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Excuses, Excuses, Excuses

Published October 29, 2018

People say that Excuses are like arm pits, everyone has some and they all stink. You can make excuses to yourself, to your spouse, to your boss or anyone you choose. You can make excuses why you dont do certain things. BUT remember they are only excuses. What it comes down to is that you are Scared to do something, Can’t do something or Don’t Want to do something. That is all there is to it.

Most people say that they dont want to do things when they are actually scared to do that thing. They say they dont want to have rental property because tenants are bad. Tenants wreck your house and you have to pay lots to get it back up and running. Sometimes that happens, but it is more the exception, not the rule. They are scared of what might happen.

People might also say that they dont want to do something when they actually cant do something. I used to say that I didnt want to be a part of a group ride (on bicycle) that goes 50 miles. Not only was I scared, but I really could not do it. It took some 10 mile rides, then some 20 mile rides and I built up to 50 miles. I ended up doing a few 100 mile rides which was, in my mind, pretty damn spectacular.

I had to push through my fear as well as my limited ability. As my ability grew, so did my confidence. My fear just seemed to fade away. It took me about 3 years to get up to 100 miles. I started with a cheapy Target bike that cost about $80. My wife saw that I was getting serious with longer rides and after about a year she bought me a nice road bike. No more excuses for me.

It should have taken less than a year to get up to 100 miles, since I was not serious and making way too many excuses it took about 3 years. But thats just it, I thought I was serious, but I kept making excuses, one after another. I am tired. I dont have time to go 20 miles(which at the time would take over 2 hours). There are more important things to do. It is almost 100 degrees, its 45 degrees. Excuses, excuses, excuses. Every little thing would keep me from my bike riding.

I started with the Target bike back in 2012. I got up to riding 20 or 30 miles max in 2013. It wasnt until May 2014 that I found the Strava app. This helped me keep track of my miles ridden, average speed, weekly and monthly distance. WOW I could now keep track with accuracy.

I can even add friends like facebook to see how many miles they have ridden. I now had some accountability and I could set goals and keep track of them. If you are on strava, please add me so we can keep each other accountable.

I set a goal to ride in the Fiesta Wildflower ride. It was in April 2014 and I had about 8 months to get ready for it. Like it or not I had to do it, no excuses. I told everyone that I was going to ride 62 miles or 100km, the metric century. If I didnt do it I would make myself look bad. If I didnt train, I would make myself look bad. I had to do it.

This was the longest ride I had ever done. Could I even finish? Would I have to walk the bike back? Would I call my wife at mile 40 to pick me up? Lots of worries for nothing.

Everything turned out fine. I did my metric century and lived to tell about it. I had a few cramps along the way. Drank about a gallon of water and gatorade(thats what you are supposed to do). All the fears were for nothing.

In the middle of 2014 right after my first big ride, is when I started tracking my miles with Strava. I did 893 miles from May until the end of the year. I probably did several hundred from Jan to May. All total I probably rode 1200 miles in 2014. Thats quite a few miles, 100 per month.

In 2015 my goal was the Hotter Than Hell 100. That is 100 miles in August in Witchita Falls. The temperature is usually about 100 degrees AND you are riding 100 miles. That was the goal.

I did the Wildflower in April, 100 miles. I finished. When I came in, they had already taken down the finish line arch. There was no food left and the vendors were gone. Instead of the 3 or 4000 people that were there for the start, there were about 20 people just kinda hanging around waiting for me and about 5 other people to finish, and one of them was in a wheel chair. I saw him come in about 3 minutes after I did.

My first 100 mile ride was in the history books. It was not a great finish, but I did it. I thought if I want to ride in Witchita in 4 months I had to get my act together. There was another 100 miler in July in Houston. Perfect practice for the Hotter than Hell 100. I had not really trained much for anything before. I rode more miles, but not really taking things too serious.

But in the weeks leading up to the ride in Houston I was riding 100+ miles per week. The week before the ride I rode over 130 miles. I took it easy the week of the ride but still managed to ride almost 150 miles that week. Houston turned out fine. I actually rode at a pace of about 15 miles per hour. That was way better than the 12.5 miles per hour for the 100 mile Fiesta Wildflower just several months before.

I had increased my stamina, my strength and my ability. The Hotter than Hell was nothing to worry about.

About 2 weeks before the ride I hit some mud, went down with the bike and broke my thumb. About $4,000 and 2 months later I was back on the bike. I hit my goals of a couple 100 mile rides(not the Hotter than Hell), broke my thumb and now I just kinda felt blah. I finished the year out with 1502 miles. 2016 ended with 755 miles. 2017 at 415 miles. This year, 2018 I have ridden 218 miles.

Why have I ridden so few miles?? Because I have been making excuses like a whiny little child. That is all there is to it. I have made all kinds of excuses. NO MORE. In November and December I will finish out the year with about 500 more miles. That is only about 35 miles per week for a couple of months. But it is way over the 20miles per month that I have been averaging this year.

2019 my goal is to have over 3500 miles for the year. This is quite a lofty goal because since 2014 until 2018 I have ridden about 4000 miles. Now I am going to do 3500 in 1 year. This will include several 60 mile rides at the Fiesta Wildflower, probably Houston in the summer and I WILL CONQUER THE HOTTER THAN HELL 100 IN 2019.

No more excuses Rick Pozos. I know what I have to do and what it will take to get there. Just like in real estate, there are some hard weeks. Sometimes I am up at 5am and go to bed at about midnight. Long days, but well worth it in the end.

When I got started in real estate I had no money. I was newly divorced. I had child support payments every month. BUT I had knowledge. I had a finance degree from UTSA. My past job history included working for a property manager and a real estate developer. I even had a real estate license for a few years and had sold some properties way back when in my college days.

I put the knowledge to work. My goal was to search for properties that were behind on payments and were about to go to foreclosure. Deals started happening. As they say, the rest is history.

Just like I never thought I would ride 100 miles in one day, I never thought I would wholesale a 24 unit apartment complex. I never thought I would have a net worth many times what many friends have. That goes to show what perseverance and dedication will do for you if you keep it up and stop making excuses.

Maybe you will ride 100miles. Maybe you will have a net worth of $1million. Perhaps you will own notes that will take you into your retirement so that you will work IF you want to. Whatever happens, you know you can get there quicker if you stop making so damn many excuses.

Ask me how I know.

My fraternity brother, Scott keeps me accountable with my bike riding. Strava helps me keep track of my miles. Gloria, my wife keeps me accountable with the real estate as well as taking out the trash and keeping up with the cars. My net worth statement that I put together every few months helps me keep track of where I stand with my real estate investments.

You have to have an accountability partner as well as ways of keeping track of where you stand. Remember the more excuses you make the longer it will take you to get to your goals. Sometimes the goals just fade away never to be seen again. Its up to you.

STOP MAKING EXCUSES or as Nike says, “Just do it”