The Millionaire Fastlane by M.J. DeMarco

like health, isn't easy and is cut from the same fabric. Their processes are identical. They require discipline, sacrifice, persistence, commitment, and yes, delayed gratification. If you can't immunize yourself from the temptations of instant gratification, you'll be hard pressed to find success in either health or wealth. Both demand a lifestyle shift from short-term thinking (instant gratification) to long-term thinking (delayed gratification). This is the only defense to Lifestyle Servitude.
    Look for the Hook!
    Instant gratification is the bait and Lifestyle Servitude is the hook. The advertising industry is on a great fishing expedition, and their goal is to hook you. Their juicy bait? That shiny new car, the bigger house, the designer clothes, the “got-to-have-it now” product. Every day you are bombarded with instant gratification's bait …
    “You can't survive life without this product!”
“Buy now and life will be so much easier!”
“You are not a success until you own one of these!”
“Imagine how envious the neighbors will be when you buy this!”
    These messages share one commonality: You're their prey and the peddlers don't care if you can afford it or not. Defend yourself by exposing the hook beneath the bait: the bucket of bondage which is Lifestyle Servitude.
    When instant gratification entices you to bite the bait, you become a casualty of the hook: Lifestyle Servitude. Instead of you owning your stuff, your stuff owns you . Know wealth's enemies and what actions invite those enemies into your life. Wait until you can truly afford your lifestyle luxuries … and in the Fastlane, that day can come sooner rather than later.
    Chapter Summary: Fastlane Distinctions
     
Money doesn't buy happiness because money is used for consumer pursuits destructive to freedom. Anything destructive to freedom is destructive to the wealth trinity.
Money, properly used, can buy freedom, which can lead to happiness.
Happiness stems from good health, freedom, and strong interpersonal relationships, not necessarily money.
Lifestyle Servitude steals freedom, and what steals freedom, steals wealth.
If you think you can afford it, you can't.
The consequence of instant gratification is the destruction of freedom, health, and choice.
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CHAPTER 8: LUCKY BASTARDS PLAY THE GAME
I'm a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work, the more I have of it.
~ Thomas Jefferson
    Psst … Wanna Get Lucky?
    I once overheard someone call me a “lucky bastard.” What a sad, delusional Sidewalking belief. I'm not lucky; I'm a player of the game. While Mr. Lucky-Bastard-Hater uttered that under his breath and sat his ass in the dugout, I was at the plate taking swings.
    Joe is a Sidewalker and believes luck is required to get rich. He spends his days working construction and his evenings commenting on gossip blogs, playing videogames, and watching TV. He has given up on his dreams of financial independence based on his ideas of luck. “I'm just not a lucky guy,” he laments.
    Joe's brother Bill also has a job in construction, except Bill spends his evenings surfing the Internet, researching the newest practices of inventing and engineering. Bill's dream is to be an inventor and has created four prototypes of inventions in various fields. Bill also spends his vacation time at trade shows and marketing seminars. While Joe is killing ogres and wizards in the latest dungeon of doom, Bill is out of the box of nothingness and exposing himself and his inventions to the world.
    Who's going to “get lucky”?
    Self-Made Millions Arise from Self-Made Luck
    Mark Cuban, billionaire entrepreneur and owner of the Dallas Mavericks NBA team ( http://www.blogmaverick.com ) told a telling tale of luck in regards to his success. Mark recalls the struggles of his early successes before his big sale to Yahoo for $5.9 billion. In each story, Mark remembers how people attributed his success to luck … lucky to sell his first company,