There are really three financial paths...
The sidewalk, the slowlane, and the fastlane.
The sidewalker is basically your average person living from paycheck to paycheck.
No matter how much he earns, he'll match it with how much he spends.
Sidewalkers can actually have a huge income.
Let's say someone like a professional athlete.
The problem with being a sidewalker however, is having no financial intelligence or responsibility
whatsoever.
So if something goes wrong, if you lose your job, if you aren't needed anymore, you're
basically screwed.
This is why you'll see even professional athletes who made millions at one point be completely
broke now.
Don't take the sidewalk.
Then you have the slowlane.
This is basically your standard: go to school, get a decent job, save 10%, invest it in the
stock market, hope it grows at 7% interest annually.
And...
When you're 65 (that is if you aren't dead and can still walk), you can be a millionaire.
Yay!
So why does the slowlane suck?
Well, because I don't want to drive around in my favorite car when I'm 65,
I want to do it while I'm still young.
It's also like selling your soul for 40 years, so that when you're in a wheelchair,
you can finally start having fun.
Not that different from what people do on a weekly basis actually...
Sell Monday through Friday, for two days at the end of the week, and do that over and
over again.
With that said, I actually think that sadly, this is the best strategy for most people.
Why?
Because most people aren't capable of meeting the demands of the fastlane.
And the slowlane is definitely better than the sidewalk.
More on this later.
Now let's talk about the fastlane.
The whole idea of the fastlane is this: the more value you give to the world, the richer
you will become.
And I absolutely hated hearing those kinds of quotes and things when I was young.
It sounds so esoteric.
How do I get rich if I give?
It makes no sense.
The reason it made no sense was because of how the principle was explained to me.
I thought, "Okay, let's say I go outside right now and hand my money out, how will that make
me rich?"
And it won't.
I was right.
But, had it been explained to me right, I wouldn't be so confused.
So if you went outside right now with a $1000 and gave 10 people a $100 each,
that would actually be one of the lowest forms of giving possible.
The person will take that $100, engage in mindless consumerism,
and basically end up in exactly the same situation as when he started.
What would be a higher form of giving?
Well, if you went into your kitchen right now,
and created a pill that could cure cancer, that would be one of the biggest things you
could give to the world.
That would be a higher form of giving.
And yes, you would be absolutely rich, well...
Assuming you weren't completely naive and knew how to protect your invention.
The general rule is this: the more value you provide to more people, the better you will
do.
Sounds great right?
So why do I say that the slowlane is actually a good strategy for most people?
Well, because realistically speaking, most people have not developed themselves
where they can give something of true value to the world.
The biggest criticism this book gets is, "Well, but MJ, you're misleading people.
Most people can't create a successful product.
Most people can't create a successful business."
And every time I read something like that I get nauseous.
No!
Like, NO!
Stop blaming MJ.
Stop blaming the book.
Stop blaming anyone else!
If you aren't capable of giving tremendous value to other people, that is your fault!
Take some goddamn responsibility!
If you want to be in the fastlane, stop watching Netflix and go the library.
Speaking of Netflix and the library, that was my life for four years in college.
Classes would end and I would head to the library, pick up a book that I was going to
read that night, come back to my room, and my roommate would
watch Netflix for the next 8 hours while I read.
What did that do?
Well, that put me in a position where I have given value to over 10,000 people in a few
months.
What if my roommate decided he wanted to start a YouTube channel?
What would he start it on?
He has nothing to give.
That's not MJ's fault.
That's not the book's fault.
That's my roommate's fault.
So why would I personally never pick the slowlane?
First of all, I would have to sell my life in the form of time, the most valuable commodity
I have.
And, I know I can give value to the world, and a 7% return is just ridiculously small.
On my investment into FightMediocrity this year, I'm going to get a 10,000% return.
Yes, not 7%, 10,000%.
And that's being conservative and assuming I don't put out a product.
That's another huge benefit of producing instead of consuming.
There is no limit to how much you can grow your business.
You can easily double your business in months, but can you easily double your salary in months?
Haha...
Yeah, go into your boss' office and say, "Hey, I would like to go from $20/hr to $40/hr
in the next 3 months," and see how that goes.
Sadly, with all this said, the best option for most people is still the slowlane.
But, being in the fastlane isn't impossible.
Even if you aren't really in the position to give anything to the world right now.
As long as you're developing yourself the right way, you can be.
The more people you help, and the bigger the magnitude of your help, the richer you will
be.
This is why Bill Gates is rich and the cashier at your store isn't.
It's very simple, Gates has provided bigger value to more people than the cashier has.
But again, remember, if you want to be in the fastlane, if you want to be able to give
to the world, you're going to have to spend a little more
time in the library and a little less time in front of the TV.