{"id":7039058,"date":"2026-08-16T09:05:33","date_gmt":"2026-08-16T09:05:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/uncategorized\/on-eating-shoes-and-keeping-your-word\/"},"modified":"2026-08-16T09:05:33","modified_gmt":"2026-08-16T09:05:33","slug":"on-eating-shoes-and-keeping-your-word","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7039058","title":{"rendered":"On Eating Shoes and Keeping Your Word"},"content":{"rendered":"


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In 1979, filmmaker Werner Herzog kept a promise.<\/p>\n

He had once told fellow director Errol Morris that if Morris ever completed his first feature film, Herzog would eat his own shoe.<\/p>\n

Morris finished the film.<\/p>\n

So Herzog boiled his leather boot with garlic and herbs, softened it as much as possible, sliced it up, and ate it onstage in front of an audience. The whole thing was filmed by Les Blank.<\/a><\/p>\n

It\u2019s absurd, uncomfortable, and yet strangely beautiful.<\/p>\n

Commitment Has Teeth<\/h2>\n

We love to talk about commitment when it feels aspirational.<\/p>\n

We are less enthusiastic when it becomes chewy.<\/p>\n

Herzog didn\u2019t eat the shoe because he wanted to. He ate it because he said he would. And somewhere in that act\u2014ridiculous, unnecessary, self-inflicted\u2014there\u2019s integrity.<\/p>\n

He wasn\u2019t just encouraging a young filmmaker. He was honouring his word. And there\u2019s something bracing about that.<\/p>\n

In a world of soft promises and strategic exits, he chose discomfort over retreat.<\/p>\n

The Joy After the Chewing<\/h2>\n

What fascinates me isn\u2019t that he suffered through it. It\u2019s that he seemed to enjoy it.<\/p>\n

Not the taste, obviously. But the act. The theater of it. The spirit of it.<\/p>\n

He turned obligation into art.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s the move.<\/strong><\/p>\n

You don\u2019t always get to avoid the hard thing you agreed to. But you do get to choose how you carry it. You can resent it\u2026 or you can transmute it.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a difference between pain and meaning.<\/p>\n

One drains you, the other fuels you.<\/p>\n

A Steady Diet of Shoes<\/h2>\n

But here\u2019s where this becomes less cinematic and more practical.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re constantly eating metaphorical shoes, something\u2019s off. Herzog\u2019s act worked because it was rare. Symbolic. Finite. A one-time honoring of a specific promise.<\/p>\n

If every week he was boiling leather to prove his integrity, we\u2019d call it dysfunction. This is where discernment matters.<\/p>\n

As Patrick Rhone often says, \u201cSaying no is saying yes to other things.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

Every yes carries a cost. Some costs are worth paying. Some build character. Some deepen relationships. Some sharpen craft.<\/p>\n

Others are just\u2026 shoes<\/em>.<\/p>\n

And if you\u2019re not careful, you can build a life where you\u2019re constantly chewing through commitments that never should have been made in the first place.<\/p>\n

Choose Your Shoes Carefully<\/h2>\n

There is honour in keeping your word. There is wisdom in guarding it.<\/p>\n

Before you say yes, ask:<\/p>\n