The Millionaire Fastlane

DeMarco describes three different paths to wealth creation: The Sidewalk, The Slowlane, and The Fastlane.

Quick overview:

The Sidewalk isn’t gonna get you to the wealth promise land. On this track, you spend more than you make and consider credit part of your income. D’oh. You’re more interested in *looking* rich than being rich and you have a fetish for buying the latest and greatest stuff the day it comes out–all on credit, of course. Eek.

Whereas The Sidewalk is all about sacrificing tomorrow for today, The Slowlane is essentially all about sacrificing today for a hoped-for tomorrow. It’s all about having a stable job, investing diligently in the stock market and hoping that, if everything goes *perfectly* (and you don’t lose your job and the stock market doesn’t take a dump), in 30 or 40 years you might be able to retire rich! DeMarco calls this Wheelchair Wealth. :)

The Fastlane, on the other hand, is all about working hard to put systems in place to create massive wealth such that we can retire young and, as he puts it, while we still have some hair :).

(I’m telling you, DeMarco’s a funny man. :)

If you like having to work hard doing something you’re not super passionate about to pay for your awesome lifestyle, then no sweat.

If, however, you’re not *that* huge a fan of what DeMarco calls “Lifestyle Servitude,” then you may want to check in on your impulse control and develop the ability to delay some gratification.

We talk about this a fair amount in these Notes. In Emotional Intelligence (see Notes), Daniel Goleman describes a pretty cool study done with kids and marshmallows and tells us: “There is perhaps no psychological skill more fundamental than resisting impulse.”

In other words, we need to be able to delay gratification.

Can you?

For the record, I have an allergy to the whole idea of “fastlane” anything. Icky blah.

If this book wasn’t recommended by a cyber-friend (thx to Tina from ThinkSimpleNow.com :), I prolly wouldn’t have read it. But, I’m glad I did.

I dig the distinction DeMarco makes between “Get Rich Quick” and “Get Rich Easy.”

As DeMarco says, almost all “Get Rich Quick” dealios are really “Get Rich Easy” schemes–where lazy peeps are hoping their two payments of $79.99 are going to be enough to get ‘em retiring next week. Hmmm… Right.

The “Flaw of Attraction.”

That’s funny. :)

Although ardent fans of the “Law” of Attraction will tell you that you must not be doing it right if you haven’t manifested a yacht since you started practicing visualizing last weekend, DeMarco goes off on the silliness of how the so-called “Law” is marketed.

He proposes that the true path to success is the “Law of Effection” and tells us: “Effection of scale or magnitude always precedes money, either directly or indirectly. The more lives you impact, directly or indirectly, the more wealth you will attract.”

In short: Quit trying to magically manifest stuff and focus on affecting people’s lives positively. The greater the number positively affected, the greater the financial return. It’s a Law. :)

Great stuff.

Reminds me of T. Harv’s point in Secrets of the Millionaire Mind (see Notes) where he tells us: “In every forest, on every farm, in every orchard on earth, it’s what’s under the ground that creates what’s above the ground. That’s why placing your attention on the fruits that you have already grown is futile. You cannot change the fruits that are already hanging on the tree. You can, however, change tomorrow’s fruits. But to do so, you will have to dig below the ground and strengthen the roots.”

Are you dealing with the symptoms or the causes of your problems?

Reminds me of David Deida’s mojo from his Way of the Superior Man (see Notes) where he tells us: “Most postponements are excuses for a lack of creative discipline. Limited money and family obligations have never stopped a man who really wanted to do something, although they provide excuses for a man who is not really up to the creative challenge in the first place.”

And, of course, this speaks to the infamous excusitis David Schwartz warns us about in his classic The Magic of Thinking Big (see Notes): “Go deep into your study of people, and you’ll discover unsuccessful people suffer a mind- deadening thought disease. We call this disease excusitis. Every failure has this disease in its advanced form. And most ‘average’ persons have at least a mild case of it.”

If you’re making a lot of excuses, see if you can shake the excusitis and start making better choices and start taking action!

Funny. :)

And powerful.

Here’s how Napoleon Hill puts it in his classic Think and Grow Rich (see Notes): “If the first plan which you adopt does not work successfully, replace it with a new plan; if this new plan fails to work, replace it in turn with still another, and so on, until you find a plan which does work. Right here is the point at which the majority of men meet with failure, because of their lack of persistence in creating new plans to take the place of those which fail.”

We’re going to experience failure. That’s a given. (Right?)

The question is: How are you going to respond to it?

Reminds me of Marcus Aurelius’s wisdom from Meditations (see Notes) where he tells us: “Never confuse yourself by visions of an entire lifetime at once… remember that it is not the weight of the future or the past that is pressing upon you, but ever that of the present alone.”

And, as Van Gogh so wisely advised us: “Great things are done by a series of small things brought together.”

Are you stressing yourself out by needing to know EVERYTHING that’s gonna happen twenty steps down the line?

Well, quit doing that! It’s gonna keep stressing you out.

As DeMarco says, we’ve gotta focus on the next step. Then the next. Then the one after that. We do that diligently, patiently, persistently and playfully and we’re in business (and enjoying the process).

So, what’s your next step?

P.S. Remember the classic line from the Notes on Constructive Living: “Now what needs to be done.” That remains my #1 stress-buster. Works every time I actually follow it. :)

This is a REALLY cool Idea.

One of my primary allergies to the typical Slowlane wisdom is the notion that coupon-cutting should be a lifelong pursuit. Ack attack.

Love the way DeMarco puts it: “Live below your means with the intent to expand your means.”

Hah.

That puts things into perspective, eh? :)

We scientifically know that those watching TV tend to experience mild depression as they sit there numbing out. (See Notes on Flow for more.)

I love the way Steve Chandler puts it in his great little book 100 Ways to Motivate Yourself where he tells us: “Make your own news. Be your own breaking story. Don’t look to the media to tell you what’s happening in your life. Be what’s happening.”

Love this.

Reminds me of Tal Ben-Shahar’s awesome knapsack story from his equally awesome book, Happier (see Notes). He tells us: “In 1879 Thomas Edison announced that he would publicly display the electric lightbulb by December 31, even though all his experiments had, to that point, failed. He threw his knapsack over the brick wall—the numerous challenges that he still faced—and on the last day of that year, there was light. In 1962, when John F. Kennedy declared to the world that the United States was going to land a man on the moon by the end of the decade, some of the metals necessary for the journey had not yet been invented, and the technology required for completing the journey was not available. But he threw his—and NASA’s—knapsack over the brick wall. Though making a verbal commitment, no matter how bold and how inspiring, does not ensure that we reach our destination, it does enhance the likelihood of success.”

And, how about the ultimate commitment mojo from W. H. Murray?

“Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness concerning all acts of initiative and creation. There is one elementary truth, the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans; that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision raising in one’s favor all manner of unforeseen events, meetings and material assistance which no one could have dreamed would have come their way. I have learned a deep respect for one of Goethe’s couplets: ‘Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it. Begin it now!’”