Lessons from Australian Master Chef Season 1

Lesson #1: Sometimes champion is made by not being the best (but not the worst) all along except for the last race.

Lesson #2: The most common way to screw up something is to have BAD time-management. Remember how Julie screwed up many of her dishes?e.g. the puddle pie

Lesson #3: Stress-management is usually what separates the best from the good.

Lesson #4: If you want to do well in something, you've gotta LOVE it~

Lesson #5: Don't take unnecessary risk i.e. risk that has no potential upside but with a downside possibility. Poh, you should have followed the recipe!

Lesson #6: Luck can sometimes change the way things go. Had Julie been not so lucky about onions being in that Garry-beef-something dish she could have got only 3 points from the taste test.

Lesson #7: Sometimes obvious answers are right in front of us, so don't search around for complicated solution before thinking over the easier possibilities. E.g. the carrots and tomatoes should really be quite obvious in the first challenge. Even I can spot that hint of tomato skin! And oh Poh, how can you forget about oil??

Lesson #8: Impression does matter. No matter how much you hate to admit it, humans being humans are bound to be led by emotions to some extent. What made Julie stayed for the finale instead of Chris? Her idea of the cook book which to me was very touching, and I have to say she knows how to engage her audience when she talks.

Lesson #9: Never think you are the best when the competition is not over. Chris thought he was the best in the competition, but see what happened?

Lesson #10: Most importantly, success is not determined by fragmented pieces of life chapters. It should be on-going. Julie won, but is that it? Nope, the real contest has only just begun! Poh lost today, but is she forever a loser to Julie? Nope, she could be the real winner if she works hard and prove to the world that her dishes sell better, or her restaurant gets more business than Julie's. One thing Julie has to justify for the rest of her life is that she is a worthy winner of the first season of Australian Master Chef.