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Max with another week of amazing things…..NOT. Lol.

Actually this week was my test of how to deal with stagnation. I think I barely passed. This week was 4th of July. It was this past Wednesday. And so the 2 people that I have work for me both bailed on me on Wednesday and Thursday. It shouldn’t be surprising since it was 4th of July, but but when they both say that they will work for me on Wednesday and Thursday and then decide at the last minute to not work just bugs me. Maybe it’s karma, maybe it’s me finally growing, who knows, maybe it is both.

Luckily though as I write this, it just bugs me a little less than it did last time. Maybe it’s the videos I watch, maybe it’s the books I read, maybe I’m not caring enough. Maybe, just maybe it’s a little bit of everything. I was reading an article recently about real estate and what I took from the article was that when it comes to dependable workers, that usually (not always) but usually the lower priced workers will never satisfy most of my needs. This doesn’t mean that the higher priced will ALWAYS satisfy all of my needs, but sadly it’s just a fact that the lower priced may work for cheaper labor, but their dependability, or their speed of work, or their self creativity, or their ability to think on the fly will lack. So somewhere, somehow, I am just not going to be content with portions of their output. If I want someone to think like me, talk like me, and do work like me, then it is always going to have to be me that does the work and wears all the hats. But again, me doing the work is not the end goal. And so this week was no surprise of their output. Although sadly I still set the internal bar too high.

With that, what I can say is that Apartment #01 is finally in what I call “in the next to last stage”. Each bedroom is actually 95% finished. And this coming week, I can honestly see all 3 bedrooms finished. Then it’s just the kitchen area, Laundry room area, living room, and outside. Each of those are at least 70% or more finished. And as of today I can honestly predict that the apartment will be finished within the next 10 business days. I may have  to work there for 2 days putting in my own sweat, but sometimes that’s just how the ball bounces. However, we will see. My mindset is to learn to have others work for me, so that I can learn how to grow my business and spend my time doing things that align with my passion. But am I afraid to get dirty?  Hell NO. As a matter of fact for the first 4 years of that apartment complex I was getting dirty on a almost DAILY basis. And I don’t mean like only doing sheet rock. I mean EVERYTHING.

Now when I think back on it, I couldn’t have afforded to hire halfway good help even if I wanted too. The bills that I was having to pay, the learning curve of what type of landlord to be and the supplies that I was having to buy were also just eating me alive. I hadn’t done enough personal development to understand how to maximize my money here in Austin. But now I am using what time I have left in the club to better tailor my skills on how to make money. My personal view is that I will always make more money by the way in which I am able to “properly” care for more people.

But I digress….. This week….. 4th of July. Most things I wanted didn’t happen. Man it seems almost like an instant replay of last week.  But last week, even though it was tough, seemed to be a bit more productive than this week.

Things I didn’t do this week…..

I didn’t go skydiving, I didn’t get half of the work done this week at the apartment as I even wanted to expect, I didn’t seem to accomplish much.

Things I tried to do but didn’t happen…I tried to put EL light on my motorcycle helmet (boy that was a year of waiting to get done) but didn’t happen (but I at least learned how EL light works), My motorcycle mechanic came over to transfer parts from my old motorcycle to my new/used one, but he told me that he couldn’t stay to finish the work. I tried to get my eyebrows waxed. I went to the nail shop only to learn that the lady that does my eyebrows won’t be back until next Friday. I went to the chiropractor to get a traction adjustment only to get there and find out that the doc that I see is not there any more and the new doctor doesn’t do the adjustments in the same manner. So I didn’t get the adjustment that I was looking forward to. The cleaning lady never came to my house. I waited for her and also texted her but she never replied. That is the 2nd time that specific cleaning company did that to me. I have a DJ friend that I have been secretly trying to help him gain presence on social media. His career is that of being a DJ that spins records, and in this day and age a DJ needs to do more than just spin records. You must also market your name. But yeah, so I tried to get him to come over to do a FB live podcast, but he came up more excuses of why he didn’t have time. I ate more fried food this week than I have in the last 6 months, maybe even a year. The people from SCORE.org emailed me and I called them, but the lady on the other line just didn’t seem to resonate with me well. It was just a really awkward conversation. It’s like there was a 10 second delay between her voice and mine. It just make me feel like they might not try to help me. But hopefully I am wrong. So needless to say I got nothing done with them this week. Another Wednesday of not going to the masonic dinner. Another week of not going to the gym. My garden (literal garden) is in shambles. It’s just overgrown like a jungle. My yard or what there is of a yard needs lots of work. I scheduled a day to visit my enigma (that is in jail) but I missed the appointment. I haven’t fully finished putting my car back together. The AC work that I did on my car didn’t fix the issue the cooling issue. I now need $600 to by new parts and then a FULL day of my time to put the new AC parts on my car. Over all progress feels pretty frozen. But I know that things must change.

The bad part about change is that it is always going to happen. Even if it’s on a slow unnoticeable level. the best part about change is that you can rest assured that it’s coming. Even when you can’t see it. And so it is not about my rant and raves about stagnation or despair, but instead its about my ability to be like water. Bruce Lee said it best in his quote….  “Be like water making its way through cracks. Do not be assertive, but adjust to the object, and you shall find a way around or through it. If nothing within you stays rigid, outward things will disclose themselves.

Empty your mind, be formless. Shapeless, like water. If you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. You put water into a bottle and it becomes the bottle. You put it in a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Now, water can flow or it can crash. Be water, my friend.”
― Bruce Lee.

But again…. I digress…..

The positive part about this week….. Man that’s kinda difficult. But lemme dig… Hmmmm. The positive part about this week has been that I now understand EL lighting. And that I learned that I didn’t have to pay almost 200 dollars for it. Instead I could have paid $50. Not sure if that’s a positive idea, but it is what it is, that’s for sure. I got a massage. That’s about it.

But again. It doesn’t matter whether the negatives outweigh the positives. At least not in the long run. Right now it hurts. I would say that it stings, but the truth is that it just fucking hurts. But that’s OK. This week will be a new week. And a new round of challenges and unknowns that will surprise me.

My mindset for this week…. Be like a child….. curious.

Wish me the best.

Max.