On Saturday I bought a Dodge Viper ACR from Kansas, and drove it the 1100 miles home. The trip could have doubled as a collection of vignettes on sidewalk/slowlane/fastlane mindsets; the story MJ told about how the Countach stunned his sleepy ice cream stand was played out again and again in small towns in Kansas, Missouri, Indiana, Illinois, Ohio, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania.
-The guy who picked me up from the airport was a wonderfully kind, cheerful, and talkative gentleman. I couldn't help but feel sorry for him though, at 79 years old he described himself as the "low man on the totem pole" at the car dealership. After the printing company he worked for most of his career failed (fortunately leaving him with his pension and some money,) he became "semi retired." He chauffers people to-from the airport to pay the bills. How'd you like to be working at 79? How about working as "the low man on the totem pole?" His reaction to the Viper purchase? "Never in all my life would I have been able to afford an exotic car like that." He was three times my age and had done everything right: Got a pension, worked hard for a company, married, never divorced, went to college (you can find out a lot about a guy from Kansas in an hour).
-At my first stop, some people working at a hand car-wash came up to talk to me about the car. One particularly intent guy in his 20's seemed to be dying to say something, so I asked if he wanted to sit in it. He did, and was going crazy. then he asked me if we could drive two blocks over and buzz his girlfriend's house. I was feeling generous, so I agreed. After we waved to the stunned girl (she was sitting on her front step), I returned him to his work. He sighed, "I'll never be able to get a job that pays the bank to afford something like this."
I told him the truth: "If you want to drive a 3 series or a Lexus, get a better job. If you want to drive a supercar, create a better job."
He looked puzzled and confused, and walked away quickly without asking a follow-up.
-I stopped in Missouri to get dinner, and a crowd formed immediately. Teens leaving the local Wal-Mart took pictures while one of their parents chided, "get a good look, you'll never be able to afford it." Self fulfilling advice from role models.
-At a stop in Illinois, a guy asked me how much I paid for the car. When I told him (it wasn't very much), he just said "I hope you got good financing." and drove away in his early 2000's Cadillac before I could respond. I paid cash.
-The stop in West Virginia for breakfast was the most dramatic. The McDonald's that didn't have any other customers (nothing else was open at 4AM in nowheresville) completely emptied out: The manager, staff, everybody came out to see the car. A guy driving by pulled into the parking lot and was going crazy. When his girlfriend tried to get him to get going, he kept saying "No way baby no way, this is my absolute dream car, my dream car, I'll never be this close again. After this I'm going to have to go back to driving it in video games forever."
The amazing thing is that about two months ago I'd have been saying many of these same things, perhaps more slowlane-y and less sidewalk-y in some instances, but same deal: My job is not good enough, car is too frivolous, I'll never have it, in my dreams, be happy you have a pension, maybe when you're 65, etc.
I'm going to be creating a progress thread in the near future to illustrate how I did it. I've been working so hard on my fastlane plan the last few weeks (I wish I could say that this 31 hour trip was the only time recently I've gone a day without sleeping), that I don't really have time. As it is now, I'm just rambling my excitement, but I want the progress post to be specific, scientific, and methodical so it adds the most value to readers over the long term.
Takeaways:
1. Do authority figures and role models tell you "in your dreams!" when you talk about financial freedom? Are you doing anything to counteract that?
2. Are you betting everything on a life that will make you the "low man on the totem pole" as an octogenarian while the bright eyed kid next to you lives your dreams in his 20's?
3. Do you get excited about the fruit of the Fastlane but then don't have that same excitement when figuring out how to plant the tree to grow it?
4. Is your solution to money problems "I need to find better job" rather than "I need to make a better job?"
5. Are you watching on TV, reading about, or playing a video game representation of your dream life, while the person you're pretending to be is out there really living it?
If so, wake up. There's a better way.
-The guy who picked me up from the airport was a wonderfully kind, cheerful, and talkative gentleman. I couldn't help but feel sorry for him though, at 79 years old he described himself as the "low man on the totem pole" at the car dealership. After the printing company he worked for most of his career failed (fortunately leaving him with his pension and some money,) he became "semi retired." He chauffers people to-from the airport to pay the bills. How'd you like to be working at 79? How about working as "the low man on the totem pole?" His reaction to the Viper purchase? "Never in all my life would I have been able to afford an exotic car like that." He was three times my age and had done everything right: Got a pension, worked hard for a company, married, never divorced, went to college (you can find out a lot about a guy from Kansas in an hour).
-At my first stop, some people working at a hand car-wash came up to talk to me about the car. One particularly intent guy in his 20's seemed to be dying to say something, so I asked if he wanted to sit in it. He did, and was going crazy. then he asked me if we could drive two blocks over and buzz his girlfriend's house. I was feeling generous, so I agreed. After we waved to the stunned girl (she was sitting on her front step), I returned him to his work. He sighed, "I'll never be able to get a job that pays the bank to afford something like this."
I told him the truth: "If you want to drive a 3 series or a Lexus, get a better job. If you want to drive a supercar, create a better job."
He looked puzzled and confused, and walked away quickly without asking a follow-up.
-I stopped in Missouri to get dinner, and a crowd formed immediately. Teens leaving the local Wal-Mart took pictures while one of their parents chided, "get a good look, you'll never be able to afford it." Self fulfilling advice from role models.
-At a stop in Illinois, a guy asked me how much I paid for the car. When I told him (it wasn't very much), he just said "I hope you got good financing." and drove away in his early 2000's Cadillac before I could respond. I paid cash.
-The stop in West Virginia for breakfast was the most dramatic. The McDonald's that didn't have any other customers (nothing else was open at 4AM in nowheresville) completely emptied out: The manager, staff, everybody came out to see the car. A guy driving by pulled into the parking lot and was going crazy. When his girlfriend tried to get him to get going, he kept saying "No way baby no way, this is my absolute dream car, my dream car, I'll never be this close again. After this I'm going to have to go back to driving it in video games forever."
The amazing thing is that about two months ago I'd have been saying many of these same things, perhaps more slowlane-y and less sidewalk-y in some instances, but same deal: My job is not good enough, car is too frivolous, I'll never have it, in my dreams, be happy you have a pension, maybe when you're 65, etc.
I'm going to be creating a progress thread in the near future to illustrate how I did it. I've been working so hard on my fastlane plan the last few weeks (I wish I could say that this 31 hour trip was the only time recently I've gone a day without sleeping), that I don't really have time. As it is now, I'm just rambling my excitement, but I want the progress post to be specific, scientific, and methodical so it adds the most value to readers over the long term.
Takeaways:
1. Do authority figures and role models tell you "in your dreams!" when you talk about financial freedom? Are you doing anything to counteract that?
2. Are you betting everything on a life that will make you the "low man on the totem pole" as an octogenarian while the bright eyed kid next to you lives your dreams in his 20's?
3. Do you get excited about the fruit of the Fastlane but then don't have that same excitement when figuring out how to plant the tree to grow it?
4. Is your solution to money problems "I need to find better job" rather than "I need to make a better job?"
5. Are you watching on TV, reading about, or playing a video game representation of your dream life, while the person you're pretending to be is out there really living it?
If so, wake up. There's a better way.
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