The roads to wealth analogies (“Sidewalk”, “Slowlane” and “Fastlane”) frames the title of MJ DeMarco’s book The Millionaire Fastlane: Crack the Code to Wealth and Live Rich for a Lifetime. But now, he moves on to your vehicle to wealth: you. Some good pointers on the mindsets, perspectives and self-development you need in order to get on the fastlane to wealth.

Sharing them here as reference for myself, and for anyone who might find it useful. This is not a book review, just raw notes lifted directly from the book, with some minor edits, interpretations and categorisations of my own.

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Avoid “treasonous” choices & moronic risks

Avoid choices and actions which massive downside and minimal/temporary upside; actions that have potential to do irreparable, permanent harm; or even minor permutations with high impact differentials, that on impact, the divergence maybe minor but sets your trajectory off in magnitudes over years (this is most potent when you’re young). Take intelligent risks instead of moronic ones:

- Avoid sole proprietorship/general partnerships. Incorporate a legal corporate entity, to prevent unlimited liability.

- Cheating, fraud, lying. 

- Taking on more debt than can afford

- Even lifestyle choices like drinking and driving, etc

Questions to ask in order to avoid moronic risks:

What’s the worst case consequence of this choice?

What’s the probability of this outcome?

Is this an acceptable risk?

Perception choices

Perception is not reality. Notice your language - a signal of your perception. Is it flaccid/flimsy and lacking confidence, or firm and convincing? Do you use “try/maybe/I think”, or “I will/It’s possible”?

The universe doesn’t care about your past

It’s blind to it. The universe simply doesn’t care. The only person who can weaponize past transgressions against you is yourself. The next coin flip is always random no matter how many time it’s flipped. Being transfixed on past, you can’t become the person you need to become in the future.

Framing perspectives - out of scarcity/fear, vs abundance/optimism

You can see past mistakes in a treasonous or accelerative way. 2 ways to frame losing money in a franchise business - “Business is risky. I’ll never do it again!” or “Next time I’ll be the one selling franchises.”

Create environmental headwinds to help you not slow you down

Social norms gravitates towards average, not exceptional. Be in the right city and right people/relationships who accelerate your process. 

Value your time poorly and you will be poor

Queuing up hours for free things means you value your time at zero. For majority, time is an asset that’s undervalued and mindlessly squandered. Time is the greatest asset you own, not money. We were born rich and die broke; we can always acquire more money but you cannot defy mortality. Fastlaners are frugal with time, while Slowlaners are frugal with money. As Naval says, give yourself a high aspirational hourly rate, and decide whether something is worth your time based on that. Trying to save money by spending more on time and inconvenience might not be worthwhile.

Ceasing to learn is wealth suicide

To cease learning after graduation is wealth suicide. In Slowlane, education is used to elevate intrinsic value while in Fastlane, it’s used to grow the business system. Education is freely available now, so no excuses about no money. No time? Learn while driving, exercising, waiting, toilet, replace TV.