and liver. Or, if you're fortunate enough to simply select the package that says "mechanically separated meats," you're dining on a paste-like meat product produced by forcing bones, with attached edible meat, through a sieve. Bon appetit!!

So yes, Kobayashi has a passion, a passion to fill his belly with hot dogs, bratwurst sausages, hamburgers and dumplings. It is that passion that led him to challenge a 1089-pound Kodiak bear to a hot dog bun orgy of eating spectacle (he lost but c'mon...a bear takes half a year off to eat while Kobayashi finds new ways to assault his esophagus) and it's that passion that led to his nickname of "Tsunami." Kobayashi found something that he loves and he pursued that passion and found a way to make a living off of it. In fact, he's doing so well that he is currently embroiled in a contract dispute with Major League Eating that will probably result in a few more zeros in his paycheck.

Which leads me to the business application of this diatribe. If you're in business and you don't have the passion of a starstruck Cheap Trick fan or the immortal Kobayashi, then what are you doing? Are you clock watching? Are you plotting an escape strategy? Are you biding your time until you get your gold watch, framed plaque and pat on the back?

To be successful in anything, let alone a business venture, you must have passion. It starts there and it ends there. Without dreams, we're clock punchers and drones, those souless zombies who stare out the window and wonder what would happen if we ever had the guts and the vision to dip a toe in the icy water of uncertainty. Big risks and big rewards....put every penny you own on black 35 on the Roulette Wheel and let 'er spin.

What do you have to lose? The mind numbing gig that kills your spirit and dampens your enthusiasm to innovate? The ability to interact with people who are just as disenchanted as you? The ability to perform like a trained Capuchin monkey for customers who don't recognize your capacity for greatness?

Be like Kobayashi...find your passion, devour it like it's your last meal on Earth and swallow it whole. It's your dream, it's your birthright and it's your legacy. Those on the sidelines don't make the headlines....

Steve Boucher hates hot dogs, loves Cheap Trick and is the author of the "No Bull Business Blog" at http://blog.nheconomy.com/.