The Most Inspiring New Yorker (from a former New Yorker)

When I was living in New York City, Mike’s restaurant was always a weekend contender; I’d loved introducing friends and acquaintances to the food and the culture. His place was one of my favorites, until I moved my family from the city in search of singularity. Through decompressing from the fast-paced life I led, I learned about the importance of practicing simplicity and ritual, and it exponentially expanded my worldview.

I wasn’t listening to podcasts as heavily as I was at that time, but if I had, I might have discovered that Mike was going through a similar transformation. Fast forward to April 8, when I heard Chernow on Ben Greenfield’s podcast, and he spoke about practicing much of the same things that I had picked up on myself, with a deeply inspiring sense of humor and grace. I immediately started listening to Kreatures of Habit, and it organically became the show I listened to while I cooked breakfast and lunch for my family.

During the April 19th episode, Mike talked about questioning his morning (and subsequent daily) routines, which I hadn’t dared to do since having adopted them. I admired his candor in relenting that he adopted his habits out of goodness, and he practices them out of goodness, because he believes his set of actions based in values is connected to his being present with his family, passionate about his work, and consistent with his love of giving to others.

Mike, thank you for your impactful work! I’m very much looking forward to following your explorations (including Crossfit, which I’d also fallen in love with very quickly).