Hello! My name is Anton Budak, I am 36 years old and for several years I have felt that I have found, or even heard, my calling. I would like to share this short story with you.
As a young newcomer
to the working world, I was lucky enough to gain my first experiences in a very small and charming silversmith, also known as a factory.
Exciting professional years followed full of opportunities for development, trips abroad and new challenges as I left the office, which had become comfortable, and faced the demands of sales. Not everything felt like fun, but I believed that if you take responsibility you will get answers.
I always felt the trust of the management, which confirmed my personal, inner feeling that I wanted to take on more demanding tasks within the factory and grow.
I spent very happy and also strenuous years as a silversmith’s pupil before, after 9 years, I felt a strong inner impulse to discover new things outside the familiar world.
This is how I immersed myself in the exciting and ocean-deep world of coffee, where today, after 8 years, I feel arrived and energetic. As is well known, every beginning is difficult and the first 12 to 24 months flew by before I understood and better understood the density and complexity of the information that has been cultivated for centuries on the equator, or “coffee belt”, and passed on from generation to generation could internalize.
Arabica and Canephora have become new relatives of mine.
It’s very exciting to look at yourself and see what drives you, what motivates you, what’s fun and what you can lose yourself in. At the same time, it is enormously valuable and perhaps even more important for you to recognize what you don’t want, what is perceived as demotivating or annoying. I didn’t always think of it myself. People in my professional environment who meant well for me increased my trust and self-confidence or pointed out my talents.
I think such personal processes require space and the necessary peace and quiet. Fortunately, I was moving into an age that intrinsically stimulated me to read. After some time, by reading books by Rolf Dobelli, for example, I came into contact with the Stoic philosophy of antiquity. In it, as in many of the philosophical schools of the time, the Socratic view of life is rooted. My inner dialogues with Socrates, Epictetus, Marcus Aurelius and Seneca were always an incentive for me to make brave decisions for my (professional) life, which led me into situations that had not arisen before. New beliefs developed and inhibiting self-talk became quieter.
I came to coaching via the path of selling coffee and its aspects, which I viewed more critically for myself. Sometimes we meet people in our lives that we look at, listen to, and admire. I met a calm, level-headed and uncompromising barista coach who made me feel like “I want to be like that!”
Of course, the numerous milestones along the way required decisions and encounters for which you have to be ready and open.
Whenever I struggle with a decision, the saying comes to mind: “You don’t have to be brave all the time. Sometimes all it takes is 15 seconds of courage.” These 15 second moments are what I want to continue to cultivate in my life. They help me mature, want to solve problems and they create new possibilities.
My dream is…
A dream of mine is that people in Germany can visit numerous cafés without spending a lot of money on possible disappointment. This requires us to look at drinking coffee differently and help the people involved in the process. In the future, if more newcomers to the world of gastronomy have higher demands on jobs, training programs and transparent, inspiring information regarding products and services, employers will be required to change. More appreciation, more inspiration and creativity, more heartfelt feeling.
Why I believe I feel and have found my calling is simply because I don’t get bored when I’m busy with coffee. A day has 24 hours and we also have to sleep. Even if I don’t drink coffee all the time, it babbles in my thoughts and actions almost constantly.
The endless possibilities of our time and also the economic opportunities that the large coffee market offers, from farmers, to dealers, roasters and finally consumers and lovers, open up huge potential, one’s livelihood and, if you want, one’s meaning in life, in the world of Find or supplement coffees.
Today I am fortunate to be able to work in the market, partly independently as “Buddha Koffee” and partly with people whose perspectives coincide with my personal ones.
Looking back to the beginning in autumn 2015, I still feel today that there is an enormous amount to learn and try out.
Maybe we can meet in a workshop sometime?
I wish all people reading this find something in their lives that allows for fun, challenge, growth and conversion into money. Gratitude works very well as an inner compass, because it also goes by the name “Dietrich” because it can open all doors.
If you are currently having a hard time finding your passion, I want to give you the impulse to make space. Space for your peace, your creativity, so that your inner voice can become louder.
Best regards
Your Anton
INSTAGRAM: buddha_koffee
