Don't go to culinary school until you've spent some time in a kitchen. And I don't mean just glancing in one. Actually go and do a stage for a while in a real production kitchen to get a feel for it.
Even though you're going to be in the back of the house, it's still a people focused business. You need to get along well with your co-workers. Without good people skills, you can still be a great line cook, but you'll never be a great chef.
If you ever want to run a restaurant, go work in front of the house. In fact, go work in front of the house period. You may be pissed off at a server, but your perspective will change once you see the world through their eyes.
People will always judge you by your actions. Your intent doesn't count for shit.
Always lead by example. Never be the person that's "do as I say, not as I do." If you can't do it, why should you expect others to?
Always be calm in the storm. Slow is fast and fast is slow. Learn to touch things only once, so that you don't have to touch them two or three times and waste your time (for example, always put yout tools back in the same place ... they'll be there and you won't even have to look to grab them)
Just because you went to culinary school, it doesn't mean shit. Expect to start out as a prep cook. You're not the next incarnation of Thomas Keller. And even if you are, you're still going to start out as the prep cook.
