In the world of coffee, Patrik Rolf and April Coffee Roasters need no introduction. He was placed in the top 6 in last year’s World Barista Championship in spite of facing issues. It doesn’t come as a surprise that this year he was crowned the Danish Barista Champion. In two months time, we will see him compete again representing Denmark in the 2023 World Barista Championship.

I also had the slightest idea after that I would ever get to meet him but Patrik was very much present at the 2023 World of Coffee Dubai. I’ll be honest, I tried not to act like a fanboy but it was hard not to seem like one. He was brewing a washed Guatemalan Geisha and after sipping on the coffee and talking to him briefly, I think I understood the epitome of April Coffee.

I finally had the time to sit and read Patrik’s new book, From Nerd to Pro. This book was launched on Kickstarter and I am glad I backed it up. Let me tell you first hand that it’s great, concise, and easy-to-read. He has a knack for writing, so much so that I enjoyed reading about his coffee journey and ended up being inspired.

I wanted to do a different type of article this time. I have pulled out some of the best insights from this book and wrote down how I resonated with it. No spoiler alerts in this one, but I highly recommend you pick up the book. In short, Patrik gives the reality behind opening a coffee business and mind you, it’s not all flowers and rainbows.

It’s never too late to redefine how you see yourself.

There’s a love-hate relationship in the process of learning, unlearning, change, growth, and setting goals. Putting in the time and effort to become a better version of yourself can be daunting for many, followed by a lot of overthinking and eventually never putting in the work. This was me. The mistake many of us make is not trying and being afraid to fail.

Allow one dream to feed into another.

You don’t need to close the previous chapter to turn a new page in your life. Patrik used his experience in coffee to write about the lessons and challenges he faced in the coffee industry. I guess I am doing the same with a different approach in mind.

I have met so many interesting individuals and had plenty of inspiring conversations so much so that the only way to appreciate them in my books was to write about them or feature them on the blog. I don’t know where this path leads but there’s only one way to find out.

I have always had an interest in competing.

I have had a strange relationship when in came to competing. I was always taught to be content with what I had. Everything I did, study or play sports, the effort I put in was just enough to get me by. It was the same story with my career. What changed within me, I am not sure, but it was a year after COVID when I resigned from my previous employment.

The responsibility of being a husband and a father felt like I was racing against time. That competing nature in me had ignited and I felt like I had to prove to everyone that I have what it takes to be the best in anything I do. The strange outcome — I enjoy it!

Inspiration and meetings were the easy part. It was turning things into action that posed the real challenge.

I have had no trouble meeting new people and making an impression. For that, I am truly grateful. What I find extremely difficult is to ask something from somebody. I fail to realize that I have nothing to lose. The worst case scenario is going to be a no in the very least.

It was less about the money and more about a shared purpose.

Patrik felt comfortable around coffee people, and in some way I feel a sense of belonging. Blogging about my coffee journey has been the best thing to happen to me. People have been nothing but supportive and accommodating.

What is the value of an idea if it doesn’t get turned into action?

Dreamers to doers. You don’t want your passion to curl up and die. This is a reminder to myself everyday. I try to water it everyday with consistent small efforts to keep getting better at whatever I do. Strive with excellence.

The past year of simple repetitive tasks made sense.

Trust the work you put in to prepare yourself for the best or the worst. Find yourself a mentor because the right guidance will give you the boost you need. Never underestimate repetition for it can have an exponential effect on your growth.

Leaving something that you can’t seem to find any genuine fault with is much more complicated.

There’s a quote I remember reading, “The comfort zone is nothing else but a graveyard for your dreams & ideas.” **It’s tricky when you are in a good situation. Why would you risk giving it all up and face the unknown? Patrik knew that he was not done learning and growing. There’s always more to explore.

It is common for employees to overestimate their value.

How many times have you secretly wished that the company you worked for struggled to exist without you if you left? More often than not, the company will survive and perhaps even excel when a replacement is hired in your absence.

This, my friends, is the Dunning-Kruger Effect. The paradox of our own ignorance. The fault is within us, and the sooner we realize that the majority of us can be replaced at any time, the less entitled we will feel. Course correct, focus on yourself, and reach your goals.

You need three things to become good at what you do: teach someone who knows less than you, learn from someone who knows more than you and compete with someone on the same level as you.

This is something that resonated the most with me and if there’s one takeaway to be understood from this book, it’s this. Which is why I think you need to have a strong “why”, and you’ll figure out the “how”. It does not work the other way around, at least in my case.

To deal with what’s in front of me and trust that doing that to the best of my ability would take me where I wanted to go.

Patrik constantly challenges himself with what others might consider impossible. The best part, he surrounds himself with people who are curious to push themselves to the extreme as well.

Jim Rohn said it best, “Work hard at your job and you can make a living. Work hard on yourself and you can make a fortune.” Fortune need not be monetary, but your skills and abilities to develop true mastery.

You often learn the most from people whose perspectives and approaches are different from your own.

In other words, radical open-mindedness — a tremendously challenging skill to acquire by today’s standard. This is a trait that Ray Dalio writes about and uses in the concept of learning.

He asks us to be open to criticism and perspectives of others putting egos and judgments aside. Either the odds are in your favor or you are wrong and can take clues from other people to turn something right.

I didn’t just push through it. I was enjoying myself.

Often times, you get bogged down with so much on your plate, overwhelmed with responsibilities, negative thoughts, questioning it all, and focused on the end result. Patrik didn’t back down from a challenge, and reveled putting in the work while paying attention to the process.

There are three ways I constantly remind myself to slow down and enjoy the process of working towards my goals:

Practice reflection and gratitude.

Focus on the now. The goal is in the future.

It’s a marathon, not a sprint.

If I waited for perfection, there would be a chance that I would never launch.

When I launched my blog, I had a vision of what I wanted it to be. It would have taken months to launch. Instead, I focused on what could be done now, and made changes on the go. I find this approach agile. Patrik didn’t wait for perfection, he launched first and made alterations as he went along in his journey.

I was taught growing up not to challenge my place, to never live outside of my means.

Don’t spend more money than you can afford. Golden advice to stick to your budget.

I created a daily structure that I followed religiously.

I have to admit, I am obsessed about productivity, setting routines and being structured. I believe they keep you sane and on-track during uncertain and stressful situations. The feeling is control, and you need those on days you feel lost and out-of-place. It’s also not only about work but about you — be it a fitness routine, or self-care — it sets you up for consistency.

I would write, with pen and paper, reflections based on questions such as How do I feel? What is difficult? What is going well? Am I on the right track?

I spend some time in reflection everyday or a couple of times per week. I think it is important to unload your thoughts either first thing in the morning or by the end of the the day.

I first heard about Julia Cameron’s morning pages from Tim Ferris. It’s a brain dump ritual on three pages (approximately 750 words) written by hand. Also, why write with a pen and paper? I think it helps you be more mindful of your thoughts.

The roasteries that create the most value for a farm purchase a wide range of their coffees. The real value isn’t in selling the small lots you purchase.

The roasteries we know and love purchase some of the finest coffees — micro and nano lots — but Patrik highlighted a stark fact that buying the best quality lots from specialty coffee producers would cover only up to 5% of their harvest. What about the rest?

As a coffee consumer, you would think otherwise. I was of the opinion that drinking specialty coffee created some value for the farmers but drinking the best of the best hardly seems to make a dent.

Coffees are produced with varying quality and are sold at different price points, the highest of which fetch the most attractive buyers. Patrik had a solution to this, one that creates true value.

There’s a lot more that this book offers, and I already know I’ll be picking it up again for a quick read later this year. This was Patrik’s guide he wished he had when he started his coffee journey a decade ago. The imparting wisdom in biographies such as his deliver an immutable impact.

What I Learned from Patrik Rolf