Editor's Note: I recently read a gem of a book called "The Millionaire
Fastlane". Despite feeling skeptical by its title, its phenomenal
content surprised and delighted me. I'll say more about the book at
the end of this article. Until then, enjoy this article from the
book's author, sharing an important message for us all.
By: MJ DeMarco
"Somebody should tell us, right at the start of our lives, that we are dying.
Then we might live life to the limit, every minute of every day.
Do it! I say. Whatever you want to do, do it now.
There are only so many tomorrows."
~Michael Landon
Today I am confessing something big.
Not many men would disclose this information, but I will.
My two favorite movies are Titanic and The Notebook — yes, two
perennial favorites among the ladies and unmentionable by my male
counterparts.
How does a guy like me (who like any typical man, likes fast cars,
horsepower, beer, sports, and pretty women) come to a conclusion that
these movies deserve a spot in the DVD cabinet next to the usual
suspects like The Shawshank Redemption and The Godfather?
While the love story in both is tearful, these movies highlight
something that we tend to neglect in our lives … and, I believe, is
the greatest tragedy of all humanity.
That tragedy?
The illusion that our time is richly abundant when in fact, it is
deathly scarce.
In both plots, our protagonists come to this reality as life's death
clock ticks away. In The Notebook, our lovers would do anything for 5
sentient minutes together. Just 5 minutes and when they get it, they
beg for time to stop.
In The Titanic, as the ship sinks and few lifeboats remain, Caledon
Hockley, a wealthy steel industrialist bargains for his life with a
ship's officer and offers cash for a lifeboat seat only to be rebuked
with a stiff certainty: "Your money can't save you anymore that it can
save me."
Think about that statement for a moment. Your money can't save you.
Think about how we tend to treat MONEY as more scare than our TIME.
Trust me, it isn't and I don't care how rich or poor you are.
On any given day, over $300 trillion dollars are exchanged in the
world currency markets — that is $300,000,000,000,000. To give that
perspective, you'd have to spend $1 million a day for 8,000 years to
spend ONE DAY'S worth of trading value. Nearly 900 life spans!
And yet, the great theft of all humanity remains: People blissfully
trade away their time (and their life) for money.
People camp-out on sidewalks for days at Wal-Mart hoping to get a $199 HDTV.
People stand in line for hours hoping to get a free bucket of chicken.
People drive hours to save pennies.
And of course, the worst soul-sucking exchange of them all … your job.
Yes, the good old selling of Monday through Friday for the paycheck of
Saturday and Sunday. If you are working a job just to pay the bills
(and NOT investing in a business system capable of spawning both free
time and money) your return on investment (ROI) is a negative 60%.
That's right.
A big minus 60%!
In other words, you give 5 days of bondage (doing things you wouldn't
normally do) in exchange for 2 days of freedom (however you spend your
weekend.)
Give this exchange some perspective.
Suppose a friend approached you with this great new investment. You
give your friend $5 on Monday and on Friday evening, he will give you
$2 back. Again, that's a negative 60% return on investment. Great
deal? Of course not!
Then why-o-why in the world do people have no problem trading their
time at the same exact dismal rate of return when in fact, it's our
time that is the scarce resource and not money? Time is like a
primordial fuel — when it runs dry, no amount of cash can save you
from the end. And sorry, there are no fill-up stations.
One of the many facts I drive home in my book, The Millionaire
Fastlane is that you can always make more money and yet, you can't
really create more time beyond the confines of your own healthy
mortality.
However the good news is this: You can manipulate your TIME ratio
because your lifespan consists of two types of time: Indentured time
(time earning money) and free time (time spend doing whatever your
please). Since your mortality makes your total time finite, the only
option to defy time is to transfer indentured time to free time.
In other words, wouldn't it be great to have MORE FREE TIME and less
INDENTURED TIME? So when it comes to our careers, our life, and our
time, wouldn't it be wise to invest in something that had the ability
to create both MONEY and FREE TIME?
Such things exist in what I call "The Fastlane", but it doesn't come
from 40 years of mindless frugality, jobs, 401(k)s, and other
traditional guru-speak dictum. If you want to be wealthy in both free
time and money, stop being indoctrinated by the mainstream financial
gurus who treat time abundantly — a foolish lifetime trade that will
more likely make you bankrupt in time, rather than rich in money.
Because in the end when your deathbed arrives, your dying wish won't
be for more money, it will be for more time…
If you enjoyed this article, please pass it on to others.
Fastlane". Despite feeling skeptical by its title, its phenomenal
content surprised and delighted me. I'll say more about the book at
the end of this article. Until then, enjoy this article from the
book's author, sharing an important message for us all.
By: MJ DeMarco
"Somebody should tell us, right at the start of our lives, that we are dying.
Then we might live life to the limit, every minute of every day.
Do it! I say. Whatever you want to do, do it now.
There are only so many tomorrows."
~Michael Landon
Today I am confessing something big.
Not many men would disclose this information, but I will.
My two favorite movies are Titanic and The Notebook — yes, two
perennial favorites among the ladies and unmentionable by my male
counterparts.
How does a guy like me (who like any typical man, likes fast cars,
horsepower, beer, sports, and pretty women) come to a conclusion that
these movies deserve a spot in the DVD cabinet next to the usual
suspects like The Shawshank Redemption and The Godfather?
While the love story in both is tearful, these movies highlight
something that we tend to neglect in our lives … and, I believe, is
the greatest tragedy of all humanity.
That tragedy?
The illusion that our time is richly abundant when in fact, it is
deathly scarce.
In both plots, our protagonists come to this reality as life's death
clock ticks away. In The Notebook, our lovers would do anything for 5
sentient minutes together. Just 5 minutes and when they get it, they
beg for time to stop.
In The Titanic, as the ship sinks and few lifeboats remain, Caledon
Hockley, a wealthy steel industrialist bargains for his life with a
ship's officer and offers cash for a lifeboat seat only to be rebuked
with a stiff certainty: "Your money can't save you anymore that it can
save me."
Think about that statement for a moment. Your money can't save you.
Think about how we tend to treat MONEY as more scare than our TIME.
Trust me, it isn't and I don't care how rich or poor you are.
On any given day, over $300 trillion dollars are exchanged in the
world currency markets — that is $300,000,000,000,000. To give that
perspective, you'd have to spend $1 million a day for 8,000 years to
spend ONE DAY'S worth of trading value. Nearly 900 life spans!
And yet, the great theft of all humanity remains: People blissfully
trade away their time (and their life) for money.
People camp-out on sidewalks for days at Wal-Mart hoping to get a $199 HDTV.
People stand in line for hours hoping to get a free bucket of chicken.
People drive hours to save pennies.
And of course, the worst soul-sucking exchange of them all … your job.
Yes, the good old selling of Monday through Friday for the paycheck of
Saturday and Sunday. If you are working a job just to pay the bills
(and NOT investing in a business system capable of spawning both free
time and money) your return on investment (ROI) is a negative 60%.
That's right.
A big minus 60%!
In other words, you give 5 days of bondage (doing things you wouldn't
normally do) in exchange for 2 days of freedom (however you spend your
weekend.)
Give this exchange some perspective.
Suppose a friend approached you with this great new investment. You
give your friend $5 on Monday and on Friday evening, he will give you
$2 back. Again, that's a negative 60% return on investment. Great
deal? Of course not!
Then why-o-why in the world do people have no problem trading their
time at the same exact dismal rate of return when in fact, it's our
time that is the scarce resource and not money? Time is like a
primordial fuel — when it runs dry, no amount of cash can save you
from the end. And sorry, there are no fill-up stations.
One of the many facts I drive home in my book, The Millionaire
Fastlane is that you can always make more money and yet, you can't
really create more time beyond the confines of your own healthy
mortality.
However the good news is this: You can manipulate your TIME ratio
because your lifespan consists of two types of time: Indentured time
(time earning money) and free time (time spend doing whatever your
please). Since your mortality makes your total time finite, the only
option to defy time is to transfer indentured time to free time.
In other words, wouldn't it be great to have MORE FREE TIME and less
INDENTURED TIME? So when it comes to our careers, our life, and our
time, wouldn't it be wise to invest in something that had the ability
to create both MONEY and FREE TIME?
Such things exist in what I call "The Fastlane", but it doesn't come
from 40 years of mindless frugality, jobs, 401(k)s, and other
traditional guru-speak dictum. If you want to be wealthy in both free
time and money, stop being indoctrinated by the mainstream financial
gurus who treat time abundantly — a foolish lifetime trade that will
more likely make you bankrupt in time, rather than rich in money.
Because in the end when your deathbed arrives, your dying wish won't
be for more money, it will be for more time…
If you enjoyed this article, please pass it on to others.
