"Unscripted" Sub-Section of the Day

[sonny_1080]

"Something is indeed something. For most people, it’s dismissed as life’s background noise. Others hear the whispers and bury it with weekend merriment. For the rest of us who aren’t easily manipulated, we question it. We seek its source, challenge its presence, and ask, 'What the hell is going on?'”

My first hint that something was wrong with the world happened as a struggling young entrepreneur in Chicago. At the time, I had a menial job as a limousine driver, which paid my bills and funded my crazy business ideas. Because the job required a special license granted by the city, I had to drive downtown to take a test for its qualification. I arrived early with time to blow, so I grabbed a coffee and seated myself at a cafe window. As I gazed out into the commuter swarms navigating the Monday morning rush, I noticed something: Everyone moved with an eerie robotic efficiency, indifferent and obtuse. The variety of faces, no matter the age, race, or gender, were uniformly vacant and resigned, each etched with a stone-faced glower as if they’ve walked the walk a thousand times.

As the organized freneticism mesmerized me, the street rush slowly faded into an obscure moving fog. Unique individuals with goals, dreams, and aspirations; sons, daughters, wives, husbands, all suddenly blurred into a single collective as if one organism compelled by instinct. Did any part of the sum question why they were on a frozen street at 6:30 a.m.? And why would they repeat the same insanity for the next four days? Was anyone pursuing their dream, or were they pursuing what culture programmed them to pursue?

The sudden realization struck me—and frightened me: it was not free will at work, but conditioned instinct, like a bee buzzing to the hive or an ant marching to an anthill. Moreover, dress or implied social hierarchy played no relevance: three-piece suits, jeans, work overalls—the horde behaved as if controlled by a single puppet master.

As I reflected on the scene, I knew I could never—and would never—be normal as prescribed by cultural routine. That day sealed my fate as an entrepreneur—either one who’d eventually succeed or one who would fail and die trying. Lucky for me (and you), entrepreneurship was the snips that clipped the puppet master’s strings."

DeMarco, MJ. UNSCRIPTED : Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Entrepreneurship (pp. 10-11). Viperion Publishing Corporation. Kindle Edition.

 

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[SDFreedomFighter]

Been a while.since I read Fast lane so re reading my notes then the book and have Unscripted sitting on my desk waiting to go next!

 

[MJ DeMarco]

"Something is indeed something. For most people, it’s dismissed as life’s background noise. Others hear the whispers and bury it with weekend merriment. For the rest of us who aren’t easily manipulated, we question it. We seek its source, challenge its presence, and ask, 'What the hell is going on?'”

My first hint that something was wrong with the world happened as a struggling young entrepreneur in Chicago. At the time, I had a menial job as a limousine driver, which paid my bills and funded my crazy business ideas. Because the job required a special license granted by the city, I had to drive downtown to take a test for its qualification. I arrived early with time to blow, so I grabbed a coffee and seated myself at a cafe window. As I gazed out into the commuter swarms navigating the Monday morning rush, I noticed something: Everyone moved with an eerie robotic efficiency, indifferent and obtuse. The variety of faces, no matter the age, race, or gender, were uniformly vacant and resigned, each etched with a stone-faced glower as if they’ve walked the walk a thousand times.

As the organized freneticism mesmerized me, the street rush slowly faded into an obscure moving fog. Unique individuals with goals, dreams, and aspirations; sons, daughters, wives, husbands, all suddenly blurred into a single collective as if one organism compelled by instinct. Did any part of the sum question why they were on a frozen street at 6:30 a.m.? And why would they repeat the same insanity for the next four days? Was anyone pursuing their dream, or were they pursuing what culture programmed them to pursue?

The sudden realization struck me—and frightened me: it was not free will at work, but conditioned instinct, like a bee buzzing to the hive or an ant marching to an anthill. Moreover, dress or implied social hierarchy played no relevance: three-piece suits, jeans, work overalls—the horde behaved as if controlled by a single puppet master.

As I reflected on the scene, I knew I could never—and would never—be normal as prescribed by cultural routine. That day sealed my fate as an entrepreneur—either one who’d eventually succeed or one who would fail and die trying. Lucky for me (and you), entrepreneurship was the snips that clipped the puppet master’s strings."

DeMarco, MJ. UNSCRIPTED : Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Entrepreneurship (pp. 10-11). Viperion Publishing Corporation. Kindle Edition.

I still remember that day quite vividly... decades after it happened, and years after I wrote Unscripted .

 

[sonny_1080]

"Threat #2: Your Guarded Pride And Ego

A real FTE overcomes an insulated ego. I was a C-student in high school, but in college I earned two business degrees, won scholarships, and graduated near the top of my class. Despite such accolades, I was willing to do anything to make my entrepreneurial dreams happen. That included washing dishes, driving cabs, mopping floors, and flipping burgers. You see, I wasn’t “too good” not to do the dirty work. My dreams were stronger than my pride and ego.

If you’re “too cool” and fear what your friends and family might think because you’re waiting tables down at the Applebee’s, you’re probably not cut from an entrepreneurial cloth.

I once tweeted that if you’re not willing to take a minimum-wage job, you’re not willing to be an entrepreneur. Entrepreneurs can go weeks, sometimes months, without getting paid. Are you willing to make that sacrifice? If you aren’t willing to work for the minimum, how can you expect to work for nothing?

My forum is crammed with people too proud, too cool, and too good to work a shit job. Some are even too cool to get a real job. And you know what? These proud souls will never succeed as entrepreneurs, let alone get out of the gates of a SCRIPTED existence. Had I been “too cool” to run a limo company for an absentee owner, I would have never learned the inside scoop about the business leading to my first successful company. The plague of “too cool” was seen during Ashton Kutcher’s acceptance speech at the 2013 Teen Choice Awards. He said:

'I believe that opportunity looks a lot like hard work… When I was thirteen, I had my first job with my dad carrying shingles up to the roof. And then I got a job washing dishes at a restaurant. And then I got a job in grocery store deli. And then I got a job in factory sweeping Cheerio dust off the ground. And I’ve never had a job in my life that I was better than. I was always just lucky to have a job. And every job that I had was a stepping stone to my next job, and I never quit my job until I had my next job. And so opportunities look a lot like work.'

Epic speech, no doubt.
Epic crowd reaction, not so much.
As Mr. Kutcher voiced this life wisdom, the crowd didn’t care to hear it. No raucous applause. No standing ovation. The crowd of mostly teens, surely mesmerized by Ashton’s hyper-personality, sandwiched his “hard work” speech with crickets. Chirp chirp. Of course being sexy and cool was met with screams and catcalls. Clearly our youngsters are more interested in “big breaks” and “overnight success” than they are about sweeping floors and washing dishes."

DeMarco, MJ. UNSCRIPTED : Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Entrepreneurship (pp. 86-87). Viperion Publishing Corporation. Kindle Edition.

 

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[Odysseus M Jones]

"Threat #2: Your Guarded Pride And Ego

A real FTE overcomes an insulated ego. I was a C-student in high school, but in college I earned two business degrees, won scholarships, and graduated near the top of my class. Despite such accolades, I was willing to do anything to make my entrepreneurial dreams happen. That included washing dishes, driving cabs, mopping floors, and flipping burgers. You see, I wasn’t “too good” not to do the dirty work. My dreams were stronger than my pride and ego.

If you’re “too cool” and fear what your friends and family might think because you’re waiting tables down at the Applebee’s, you’re probably not cut from an entrepreneurial cloth.

I once tweeted that if you’re not willing to take a minimum-wage job, you’re not willing to be an entrepreneur. Entrepreneurs can go weeks, sometimes months, without getting paid. Are you willing to make that sacrifice? If you aren’t willing to work for the minimum, how can you expect to work for nothing?

My forum is crammed with people too proud, too cool, and too good to work a shit job. Some are even too cool to get a real job. And you know what? These proud souls will never succeed as entrepreneurs, let alone get out of the gates of a SCRIPTED existence. Had I been “too cool” to run a limo company for an absentee owner, I would have never learned the inside scoop about the business leading to my first successful company. The plague of “too cool” was seen during Ashton Kutcher’s acceptance speech at the 2013 Teen Choice Awards. He said:

'I believe that opportunity looks a lot like hard work… When I was thirteen, I had my first job with my dad carrying shingles up to the roof. And then I got a job washing dishes at a restaurant. And then I got a job in grocery store deli. And then I got a job in factory sweeping Cheerio dust off the ground. And I’ve never had a job in my life that I was better than. I was always just lucky to have a job. And every job that I had was a stepping stone to my next job, and I never quit my job until I had my next job. And so opportunities look a lot like work.'

Epic speech, no doubt.
Epic crowd reaction, not so much.
As Mr. Kutcher voiced this life wisdom, the crowd didn’t care to hear it. No raucous applause. No standing ovation. The crowd of mostly teens, surely mesmerized by Ashton’s hyper-personality, sandwiched his “hard work” speech with crickets. Chirp chirp. Of course being sexy and cool was met with screams and catcalls. Clearly our youngsters are more interested in “big breaks” and “overnight success” than they are about sweeping floors and washing dishes."

DeMarco, MJ. UNSCRIPTED : Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Entrepreneurship (pp. 86-87). Viperion Publishing Corporation. Kindle Edition.

Yes people, don't be proud.

 

[sonny_1080]

"Threat #1: Mediocre Comfort

A real FTE doesn’t care about mediocre comfort. Give a man an OK job that pays just enough to provide mediocre comfort and I’ll show you a man that will keep his job indefinitely. This is by design.

In 1926, in an interview published by World’s Work magazine, industrial titan Henry Ford confesses why he reduced his workers’ labor load from six days and forty-eight hours to five days and forty hours, all while keeping pay the same. He said:

It is the influence of leisure on consumption which makes the [five day workweek] so necessary. The people who consume the bulk of goods are the people who make them. That is a fact we must never forget, that is the secret of our prosperity.

He continued:

The people with a 5-day week will consume more goods than the people with a 6-day week. People who have more leisure must have more clothes. They must have a greater variety of food. They must have more transportation facilities. They naturally must have more service of various kinds. This increased consumption will require greater production than we now have. Instead of business being slowed up because the people are ‘off work’, it will be speeded up… This will lead to more work. And this to more profits.

Still accepted, the modern five-day, forty-hour workweek is a SCRIPTED tool for obedience, keeping you occupied, clothed, and fed, and it’s just enough to keep weekends earmarked as a leisurely celebration officiated by consumption. As long as your head stays slightly above water, the weekend bribe continues while the red pill swirls around in your mouth like a Jolly Rancher.

I see this every day, and no, I’m not exaggerating. While my first book created some life-altering “F*ck this” events for my readers, in all honesty, it also created many failed “F*ck this” moments. Hit the “Introduction” section at TheFastlaneForum.com and you’ll witness page after page of them.

I’m so excited to begin!

In thirty days, I will post everything I’ve done!

Good-bye job! Hello entrepreneur!

And then, bam! Twenty-four hours later, they’re gone, never heard from again. Their grandiose declaration, meaningless. Instead of a true SCRIPTED disconnection, they reconnect: back to their job, their existing paradigm, and their spectacular weekend. The problem is, these people *like* the idea of entrepreneurship as much as they like the idea of winning free money. But they don’t honor the effort or expectation required to make it real. For example, I had a college buddy who always talked entrepreneurship. Let’s call him Willie.

Willie gets a job helping him fund his entrepreneurial dreams—you know, so he can “pay bills” and meet his obligations. After getting a decent-paying job, Willie starts accumulating surplus cash. Instead of saving it or investing it into his business, he buys a new Jeep and a townhouse in a hot city district. The next thing you know, Willie is job-trapped, as it’s needed to fund his lifestyle. From the moment of his first paycheck, mediocre comfort ensues, justified and entrapped by “I have responsibilities.” Willie’s entrepreneurial dreams pay the price. But hey, at least he has a nice Jeep with only forty-five payments remaining.

Translation #1? Willie is owned by his junk and the mediocre comfort it provides. He isn’t willing to risk or sacrifice comfort in hopes of something better.

Translation #2? Willie doesn’t need entrepreneurship as much as he needs comfort. And entrepreneurship doesn’t need him.

Similarly, a lot of fathers on my forum expressed concern that their teenage children have zero interest in entrepreneurship. Even the teenage boy in my life isn’t interested in entrepreneurship and it doesn’t surprise me. Why? Because they haven’t experienced a shitty boss, a shitty job, or a shitty commute. When you experience how much the system sucks firsthand, the desire appears. Warning people about a hot fire doesn’t work—they need to feel the burn for themselves.

The problem in these instances is mediocre comfort—enough of it that it prevents you from getting up off the nail. The nice car, the regular paycheck, the fun weekend of football games—all of it keeps you at the poker table with the same strategy, the same bets, and the same cards. In the end, nothing changes but the passage of time. At some point, you have to decide: What’s more important? Your UNSCRIPTED dreams? Or watching the Yankees third game on a ten-game home stand? Your long-term happiness? Or your drunken stupors at the lake on Saturday afternoon?"

DeMarco, MJ. UNSCRIPTED : Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Entrepreneurship (pp. 85-86). Viperion Publishing Corporation. Kindle Edition.

 

[MJ DeMarco]

Down the road, I hope you can post the "Mexican Fisherman" parable, the part that was left out in the story! Thanks for sharing these, they are a nice reminder on why I write.

 

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[SDFreedomFighter]

Down the road, I hope you can post the "Mexican Fisherman" parable, the part that was left out in the story! Thanks for sharing these, they are a nice reminder on why I write.

That story is my personal mission statement

 

[sonny_1080]

"Take for instance this old folktale floating around the web. It’s an idealistic sap story implying that money doesn’t buy happiness. It goes like this…

An American businessman stood at the pier of a small coastal Mexican village when a small boat with just one fisherman docked. Inside the small boat were several large yellowfin tuna. The American complimented the Mexican on the quality of his fish.

“How long did it take to catch them?” the American asked.

“Only a bit,” the Mexican replied.

“Why don’t you stay out longer and catch more fish?” the American then asked.

“I have enough to support my family’s immediate needs,” the Mexican said.

“But,” the American then asked, “what do you do with the rest of your time?”

The "Mexican Fisherman" said, “I sleep late, play with my children, take a siesta with my wife, take evening strolls to the village, where I sip wine and play guitar with my amigos. I have a full and busy life, señor.”

The American scoffed, “I have a Harvard MBA, and I could help you. You should spend more time fishing, and with the proceeds, you buy a bigger boat, and with the proceeds from the bigger boat, you could buy several boats. Eventually you would have a fleet of fishing boats. Instead of selling your catch to a middleman, you could sell directly to the consumers, eventually opening your own cannery. You would control everything. You would need to leave your small village and move to the big city to manage your expanding enterprise.”

The "Mexican Fisherman" asked, “But señor, how long will this all take?”

To which the American replied, “Ten to fifteen years.”

“But what then, señor?”

The American laughed and said, “Well, that’s the best part. When the time is right, you would sell your company and become very rich; you would make millions.”

“Millions, señor? Then what?”

The American said slowly, “Then you would retire, move to a small coastal fishing village, where you would sleep late, play with your kids, take a siesta with your wife, take evenings strolls to the village, where you could sip wine and play guitar with your amigos…”

The reasonable moral to the story is “Money doesn’t buy happiness.” Except you didn’t hear the rest of the story…the one that isn’t shared. Here it is: Soon after the American left, things changed. The government, desperate for tax dollars, levied a series of boating, gaming, and license fees: To continue fishing, the Mexican must pay $400 for a fishing license, a $200 environmental fee, a $350 game endorsement, and $1,800 in mooring fees. If he doesn’t pay ASAP, the Mexican will be barred from fishing.

Unfortunately, after paying all the fees, the Mexican has little money left to insure and license his boat. Unable to legally operate at his favorite coastal town, the "Mexican Fisherman" drives three hours south to another town, where the quality of the fish is poor. The long drive takes its toll on the Mexican’s car, where it ultimately breaks down. In order to fix his car, he needs $200 for a water pump and $400 for a radiator. This is after he pays $600 to get his car towed back to his village.

But this story is about to get worse.

When the Mexican fails to pay the mooring fees to the harbor master, he loses his boat. The "Mexican Fisherman" who spent most of his days in a state of unpreparedness and merriment—strumming around with his friends, sipping wine—is now unable to support his family. His wife divorces him. The Mexican now sings a different tune with his amigos … something along the lines of “Money can buy happiness.”

Which one of these stories sounds more realistic? In both stories, the Mexican has the same goal: freedom with his friends and family. That's worthy. Unfortunately, when money is removed from a real-world existence, idealism turns into a nightmare—a repeated reality found in every civilized country worldwide: bills, fees, taxes, life overhead, and money problems. The problem isn’t the Mexican’s goal—freedom; the problem is he was lazy and disrespected money’s role. He didn’t save, prepare, or produce in excess of consumption. Money buys happiness when you let it buy your freedom."

DeMarco, MJ. UNSCRIPTED : Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Entrepreneurship (pp. 190-192). Viperion Publishing Corporation. Kindle Edition.