Chapter 23: Life's Steering Wheel - The Millionaire Fastlane

CHAPTER 23: LIFE'S STEERING WHEEL

Your life is the sum result of all the choices you make, both consciously and unconsciously. If you can control the process of choosing, you can take control of all aspects of your life. You can find the freedom that comes from being in charge of yourself.
~ Robert F. Bennett

The Leading Cause of Poorness

If poorness were an illness, take a guess as to its cause. Of course, lack of money. But is that a cause or a symptom of the underlying problem? Lack of education? Lack of opportunity, positive role models, or determination? Nope. Those are all symptoms. If you retrace poverty's footprints you will find that poorness starts at the exact same place: choice.

Poor choices are the leading cause of poorness.

The Heart of the Problem

As my income elevated, so did my cholesterol. The road of good living runs parallel to a cliff of gluttony. My doctor's preferred method of attack was prescription drugs. I refused because I wanted to fix problems, not mask symptoms.

If you approach wealth like a big pharmaceutical company and attack symptoms while neglecting problems, you will not succeed. Feeling tired? Take this pill. Want to lose weight? Another pill. The problems are ignored while the symptoms are addressed in catatonic cycles. I refused cholesterol medication because it addressed the symptom, not the problem. The problem is poor diet; cholesterol is the symptom.

If your car's fuel tank had a small leak, how would you fix it? The symptomatic solver would increase his trips to the gas station to ensure a steady inflow of fuel. The problematic solver plugs up the hole.

One addresses the symptom (the gas tank leaks), while the other addresses the problem (there's a hole in the gas tank).While adding fuel addresses the symptom, it doesn't solve the problem. When the behavior stops the problem remains.

How does this relate to success and choices? Simple: If you aren't where you want to be, the problem is your choices. Your circumstances are the symptoms of those choices. For example, everyone loves success quotes.

Here are two:

1. The will to persevere is often the difference between failure and success.
2. Success means having the courage, the determination, and the will to become the person you believe you were meant to be.

The problem with these quotes is they're asymptomatic. They're ambiguous to the real issue, and that is choice.

The first quote deals with perseverance. How do you persevere? You react from conscious choice. Not just one choice but hundreds, perhaps thousands. You cannot choose to persevere with one choice. You cannot wake up one day and say, “Oh, today I will choose to persevere.” It must happen everyday, not just once! Perseverance is architected by many choices that fabricate lifestyle. If you quit after two tries, have you persevered? Can you claim perseverance after one failure?

Likewise, the second quote suffers from the same conundrum. Determination is not a solitary choice but thousands of them. You cannot decide to be determined; it must occur repeatedly, concertedly, and with commitment.

The point of this dissertation is that Fastlane success isn't one choice. It's hundreds. And when you line a string of choices together, they create your process, and your process will create your lifestyle. Lifestyle choices will make you a millionaire.

Your Life's Steering Wheel

Your choices spark the fires of future circumstances.

The fabric of your life is sewn by the cumulative consequences of your choices-millions of them-that you set into motion. You act, react, believe, disbelieve, perceive, misperceive, and all of it engineers your existence. If you're dissatisfied with life, your choices take full responsibility. Blame yourself and the choices you've made. Yes, you are as you have chosen.

It took me 26 years of life and a blizzard to grasp the horsepower of my choices. The blizzard impeded my limousine, but I was there because I chose it. I chose to get the job. I chose to pursue low-rent businesses. I chose to continue life in Chicago. I chose to avoid corporate after college. I chose my friends. I chose my business pursuits. I chose all of it, and it engineered my life to that exact moment. I awoke to the epiphany that I was the driver of my life and my problems were the consequences of my choices.

I steered myself there!

Wherever you are: reading on the train, on a plane, on the toilet in a run-down apartment, or on a beach in the Caribbean, you've chosen. I didn't force you to pick up this book and read it. You chose to. Yes, you are exactly where you decide to be. And if that's unhappiness, you need to start making better choices.

Choose to Be Wealthy or Choose to Be Poor

There's a big chasm between thinking wealth and choosing wealth. You can choose the Sidewalk, the Slowlane, or the Fastlane. You can choose to align your life with greater purpose, or choose to let life live you. You can choose to believe these theories or choose not to. The common denominator is YOU.

Your steering wheel (choice) is the most powerful control you have in your life. Why do I hate the Slowlane? Because it denies choice and gives it to someone else-the company, the boss, the stock market, the economy, and a whole host of others.

People don't choose to be poor. They make poor decisions that slowly assemble into a poorness puzzle. Retrace the footprints to poverty and it happens slowly, systematically, and methodically, under a steady diet of poor choices.

• The choice to cheat on your exams or study.
• The choice to squander college because your parents paid for it.
• The choice to lie or to be honest.
• The choice to drive without insurance.
• The choice to befriend bad people over good people.
• The choice to watch TV or read a book.
• The choice to drive 105 mph in a 55 mph zone.
• The choice to rob the corner convenience store.
• The choice to overindulge in food or liquor.
• The choice to believe in people with no track record.
• The choice to cheat on your significant other.
• The choice to buy on credit.
• The choice to get high every weekend.
• The choice to hire a contractor without a background check.
• The choice to play video games 30 hours a week.
• The choice to get married after four weeks of dating.
• The choice to go into business with incompetent partners.

The Road to Treason Is Always Open

I always loved a good street race. Having owned a variety of juiced-up Vipers, confrontation was standard. One summer evening after a few drinks, I let my ego takeover and I street raced. I over-throttled, spun out of control, crossed into oncoming traffic, and crashed into a palm tree. By the time it was over the new occupant of the Viper's passenger seat was the trunk of a 30-foot date palm. I was arrested, taken to jail, and charged with DUI and reckless endangerment.

Luckily, I didn't kill anyone or myself. In fact, the arresting officer (who witnessed the entire race-brilliant, huh?) stated that had the impact been driver-side versus passenger-side, I would have been killed.

I survived a life-or-death coin flip.

In reflection, my choice to race was a treasonous choice. Treasonous choices are actions that do irreparable harm to your life, your dreams, and your goals. The consequences of treasonous choices throw life onto unintended detours and hazardous roads that are difficult to escape and oftentimes, permanent.

Had I killed someone, I would have spent years in jail, spent half my fortune on lawyers, and had to live with the painful reality that I stole someone's life. Life would have instantly transformed, with new circumstances unveiled. No amount of money can keep you from prison or purge your soul from the foolish horror of taking someone's life. Treasonous choices change your life forever.

Jack finances his dream home and takes an $800K mortgage although he only makes $65K/year. Due to loose credit and an exploding housing market, he accepts the loan. He doesn't read the documents and assumes his mortgage lender has his best interests at heart. Eighteen months later, his interest rate adjusts upward and he can't afford the mortgage, forcing him into foreclosure. His poor credit haunts him for 12 years. He can't qualify for a new mortgage and potential business opportunities go untapped.

A Fastlane millionaire by age 28, Andre has everything: a beautiful wife, money, a healthy baby daughter, and seven restaurants scattered across the Five Boroughs. Andre is on top of the world. One Friday night after a few drinks to celebrate his night manager's birthday, Andre drives home drunk. He chooses to think, “I'm OK.” On his way home he gets into an accident and kills a family of four. Andre is arrested for drunk driving, and after his conviction he spends the next 11 years of his life in prison. He loses his businesses and his family. Andre's life forever changed because of multiple treasonous choices. The choice to drink. The choice to drive. The choice to think, “I'm OK.” The series of choices is plentiful, his exit strategy is clear. He doesn't choose wisely.

Recent events from the sports pages illustrate the gravity of treason. Football player Michael Vick engaged in criminal activity and it reshaped his life. His legacy (if you call it that) will never be the same. He lost respectability and two years of his life. He made multiple choices that started with the choice to commiserate with derelicts engaged in criminal activity.

Another NFL football player made a choice and it cost him his life. You'd never think that cheating on your wife could end so tragically. It did for Steve McNair when his mistress allegedly shot him to death in a Nashville, Tennessee, condo. While he didn't choose to be murdered, he chose to pursue the woman. He chose the relationship. He chose to cheat. He chose to act. You see, we aren't just talking about ONE choice here but many that make him complicit to the treason. Steve McNair's choices loaded the gun but someone else pulled the trigger.

Your life's steering wheel is a dangerous weapon. Three inches is all it takes. Jerk your life's wheel three tiny inches while speeding and you can steer your life onto a path of no return, or worse, smack into a concrete wall. Like an automobile's steering wheel, your choices are super-sensitive. Unfortunately, treasonous roads always have a green light.

People drown in the misery of their own choices while neglecting to acknowledge they are the cause.

What's Chosen Today, Impacts Forever

You'll see.

“You'll see” is my mother's code for “I'm right, you're wrong, and time will uncover that truth.”

As a rebellious teen, Mother lobbed a “you'll see” at me after she surrendered to my pleadings for an off-road motorcycle. Mother didn't like the idea and levied her missive “you'll see.” It didn't take long for that “you'll see” to come true.

Full of testosterone, cocky, and invincible, a 15-year-old kid with no motorcycle experience gambled with his life. I crashed on a dirt road going 50 miles per hour and broke my wrist and two fingers, lost nerves in my knee, and screwed up my neck. While the bones healed, the full array of consequences from that day has not dissipated.

Decades later I live with chronic neck pain and have to sleep in unorthodox positions to avoid discomfort. I've spent countless hours and money on physical therapy and chiropractic treatments. Many times I fantasize about going back in time to that day and bitch-slapping that arrogant kid-I wish I could tell him how things are; I wish I could have him read this chapter; I wish he would understand the trajectory, the horsepower, of his choices.

Our choices have consequences that transcend decades. This transcendence is horsepower. Every day my discomfort reminds me of that fateful day when I chose poorly. And today, I'm still paying the mortgage of that choice, a mortgage that never amortizes.

The Butterfly Effect

Can you make a choice this instant that can forever alter the trajectory of your future? You can, and it can be the difference between poverty and wealth. When you make minor permutations (choices) that deviate from your initial conditions, profound effects transpire over time.

Think of it like a golf club striking a golf ball. When the clubface hits the ball square, the ball goes straight and heads toward the hole. But when the clubface is rotated a fraction of one degree, the ball's trajectory lands far off course. At impact, the divergence is minor, but as the ball travels further it widens and widens until the gap is so large that getting back on track is nearly impossible. A bad choice can set your trajectory off by only one degree today, but over years the error is magnified.

Choices have this type of divergence over time and it's called “impact differential.”

When your choices are extrapolated throughout the years, the divergence widens. The divergence can be either positive or negative. For example, when I moved to Phoenix from Chicago, the “impact differential” exploded as time passed. Had I not made this choice my life would be significantly different. I also chose to get a dead-end job as a limo driver, which opened my eyes to a business need. That too was a choice that had extraordinary horsepower and created positive “impact differential.”

The 2003 movie The Butterfly Effect starring Ashton Kutcher is great film that excellently illustrates choice horsepower. In the movie, the main characters engage in treasonous choices as youngsters, and you witness how each life unfolds as those treasonous choices permeate through time. You see the impact differential! Recognize that every day you make decisions that will ripple through the years. Question is, will your choice ripple to happiness and wealth? Or depression and poverty?

The Erosion of Horsepower

Your choices have significant trajectory into the future, and the younger you are, the more horsepower they exude. Unfortunately, horsepower fades with age.

If this is confusing, think about it in terms of an asteroid that is on a collision course with Earth. When an asteroid is millions of miles out in space (representing your youthful choices) a simple one-degree change in trajectory will save the Earth from destruction. This is the power of horsepower. For us older folks, the asteroid is closer to Earth (and closer to our death), which weakens the potency of our choices. A one-degree change isn't as effective, and for the same potency, it needs to be 10 degrees.

When you are under 25 you have maximum horsepower and your choices discharge an incredible amount of firepower. A simple choice I made more than 20 years ago is still felt today. That's a lot of torque! If you reflect on your choices, you make them in an instant, yet their consequences transcend a lifetime, especially ones made early in life.

Your life's choices are like a mature oak tree with millions of branches. The branches symbolize the consequences of your choices. Near the trunk of the tree, the branches are thick, reflecting the decisions you've made early in life, while the top branches are thin, symbolizing decisions near the end of your life.

Youthful choices radiate the most strength and fabricate the trunk of your tree. As the branches ascend topside through time, they get thinner and weaker. They don't have enough power to bend the tree in new directions because the trunk is thick with age, experience, and reinforced habits.

My motorcycle crash had significant horsepower because I feel it today. If you are unmarried with five kids by age 23, where do you think the branches of your choice tree will lead? How thick and unbendable is your choice tree? If you skip classes and are drunk for four years in college, how will that ripple through your choice tree? If you're best friend is a drug dealer, where will that branch lead?

At age 16, for a school prank, David ignites a smoke bomb in the school bus, and 14 children suffer smoke inhalation. Fortunately, those children recovered quickly, but David's 10-day stay in juvenile detention forever propels David's life down a different path. David meets Rudy, who teaches David the “rules” of the perfect burglary. This relationship forges David's new career choice-thievery. After avoiding the law for seven years, David is caught, convicted, and sentenced to nine years in prison.

Had David not met Rudy, where would he be? A fireman? Banker? Choice and its horsepower transcend.

At age 17 and against her parents' wishes, Alyssa, an honor student, leaves home to live with a 31-year-old man she met at the local bar four months earlier. Her boyfriend introduces her to crystal meth, and what initially started as a funny experiment becomes a life-consuming addiction. Alyssa resorts to illegal activities to support her habit, including stealing from her parents. Her reckoning occurs when she is caught at the local mall stealing and sentenced to three years in jail and state-mandated rehabilitation.

Had Alyssa listened to her parents, where would she be today? Choice and its horsepower transcend.

The smallest choices made in your daily life create habits and lifestyle that forms process-they are the ones that can make the biggest impact. You can't decide to “go Fastlane” because that itself is just an event. A Fastlane process is hundreds of choices.

Regardless of age, reflect on your life and analyze the forks in the road and where those forks have taken you. The forks are choices, both large and small, and each shares the common thread of having the magnificent power to take you somewhere different. Whatever you decide today impacts tomorrow, weeks, months, years, decades, and yes, generations.

If you're younger than 30, your choices are at peak horsepower because they are growing the thick branches of your choice tree. Time to put the pedal to the metal!

Chapter Summary: Fastlane Distinctions

• The leading cause of poorness is poor choices.
• The steering wheel of your life is your choices.
• You are exactly where you chose to be.
• Success is hundreds of choices that form process. Process forms lifestyle.
• Choice is the most powerful control you have in your life.
• Treasonous choices forever impact your life negatively.
• Your choices have significant horsepower, or trajectory into the future.
• The younger you are, the more potent your choices are and the more horsepower you possess.
• Over time, horsepower erodes as the consequences of old choices are thick and hard to bend.