Friday, June 18, 2010

Condo-Fishing 7: Brooklyn Tutorial

This place was just as on the pictures: an old flat at the top floor, with a mix of antique furniture -mainly Luis XV- with silk in bright colors. Funky. The building and area looked very quiet. On our way back to the subway, we bumped into a couple of Asian women, who we agreed to consider as ‘bingo’ towards the bet. That was it.

After Brooklyn-fried-chicken experience, we got off the subway a few stops later and closer to Manhattan yet still in Brooklyn; they were keen on sculpting a fuller impression of Brooklyn on me. This Brooklyn was an absolutely different –maybe even opposite- world: young professionals, young families, middle-aged couples, lots of students of all colours and religions, liveliness, right mix of commercial and residential, of mainstream stores and unique boutiques. And a ‘positive sign’: there was a Starbucks!

By now it seemed that the best that we could get was having a nice place in the wrong neighbourhood, or having an unacceptable place in an acceptable neighbourhood. Until Brooklyn knocked at my door, again.


Lesson 1: Having the right target in the wrong place is just as having missed your target.
Lesson 2: The target might have passed all the tests, but it is only the live visit that provides the final verdict regarding the ‘right or wrong fit’.
Lesson 3: You can have the same word branding the most terrible and the loveliest places; you would think it is a synonym, but it is being used actually for antonyms.
Lesson 4: In your desire for achieving your goal, you can become very flexible in your path towards that goal. What is your limit for flexibility? When are you trading in your personality and/or values in pursuit of your goal?

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