It helps immerse yourself in what you potentially want to do. Being involved learning firsthand and observing the craft and absorbing all you can makes it easier to define what you want. It will also ultimately make you a better Chef. Culinary school or even a single class is a great bet too.
Watching John Lasseter's films I think I can understand better than anyone that what he's doing is going straight ahead with his vision and working really hard to get that vision into film form. And I feel that my understanding this of him is my friendship towards him.