Quiet Mastery: The Art of Readiness
Mise en Place as a Way of Being
This is Part II of the Quiet Mastery series. If you missed Part I, you can read it here: The Enduring Power of Being Seen. In this next reflection, we turn from presence to preparation — from being seen, to being ready.
Mise en Place: A Lesson On Service, Presence, and Leadership
I did not always understand the quiet power of mise en place.
Mise en Place: a French culinary phrase which means "putting in place" or "gather". It refers to the preparation required before cooking, and is often used in professional kitchens to refer to organizing and arranging the ingredients that a cook will require for the menu items that are expected to be prepared during a shift.
Early on, I moved fast, I prized instinct, agility, and the thrill of thinking on my feet. There was satisfaction in navigating the chaos, weaving through service with speed and a kind of adrenaline-fed intuition. But even when things “worked”, I could feel what was missing.
There were fumbled dishes. Moments of friction. Delays that should never have reached the guest. And I began to realize, it wasn’t just about a forgotten garnish or a misplaced ladle.
The real disruption was subtler, the unease that spread when a space wasn’t ready, or when I wasn’t grounded.
It was a seasoned chef who inspired me to shift my approach. Chef Alfred didn’t shout or correct with severity. He simply moved with such calm clarity that his station felt like an extension of his breath. “Slow down to speed up”, he told me. Not once, but several times. And eventually, I heard. I listened.
Shortly after, when I began leading my own team, many of them fresh, eager, wildly talented, I found myself repeating those same words. “Slow down to speed up.” Not just as instruction, but as invitation.
The teams I led rarely talked about mise en place as a checklist in our morning huddles. We treated it as a rhythm, a shared language. A ritual. The act of preparing not just tools or ingredients, but our intentions, for each other, and for the guests.
Because how we set the stage affects everything that follows. The calm and poise in the kitchen. The rhythm of the team. The flow of the evening. The experience of the guest. The pride we carry home.
Mise en Place as a Way of Being
Before the first dish is served, before the first customer sits, before the first drop of oil hits a hot pan — there is mise en place.
To the untrained eye, it looks like mere prep: chopped shallots, portioned sauces, a towel folded just so. But in kitchens worthy of the name, mise en place is more than preparation. It is philosophy. It is poise. It is prayer.
The literal translation is simple: “everything in its place.” But that phrase belies its gravity. It’s not just about ingredients. It’s about readiness. About respect. About arranging your world — internal and external — so you’re free to focus fully on the moment.
In the clamor of dinner service, chaos is always just a beat away. Orders pile. Knives fly. Plates crack. But the chef with good mise doesn’t flinch.
Because mise en place is not just where your parsley is; it’s where your head is. Your breath. Your hands. Your eyes.
Discipline as Comfort. Repetition as Freedom.
In many ways, miss en place is a kind of trust — in yourself, in your system, in the idea that small things done right accumulate into something unshakable.
It’s knowing that grace under pressure is not born in the pressure, but before the quiet, methodical ritual of getting ready.
Outside the kitchen, we rarely call it mise en place. But we feel it. In the writer who arranges her desk before she types. In the barista who polishes their station as a final act before opening. In the maître d’ who adjusts the lighting by feel, not rule.
This is mise in its expanded form, not a checklist, but a creed.
Because in the end, mise en place isn’t about being neat. It’s about being available — to the work, to the team, to the moment. And that kind of availability only comes from intention. From putting things in place so that you, too, can be in place.
Quiet mastery starts here.
With the small things.
With the stillness before the storm.
With the elegant, uncelebrated art of being ready.
What lovely words.. and great timing! I love that you bring such awareness to the service industry. It's more challenging then people realize. I heard a quote the other day, "work is love made visible." And you always express it so lovely.... love the photos as well.