#78 - Sten Erik Allikas

Comedy Guy with Louis Zezeran

Sten Erik Allikas is an old friend of mine who I haven't seen in years because hes been away from Estonia for the better part of 10 years off and on.

Sten is just a regular dude who I think has had a pretty amazing life and shows that if you just get out there and try stuff, you will find your path.

He grew up in Tallinn, had an interest in music and fell into working in a kitchen. He took those skills and was able to land a job in one of the best restaurants in London where he honed his skills and really learnt the food game. He then lived in a hippie commune in Spain for a while before taking off for Asia. He stayed for 5 years in Cambodia where he used that kitchen experience to turn around local establishments and was able to make a living for himself. He was also in a band and were playing 5 nights a week, all the time getting better at chefing and performing. They even ran some comedy nights at the local bar and I was giving Sten tips on how to run the evening while he was over there. I like Sten's story because it shows that you may not know what you wanna do with your life but you gotta get out there and try something. Learning practical skills like cheffing led him to find a way of supporting himself no matter where he went. An education is important and you shouldn't stop learning but there are so many more ways to do that in life than just studying at a university.

I connected with details of his story I didn't know before because I saw elements of the same thing in my life: I love my crazy comedy life now but I really could only do it because I had this training in IT and mastered a skill in that first. I didn't just jump into being a comedian and promoter, I was able to gently bring down the amount of IT work I did as we got more and more Comedy Estonia gigs.

Thanks for listening to the podcast, I am trying to settle into a weekly schedule now. I am hugely appreciatively of everyone who listens, because the point of this podcast isn't to be a huge hit, it is to get better at making podcasts. At the end of this episode we talk a bit about "deliberate practice", the idea that if you want to get better at something, you can't just do it over and over, you need to push and analyze yourself and find harder challenges each time to get better. These episodes are just that, me trying to have better conversations each time and I deeply appreciate you being along for the ride.

Watch the full episode on YouTube https://youtu.be/3CGlbCAzBmE

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