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MJ DeMarco
I followed the science; all I found was money.
Staff member
FASTLANE INSIDER
EPIC CONTRIBUTOR
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Speedway Pass
To my fellow Fastlaners, entrepreneurs, and friends,
As some of my local forum friends know, I've had a challenging year with respect to my health, not to mention some very personal issues. I won't go into great detail here other than to say something I've mentioned before: When you don't have your health, nothing else matters: Not money. Not pending book releases. Not "your book changed my life!" emails. Not Fantasy Football or who won threw the winning touchdown. All of it becomes pretty much irrelevant and secondary.
This "new reality" I've had to deal with this year has taken its toll on many things, the main thing being my energy which has translated into a book release that has fallen far short of my release date, my declining contribution here at the forum, and among other things, an overall disconnect between "living the dream" and "fighting the fatigue."
It with great remorse that I feel I need to make a tough decision based on what is right for ME -- not for what is right for the forum, for tradition, or for others. I must officially declare that our annual Fastlane meetup (Feb 2017) will be postponed this year in hopes to have it return next year in 2018.
This is the bad news. (Yes, I hope to have good news too.)
While @Red is my "project manager" on the event and does a fantastic job coordinating everything relieving a lot of the stress, there is still a tremendous amount of time and energy that must go into the event; it's preparation, speakers, scheduling, food, etc. To be perfectly honest, I haven't consistently felt physically or mentally able to pull it off as my new "job one" has been to simply feel normal LONGER than just a day or two.
However, the good news is this: I feel (finally) I have been trending in the right direction and ultimately I'd like to assume that trend will continue where I can focus it into the forum. With a hopeful return to normalcy, it is my intent to recommit to the forum which is a recommitment to my presence and contribution HERE. I'd like to comment more, contribute more, and start writing articles again (which I used to do years ago) and heck, maybe even an INSIDERS podcast. I expect these things to start in the new year when my book goes from "production" to "prepublication." Of course, all of these "expectations" are dependent on my health and energy levels.
Because my next book is essentially done (spring/summer 2017 release), I can rephase out of writing and back to contributing. And of course, with 400+ pages of new content, I'm sure there will be a lot of stuff to discuss.
In the end I want to leave you with this: The EVENT we do every year is a product of the FORUM -- the FORUM is not a product of the EVENT. Think about that. This is a community and the event exists to serve the community. If the community dissipates for other pastures, it doesn't help the forum, but the other pasture -- that pasture is often a giga-entity, for example Microsoft (Skype) or Zuckerberg (Facebook.) What I'm saying here is NOT to dissuade those offshooting activities, but to give thought to the things that have all originally bound us together here (including our event) -- our common love for a special type of entrepreneurship that delivers life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
While it's too early for "new years resolutions", I have resolved to get better first and foremost. To me, that is the lynchpin. Second, it is my intent to focus that betterment HERE at the forum-- the place where this crazy thing called "Fastlane" all started more than TEN years ago. For starters, my intent is to redesign the forum, streamline some categories, retool INSIDERS membership requirements, and get some things up to date. I hope to be here as much as I was when I started this place a decade ago. At the end of the day, I understand that I must lead that charge and be its leader to make the forum a better medium for exposing value to its visitors. Come this time next year, I envision a forum community that yearns for our annual event, and not yearns for it because the calendar says so.
It is my great hope that you will continue sharing your journey here-- the successes, the failures, and the grinding hustles that make it possible. Or if you have been in shadows or not here at all except to check-in on a once-a-year-event, I hope you can return and give us the great privilege of hearing the unfolding story you are writing.
Thank you for reading, your understanding, and of course, your participation here.
Best,
~ MJ
As some of my local forum friends know, I've had a challenging year with respect to my health, not to mention some very personal issues. I won't go into great detail here other than to say something I've mentioned before: When you don't have your health, nothing else matters: Not money. Not pending book releases. Not "your book changed my life!" emails. Not Fantasy Football or who won threw the winning touchdown. All of it becomes pretty much irrelevant and secondary.
This "new reality" I've had to deal with this year has taken its toll on many things, the main thing being my energy which has translated into a book release that has fallen far short of my release date, my declining contribution here at the forum, and among other things, an overall disconnect between "living the dream" and "fighting the fatigue."
It with great remorse that I feel I need to make a tough decision based on what is right for ME -- not for what is right for the forum, for tradition, or for others. I must officially declare that our annual Fastlane meetup (Feb 2017) will be postponed this year in hopes to have it return next year in 2018.
This is the bad news. (Yes, I hope to have good news too.)
While @Red is my "project manager" on the event and does a fantastic job coordinating everything relieving a lot of the stress, there is still a tremendous amount of time and energy that must go into the event; it's preparation, speakers, scheduling, food, etc. To be perfectly honest, I haven't consistently felt physically or mentally able to pull it off as my new "job one" has been to simply feel normal LONGER than just a day or two.
However, the good news is this: I feel (finally) I have been trending in the right direction and ultimately I'd like to assume that trend will continue where I can focus it into the forum. With a hopeful return to normalcy, it is my intent to recommit to the forum which is a recommitment to my presence and contribution HERE. I'd like to comment more, contribute more, and start writing articles again (which I used to do years ago) and heck, maybe even an INSIDERS podcast. I expect these things to start in the new year when my book goes from "production" to "prepublication." Of course, all of these "expectations" are dependent on my health and energy levels.
Because my next book is essentially done (spring/summer 2017 release), I can rephase out of writing and back to contributing. And of course, with 400+ pages of new content, I'm sure there will be a lot of stuff to discuss.
In the end I want to leave you with this: The EVENT we do every year is a product of the FORUM -- the FORUM is not a product of the EVENT. Think about that. This is a community and the event exists to serve the community. If the community dissipates for other pastures, it doesn't help the forum, but the other pasture -- that pasture is often a giga-entity, for example Microsoft (Skype) or Zuckerberg (Facebook.) What I'm saying here is NOT to dissuade those offshooting activities, but to give thought to the things that have all originally bound us together here (including our event) -- our common love for a special type of entrepreneurship that delivers life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
While it's too early for "new years resolutions", I have resolved to get better first and foremost. To me, that is the lynchpin. Second, it is my intent to focus that betterment HERE at the forum-- the place where this crazy thing called "Fastlane" all started more than TEN years ago. For starters, my intent is to redesign the forum, streamline some categories, retool INSIDERS membership requirements, and get some things up to date. I hope to be here as much as I was when I started this place a decade ago. At the end of the day, I understand that I must lead that charge and be its leader to make the forum a better medium for exposing value to its visitors. Come this time next year, I envision a forum community that yearns for our annual event, and not yearns for it because the calendar says so.
It is my great hope that you will continue sharing your journey here-- the successes, the failures, and the grinding hustles that make it possible. Or if you have been in shadows or not here at all except to check-in on a once-a-year-event, I hope you can return and give us the great privilege of hearing the unfolding story you are writing.
Thank you for reading, your understanding, and of course, your participation here.
Best,
~ MJ
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