Today, was different. As I was walking into the Pho shop, he approaches me and offers me the usual, “can I help clean your shoes?” Him and I both look down at my feet. I sneak a glance at him while he’s still looking at my shoes, but this time say “yes”. I was certain that I would catch a unique expression of surprise on his face from my new answer, but it didn’t happen. There was no surprise, no wide eyes. Instead, he smiled and nodded confidently as though he knew I was going to say yes.

We were lead to our breakfast table and I asked him for the price before relinquishing my shoes. 15k VND, which comes out to be 75 cents. He went on to taking my shoes and swapped them with those easily forgettable slippers.

When I got the shoes back, they were impeccably clean with all the scuffs and scratches gone. Not only so, but the pleather was shiny, even shinier when I first bought them over at L’ucines. I should have skipped the shoe shinning portion, but with no complaints, I gave him 15k and I went on with my day with clean and awesomely shiny shoes.

Moral of the Story?

Persistance is a skill that requires both patience and a lot of heart. It takes time to master a skill, to close a deal, to grow something great and that time vested is when we will see the fruits of our labor. In the shoe cleaners’ case, a “yes” from me. The word “no” doesn’t always mean “never” as different times calls for different circumstances. He understood this and held onto his patience. There is never an absolute as everything is quite relative. Don’t give up just yet, as time changes situations. Have patience.

Heart is the ability to get up after getting knocked down, rejected or turned away. It’s when you’re playing Fight Night and your character hits the canvas for the 3rd time. You violently button smash in hopes that your boxer gets back up before the ref makes it to his 10 count. Although a game, your character has heart getting back up after a beating. Life is full of rejections and knockdowns, but it requires heart to get back up. We all have one. It’s if you can muster enough courage to use it. Have heart.

The shoe cleaner, who I have turned down 59 times before finally saying “yes”, has persistance. This is a reminder for me. At the end of the day, whether it would be cleaning shoes, growing a fruit tree or starting a new business, it’s a good lesson to remember.

Persistance.

I’ll try to make it as insightful as possible with all the adventures, lessons and things I see, read and wrestle with.

The original idea is to see how my thoughts and thinking process evolve over the years. 5 years, 10 years or even 30 years from now. This could change, but at least it’s something that I can pass on to. The internet will archive it and so will Google.

So here goes. The Start.