Funny I just commented on passion last week, and how it follows effort, it doesn't lead.

Research agrees.
Schwarzenegger agrees.

https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/community/threads/dont-follow-your-passion-schwarzenegger-agrees-with-mj.120479/

Nancy Pelosi's fortune-making secret laid bare: https://preview.mailerlite.io/preview/364132/emails/165726224258172469

There's a great passive income discussion at the forum (sort of ties into the Pelosi strategy I posted) -- here's a link.

https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/community/threads/is-passive-income-less-attainable-than-before.120728/

For those without a subscription, I'll try to post some key points.

More...

Beware of self-imposed prisons... 2 boxes of BS.

https://preview.mailerlite.io/preview/364132/emails/167074353573266449

I posted how impressed I was with Lovable for fast deployment of websites, landing pages, and apps thru AI prompting.

(Sidenote: I tried Claude to code and it was a 3 in terms of value, Lovable more like a 9)

https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/community/threads/mind-blown-lovable-for-no-code-website-development-and-apps.121358/

These shovel sellers (Like Lovable, Supabase, Cursor) will make billions.

However, as I keep mentioning to everyone who will listen, there is a WINDOW of opportunity here that will last a few years where the early adopters can also make millions, even digging for gold. That window might be 2 years, 3, or 5. That's the unknown.

Ultimately, this discussion brought in the concept of CONTROL and CENTS.

Yes, this ultimately becomes an issue.

However, as I keep mentioning, there is a WINDOW where it won't matter.

Remember blogging way back in 2010?

Violated control.

But the early adopters made millions.

Remember self-publishing frenzy back in 2015?

Violated control.

But the early adopters made millions.

Remember Amazon FBA?

Violated control.

But the early adopters made millions.

We are in the phase were the early adopters will make millions.

💰The next 3 years of your life can define the next 50. 💰

If you are unsure of where to start, MARKETING is becoming the SUPERPOWER. ⚡️⚡️⚡️

Because if execution is as simple as AI proficiency in a tool like Lovable, Cursor, etc, then MARKETING will separate the winners from the losers.

If you aren't willing to learn MARKETING, ADVERTISING, and buying psychology, you'd better be prepared to hire someone who is!

If you think like a winner, practice like a winner, persevere like a winner, ignore the haters like a winner, you eventually become a winner.

It doesn't get any simpler than that.

Have a great weekend everyone!

MJ

FROM THE FASTLANE NEWSLETTER

Uncertain Certainty: How to Make Decisions Like a Casino Boss...

In life, you always have two choices: to think like a casino mogul or like the chump gambler dropping cash in a slot machine. One lives in a penthouse with a butler, the other in a rented apartment with a landlord who doesn't fix leaky toilets.

Casinos make billions of dollars by mastering one idea: Uncertain Certainty.

Here’s the micro-view (the lie): Your friend Billy goes to Vegas, hits a lucky streak, and walks away with $2,000 playing dollar slots. He brags on Facebook, thinks he’s a genius, and “beat the system.” But you know better.

Billy's win is the Uncertainty of Certainty.

Here’s the macro-view (the truth): While Billy’s Facebook post gets many likes, you didn’t hear about the nine other Billys who crawled home with empty pockets and a nasty hangover. They didn’t post on Facebook. Billy’s “win” is just a short-term statistical blip, and survivor’s bias makes it seem more obvious than it really is.

Continue....
https://preview.mailerlite.io/preview/364132/emails/170803618679621581

The only place a PROCESS can be witnessed as an EVENT!!

Process is power. It is your divine human power.

Unfortunately, most humans neglect this power and seek events—essentially running their lives like animals.

No animal can rise to 1000X their personal power.
Only humans can.

What separates humans from the animal kingdom is our ability to engage in a concerted, conscious process that can last weeks, months, and even years. Animals cannot engage in processes outside of their hard-coded instincts. A beaver builds a dam because it’s programmed to. A bird constructs a nest because genetics demand it.

Humans, however, hold the power of choice, which can be part of a systematic process that compounds into a force far greater than its parts.

Embrace the process, and it becomes a human superpower.

Think about the Amazon empire. It’s a product of Jeff Bezos’ process.

Elon Musk—love or hate him—his rockets, EV, and robot ventures are monuments to his process, surpassing the singular power of one individual.

No animal can rise to 1000X their personal power.

Only humans can.

And the process is the key.

But few ever use the process to build a great life.

Instead, they let their feral brains run the show, chasing an easy dopamine hit. They chase the event.

This refusal to engage in process is why mediocrity is the norm and excellence is the outlier. Process is what creates outlier success. Process is 99% thinking.

So, let me ask you a question, and I want you to be honest:

What have you worked on for months? For years?
What have you trained on?
What have you learned?
What forces have you compounded?

Is the answer—NOTHING?

If so, that means you are not process-driven. It means you are abandoning a human superpower to engage life like a common house pet, reacting to stimuli rather than creating your future.
Events Are Visible, Process is Hidden

I’ve been talking about Event vs. Process for years.

It is the fundamental divide that separates the winners from the losers.

Winners understand that process is the keystone; losers worship the event.

▶️ The Process is the invisible backstory that no one sees, acknowledges, or applauds.
▶️ The Event is the trophy and headlines that makes the normies salivate.

The process is the three grueling years spent writing that book you’ve dreamed of; the event is having a best-seller that makes people envious of your “luck.”

The process is the 18 years of blood, sweat, and torn ligaments the pro athlete endures; the event is the $100M contract that hits the headlines.

How does this divergence and disrespect happen?

The problem is visibility.

⚡⚡Events are visible. Process is invisible. ⚡⚡

Because the process is invisible, society ignores it. We only see the flashbulb moments.

In fact, it is virtually IMPOSSIBLE to witness a process, because it involves hundreds, sometimes thousands, of microscopic decisions. How can you “see” a process?

You can’t… except in one unique, rare case.

You can only see a guy sitting at a desk. You can only see a woman lifting a weight. Fact: Most of my decisions are part of a process. For example, TODAY ONLY here are some of my decisions.

--- Practice Piano — PROCESS.
--- Jump Rope and Lift Weights — PROCESS
--- HBOT 90-minute sessions — PROCESS.
--- Edit final rough draft of new book — PROCESS

Solitary choices? Nope, they are part of a process. How many decisions are you making daily, that are part of a process?

Events are visible.
Process is invisible.

CONFESSIONS OF A "CART SNOOP"

Here’s an unique exception: Process can be witnessed by proxy. This why I’m the consummate “Cart Snoop.” When I’m at the grocery store, I’m always snooping in other people’s shopping carts. I’m judging what’s on the belt.

Why? Because the shopping cart is one of the few places on earth where a process can be witnessed as an event.

99% of the time, the contents of the cart match the person buying it.

If the cart is loaded with processed food, frozen junk, sugary sodas, and pastries, the person pushing it is obese and likely two Ding-Dongs away from diabetes.

If the cart is stacked with fruits, veggies, lean meats, and unprocessed fuel, the person is fit and trim....

STORY CONTINUES ON THE FORUM (UNGATED, FREE)
https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/community/threads/sad-the-human-superpower-youre-likely-ignoring.121819/

After 18 years... you're fired!

First, an apology.

If you tried to access the forum or my website recently, you were likely met with a 403 error or an endless grinding screen. The server was under extreme duress.

I won't bore you with the technical details, but I will tell you who decided to take a nap while my business was bleeding: LiquidWeb.

For 18 years, I was a loyal customer.

I sent them thousands of dollars.

I even recommended them in one of my books (now I need to edit my book).

I praised their operation because their support was instantaneous and helpful.

"Heroic Support" they called it, and they lived it. 

Ticket response times were under 10 minutes, much like the company I started. They were an asset.

But over the last week, that asset became my greatest liability, and here what its important as a business owners:

Story continues...

https://news.thefastlaneforum.com/preview/364132/emails/173332439226124261

👉How to Start 2026 Right: End 2025 Right.

Don’t sleepwalk into 2026 like most people.

Of course, that starts with a mental checklist of “New Year’s Resolutions” that will be abandoned by January 15th. Heck, if you can’t even write your goals on a piece of paper, let me save you the drama: You will fail.

Don’t be like most people. I’m guessing YOU ARE NOT.

Every moment you stand at the precipice. Most people? They see that precipice only on December 31st, or a few days before this calendar day. It is the blurry line between what was and what could be.

You know my proverb: If you want to change your life, you have to change your choices, or ultimately, you change nothing.

💡Newsflash: Most people don’t even know what choices they're making. They are NPCs in their own game.

Are you?

You can’t change the GPS destination if you don’t know your current coordinates.

As we end 2025, here are two thought experiments—diagnostic tools designed to show you exactly where you stand, and where to proceed.

####### Thought Experiment #1:
####### The 2025 Autopsy

Your 2025 is nearly dead. And every year needs an autopsy.

Do you actually self-reflect? I don’t mean staring out a window feeling sorry for yourself as a shiny Porsche drives by. I mean looking at the data—the tangible outcomes your choices have wrought, or won.

Here are 10 questions to expose the reality that lurks beneath. Feel free to complete this exercise on The Fastlane Forum, which many have already done, including me.

Be honest. Lying to me is irrelevant. Changes nothing. Lying to yourself is another nail in your regret-lined coffin.

❓What was your biggest triumph? Was there several, or none? Why?
❓What was your biggest struggle? Did you overcome it? If not, how can you change it?
❓What new habits did you form, if any? (And were they habits of growth, or habits of sedation and distraction?)
❓Are you better off financially at the end of 2025 versus the end of 2024? What worked here, and what didn’t?
❓Are you better off physically and mentally? What worked, or went off the rails?
❓Do you have any regrets? If so, what can you do in 2026 to ensure that regret doesn’t persist to your deathbed?
❓ Did you learn anything new? Why or why not?
❓How have the relationships in your life evolved? Improved? Worsened? Are you surrounded by engines or anchors?
❓What triggered negative emotions? Guilt, anger, sadness, or disappointment?
❓What small joys or moments made your days brighter?

Newsletter continues.. thought expiriment #2.
https://news.thefastlaneforum.com/emails/webview/364132/175067108933108767

Happy New Year everyone! Wishing you a healthy, prosperous 2026, the kind of year where you reflect back and say, "That was the year when I made a quantum leap!" ~ MJ DeMarco

Decision-making isn’t that complicated when you understand the operating paradox of choice. In fact, it’s pretty simple, but its execution is not. It's literally an Art of War for Decision-Making

Fact #1: A hidden paradox underwrites your life story, and your mastery of it will determine the quality of your life. It literally is the Art of War for Decision-Making.

Here’s the paradox:

👉 Choosing Easy punishes persistent hardship.
👉 Choosing Hard rewards persistent ease.

Fact #2: If you choose EASY as a habit, you will live HARD as a state of existence.

Fact #3: Master this decision paradox and win a gilded life fit for a king. Fail it, and suffer predictable hardship— debt, depression, disease, and a deathbed of regret.

Fact #4: Hard is NOT optional— choose HARD under your terms, or have HARD choose you under its terms. Proper diet is HARD. Disease is HARDER.

One is a choice, the other is not.

Fact #5: What you choose, the opposite will persist. Choose easy? Fast food? Garbage? Laziness? Obesity and disease persists. You live it daily. Choose hard? Whole, minimally processed foods? Exercise? Live with energy, vitality, and without disease.

You live in the skin you sew.

This paradox is so profound, I spent the last 4 years writing a book about it.

Coming March 31st, 2026 as I promised (and albeit a bit late)

Choose Hard, Live Easy — Master the Art of War for Decision-Making.

Life didn’t come with an instruction manual on how to make good decisions.

But now it does.

Hit https://ChooseHardLiveEasy.com to fire your first round at decision combat, and command decisions with clarity, confidence, and power. And live like a king who conquered.

Choose Hard. Live Easy.

Master the Art of War for Decision-Making!

"Carpe Diem" (Seize the Day) is worthless advice. 🗑️

Seen that on a wall? A cofee cup? LOL.

Think about it. 72% of Americans are overweight. Teenagers spend 5 hours a day on social media. Is anyone actually "seizing the day"?

No. Because you cannot seize a "day."

It's like seizing the moon, stars, or the sun.

A day is just a container of moments. The moment is the physical point where all decisions are made. It is the only place where you actually have power.

Think of life like an hourglass. ⏳

The sand at the top is the future. The bottom is the past. The narrow neck—the vortex—is the moment. That is where the grain of sand passes through. That is where you either win or lose.

If you can’t seize the moment (Carpe Momentum), you have zero chance of seizing the day.

Forget the day. Target the moment. Win the moment, and the day takes care of itself.

Read the full article, my latest from the Choose Hard, Live Easy ethos:

👇👇👇

https://news.thefastlaneforum.com/emails/webview/364132/177244220416853637

Have a great weekend! MJ

What seems insane is likely your normal behavior.

Meet Bill. Bill is an idiot. 🍪💸

Every night, Bill’s house gets robbed. The burglars take his money, his jewelry, and his most precious valuables.

Does Bill call the police? No. Does he lock his doors? No.

He leaves the doors wide open. Windows. Everythin. Why?

Read this week's newsletter.

👇👇👇

https://news.thefastlaneforum.com/preview/364132/emails/178770557553083757

The software industry is about to become a total dumpster fire. 🔥

If not, it will go through a Vitamix blender.

I recently got fed up with a SaaS service I was using, canceled my subscription, and used AI to build an better replica of their service in a few hours. It actually works better than what I was paying for. I saved the monthly fee. I could also sell my solution.

Think about the gravity of this.

Software is becoming commoditized. Cheap. Unremarkable. Anybody with a pulse and Wi-Fi can now build an app.

It’s exactly what happened to the self-publishing industry a decade ago—Amazon blew the doors off, and the space was suffocated by an avalanche of garbage. Millions of books, zero buyers.

The exact same bloodbath is coming to software.

If you're a Fastlane entrepreneur, how the hell do you stand out? Take advantage of this huge disruption?

Read the full article via the Fastlane Newsletter (and prepare for what's coming):
👇👇👇

https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/community/threads/the-ai-software-apocalypse.122670/