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Max here with a long needed post…..

Man, it has been ffffoooorrrreeevvveeeerrrr since I have written. And as much as I can feel like saying that not much has happened, the truth is this, that would be a lie. But the real question is this, have I moved the needle forward towards my dreams and goals or have I stagnated like spoiled milk? Hmmmmm…..

And as I do a quick (and when I say quick, I mean like just a quick Hmmm?) I would have to say, Yes and No. You see, my “Experience List” holds all of the things that I currently want my life to look like….. with the exception of one thing…. Starting a mentoring program at my old high school. I am not exactly sure why I haven’t put it in my experience list. I’m gonna have to think about that at some point. But yeah, so for the most part, my experience list holds the look of my life.

And over the last 2 months a lot has happened. The question is, where do I start, and can I remember everything?  I will say this, and painfully, I have not been consistent with my gratitude journal, nor my small wins journal, and I just recently finally wrote in my personal diary. I mention that simply because without keeping up with my journal, it just gets so easy to glaze over or “forget” events from my life that could be important to seeing how things that occurred have shaped my life and how I should have taken a left instead of a right. But I can only assume that things in life happen for a reason. Now with that in mind….Let’s begin and see what I can remember.

As for what happened after my last post, well I went down to Mexico, Reynosa specifically, and saw a doctor (Maria Pilar) to have some face surgery done. It’s actually kinda funny and ironic at the same time (for me mentally) because one part of me can’t believe that I just wrote that (about the face surgery) but then again, another part of me never liked the way I looked. Maybe it’s because I didn’t have a father in my life, Maybe it was because I was a latch key kid, maybe it was because of a lot of negative things in my life, maybe it was because of a lot of things that I don’t care to remember. Who knows, for now, I guess I’ll just call it a lack of self confidence. Or whatever. So what did I do? What kind of face surgery did I have? Well, I’m glad you asked. I had some buccal fat removed, and I had vaser lipo done and I also had a chin implant done. For those that don’t know what buccal fat is, buccal fat is cheek fat. I am not necessarily a fat guy, but I have always had fat cheeks. And, well, I just never liked my fat cheeks. I don’t think that they were extremely fat, but still, just wasn’t something that I saw other “handsome” men have. So for me buccal fat was on my experience list. The surgery so far went well, but it has been about 2 months and a small area of my jaw line is still numb. I am not sure if that is bad or still kind of normal. But I am hoping for the best. And oddly enough, for the most part, I like the look. Now will I like it in the years to come? Truthfully I don’t know, but I definitely hope for the best.

And to be honest, it seems like the face surgery was the catalyst that has numbed me from writing on this chronicles to a million. Why did it somehow keep me from writing? You know, I can’t really pin point the reason why, but what I can say is this…. Since the face surgery, time has just been flying by so fast. It feels like I have just not had enough hours in the day, enough rest, enough energy, enough help, enough money, or enough of “something” to get things done. And speaking of things done, apartment #01 is still not finished. But more on that later

So the face surgery has definitely been something. I am still having to take medicine every 8 hours (which I am not doing “every” 8 hours. Maybe that’s why the healing has taken so long. Who knows, only time will tell. Since the surgery, I also saw my organizer Joan. Painfully, it feels like I have not had enough accomplishments to report when visiting with her. And to be honest, I can’t remember if I met with her once or twice since my surgery, but the one thing that she was quick to help me see is that by doing the buccal fat, that I have accomplished something on my experience list. From there we talked about an event with the girls that I was going to hold. I wanted to hold an event (meeting) with the girls to talk about ways to help them make money at work. Joan helped me brainstorm ideas on topics and how to make an overall flow of the event, we also talked about my family abroad. And also my then, up coming trip to Florida. She also helped me to see that I need to start using a calendar (which I must say that I still have yet to fully implement, but it is work in progress)

Then there is my trip to Florida. As for my trip to Florida, there is a city where I want to plant some roots. the city is called Homestead Florida. It is a small city that is just far enough away from the super big city life, but yet close enough to the beach life if I really want soak up some sun and some island life. Sadly it is also a city that is growing very fast and I must get my ass on board with planting roots there soon. The drawback is that currently (as of this writing)  the cost of living in Homestead costs 40% more than where I live now. And if the cost of living was just 10 or 20% more then it wouldn’t be much of an issue, but 40%. That is something that I must learn to mentally look as easy to accomplish. How do I create 40% more out of nothing? Honestly, I’m not sure, but I know that somehow it is possible. Others have done that and more. And so I must figure it out.

So for my trip to Homestead, I decided to rent an AirBNB in the area of Homestead that I want to live. I have to admit, I loved it. I also decided to rent a car from Turo. I chose Turo because I have been telling myself that I want my next car to be a Land Rover. Don’t ask why, it’s just something the poor kid inside of me has wanted for sometime now. And from the books and videos that I have read and seen, have all  said that I should walk into a Land Rover dealership and ask to test drive the car, and to have the salesman take my picture while sitting in the car. And from what I understand, the point of that exercise is to create the mental image of me already owning and living with the car in my life. As I might have said in a past post, if you can see it in your mind then you can see it in your life. And for me I decided that since I was taking a trip that I should rent a Land Rover. Why take a small test drive and a photo, when I can live with it for a few days. And honestly it was actually a  great idea that I did that. Not only did I get to experience a nice car for my vacation, I pretty much realized that I don’t want a Land Rover. The outside look is nice, great, awesome, and the inside is also really nice, comfy etc, but it just had software/electrical issues. And after doing a little research, I found that it was normal for Land Rover’s to have those types of issues. And for me if I am going to pay over $40k for a car, I am just not going to want those types of issues. And so I just might end up getting the Ford Explorer. The Ford Explorer is not labeled as fancy as a Land Rover, but it has about the same look, and I am sure that their most expensive Explorer will be sufficient for me and my dog. So I guess my next car rental will be a decked out Explorer. And if I don’t like that one, then my search will go on.

So what did I do while in Homestead, well, I was wanting to go skydiving, but I just didn’t think that I was going to get to pencil it in. I tried to skydive there last year and it didn’t happen. And this year I tried to call the DZ several times and didn’t get much of a response from them. So what did I end up doing? Well, I decided to go scuba diving in Key Largo and I also did the jet boots. (You know, it’s kind of like the boots that Iron Man wears to fly) except these are water powered. I also made a trip to Miami to visit a woman who was going to export some birthday gifts to my niece abroad. I was also kind of wanting to visit south beach, but for some reason, I just felt like there wasn’t enough time to do that. Again, during my trip, it just felt like time was moving so fast that I did not get enough time to just relax and enjoy every moment possible. During my time there I also visited a tree farm and talked to a man named Doug. He drove me thru part of his tree/palm farm and explained some of the different types of palms that I am thinking of buying for my 4plex. I must say, I really enjoyed him showing me all of the different plants on his farm. I had tried to learn about these palms before but there just doesn’t seem to be that many people around me (where I live) that are well versed in the different types of palms that are native to coastal islands. Weird huh? Lol. But so yeah, Doug was very helpful. And I will definitely be giving him my business in the next year or so when I get to do the outside landscaping for the 4plex. And of course while in Florida, I  had to have me some……….

I must interject here, while writing here at work in the club there are times when things here at the club get so busy that even I must pause during my writing. And sadly not only did that happen, but I have punted my writing until now…. When is now? Now is Friday December 28 2018. Yeah I know. talk about a pause. Tell me about it.

OK. So lets see if I can pick up where I left off…..I had to have me some Cuban food. I work with a lot of Cuban girls so I figured I would make their mouth water with photos of all the food they love.  Overall the trip was good. Although as I mentioned earlier, things just went by so fast that I just didn’t have time to drive and look at properties or really relax in the manner that I wanted.

Now since my visit to Florida, how has life been, more specifically, my mind? Well, it’s still been a roller coaster ride. Although I will say this, as we round near the end of the year, this week I have been trying to subconsciously do some self reflection on what I have been able to accomplish. And I can at least say that I have pushed the needle forward, not by much. It may only be by the hair of a balding man, but it is at least a hair. I have listened to Jack Canfield’s book “The Success Principles” again, or maybe 2 more times. And I can see that if his principles to success are what I need programmed into me, then I still have a long way to go.

One of the things that I told myself that I was going to do before the end of this year is to visit with a woman that could possibly help me with my desire to start the mentoring program. I went to visit her yesterday, She is the CEO the the children’s shelter. Funny thing, I didn’t think about it until I was almost to the offices, but as I was driving to the office, I told myself, This lady is probably a busy woman, what am I going to say when the person at the front desk says “Hi, how can I help you?” After a moment, I told myself… Your going to act and respond as if you are meant to see her. (Not a normal response that I would have mentally told myself) And oddly enough that’s what I did, and the receptionist’s response was “OK”, and then went to the phone to make the call, but then realized that the CEO is out of town. Then the receptionist began to ask me more questions that I did not instantly have answers to. I felt very uncomfortable and just wan’t sure how to respond. But in the end I spoke with the CEO’s assistant. And the assistant found a nice way to push me in another direction, and told me that I should speak with someone else first, a man named Patrick. And if Patrick can’t help, then we can see about maybe scheduling a meeting with the CEO of the shelter.

So today I went to see Patrick and learned that he too was out of town. Not a big surprise since it is the holidays. So while I spoke to Daisy, (The woman who told me Patrick was out of town) she too asked if she could help me without having to Patrick, and this is where I saw my mind grow, but just not fast enough. When she asked me questions, which to me felt like a grilling, I quickly, in my mind, went negative, (which is what I should have not done) and told myself, “This woman can’t help me” and so I wanted to be short and rude with her, and I almost was going to be that way, but then I said, what can it hurt to tell her what I wanted to do since I know that she really can’t give me the answers or the help that I need. And oddly enough I felt good after talking to her. Not only did she say, “Yeah, you should probably speak to Patrick” Which in my mind I currently couldn’t help but to say “Duh” but as I got in my car and drove away, I asked myself…”What is God trying to tell me by making me explain myself to that woman? What did I gain from it?” And instead of being negative about not seeing Patrick or the CEO, I told myself, this is God telling me to get practice on talking to people about what I want to do. In a book I read, named “The Third Door” the author Alex said that his mentor made him (Alex) tell different people one of his own personal success stories hundreds of times. Alex said the point of retelling stories of you life or repeating hundreds of times to different people the things that you want to do is because, with every rendition of telling the story that you only get better at telling the story. You make it sound “more worth hearing”. More worth remembering, and more inspiring. And the one thing that every human can relate to is a story of inspiration, fun or dispair. If you make the story interesting or exciting then people will listen. Remember, people will never always remember what you did, they may not always remember exactly what you said, but they will ALWAYS remember how you made them feel.  It’s just how the human mind works. People like Hitler, Obama, Kennedy, and even Trump (Just to name a few) all moved millions that way. Some like Obama and Kennedy did it in a positive manner, while Hitler and Trump put a different spin on things. But either way, telling a good story can as the young kids say “make you feel some type of way”. And so as I drove away from the children’s shelter without being able to see Patrick, I found myself believing that it was God’s way of telling me to keep practicing, keep refining the speech. If I am going to be prepared for an opportunity, then I must practice my story until it just runs off of the tip of my tongue.

Now how’s that apartment #1 going? FFFFFUUUUUUUCCCCCCCKKKKKK! It’s a slow as a coal turning into a diamond! But my guy John was out there yesterday and will be there again tomorrow. I am so close to getting it finished and on the market. I must somehow have it ready by mid January. I relayed this to John and will relay it again on Monday. There is also my enigma Eloy….. interesting enough he is becoming less of an enigma and coming to work more often. He is still late, and sometimes I have to go and look for him, but it is at least not as often as before. Now my biggest issue or challenge with my enigma is to get him to pick up skills. Because he does drugs, it is just one of the many things that is hindering his ability to learn as quickly as his potential should allow him. For example, because he has been late on numerous occassions, I told him Eloy I love that you come to work, and I say this with love, but, you gotta stop waking up like an accident! Stop waking up like it was an accident. Have a purpose for waking up. Stop making it an accident to wake up.  I ended it with more detail, but you get the point. Waking up in the morning should not be an accident. Oddly enough during our conversation, he said, “I have never heard that before” Which to me means that it got him to think, even if it was just for that second. It’s more thought towards why he should wake up than he has ever put before. But yes, he is now slowly coming to work more than before. (good thing)

Now with that being said…. Oh My God…. I have been soooooo tired lately. Again, maybe it is because life seems to be moving faster than I can catch it, maybe because I am trying to do too many things at once, maybe because I am using more mental energy to understand how to align my life goals. (That really does take a lot of mental energy) Maybe, Maybe, Maybe. Just so many maybe’s. What I can see is now that my enigma is at work on Monday, I 95% of the time don’t sleep until 9pm on Monday night, which means that I toss and turn in bed on Sunday and wake up several times while tossing and turning and then finally get out of bed on Sunday at 3 or 4pm only to finally go back to my bed at 9pm on Monday. and a few times since my last post I did that multiple times in a week (being awake for more than 24 hours). Two words come to mind… “Just painful!” I hope this is only a phase as I try and find that “organizing” that I have been looking for. With proper time management I will be more efficient and rested. At least that’s the plan.

And with my enigma doing work at my house, this leaves me time to try and learn and understand myself better, Although with my enigma, I still need to be near since he has not yet learned the skills necessary to need zero supervision and still get a productive job accomplished. Which is maybe why oddly enough, even though my enigma has been working more, I have not been able to go skydiving or make the appropriate time to write in this blog. But 2019 is on the horizon, and as I work on getting closer to my goals there are just a lot of chess pieces that I must arrange and move in the proper order. The more I listen to Jack’s book, the more I understand and digest the importance of all of his principles. But what I am seeing now is that it is not just every principle that is important, deeper than that, it is extremely important for each principle to be enacted at its proper and or order. I have also been able to notice or begin to see a pattern that most of the successful people somehow got started at a relatively young age, even Jack, he had a mentor in his late teens and early 20s. And for most of these people to attain the success that now seems so natural for them took the better part of 20 years. Which by most people’s initial thought seems to be a long time, and for me at first glance, I would have to agree that 20 years is a long time, but the truth is this…. 20 years is going to happen whether I want it or not, so I might as well start walking in it’s direction of my goals and dreams, because if I do it correctly, me and my dreams will eventually meet up.

Love,

Max.