Guy Reams (00:01.006)
Today's day 186, get their first disease. So I first thought of this idea when I was on our RV trip.
My family and I rented this gigantic RV. We drove from Chicago down to Louisiana and then back up to Chicago. And I will get into the journey. There was a purpose for the journey and it was really rather fun. But there was a, the challenge we had on this journey is that we had a destination we had to get to. And we kept thinking in our minds, we're gonna really enjoy ourselves when we get to the destination.
So we were driving this RV much like you would a commuter van, going from one location to the next as fast as possible, driving as far as we could in a day. And we were just stressed out. We'd get to an RV park and spend all our time setting everything up, getting it all ready to go. And the next morning, tear it down and go head out again. And I remember one time we went on our way back, we stopped at an RV park. I remember seeing this older couple.
Hanging out at their RV, nice little fire going, lounge chair set up, relaxing. She was reading a book, he was listening to something on the radio, they were just hanging out. And I remember after I was done doing all my stuff, getting everything set up, I commented, wow, where are you guys heading? And I saw this look of perplexity on their faces, almost as if to say, what do you mean heading? We're not going anywhere.
They were like, well, you know, we don't know. We're kind of heading, you know, we might, you know, we're heading down the road a bit. I mean, there was no specific answer. I thought, this is interesting, right? They're enjoying themselves because they're not going anywhere. I'm heading somewhere and I'm just stressed out. So this got me to thinking about this. We can't really enjoy ourselves until we get there first.
Guy Reams (02:09.133)
And I thought, this is an interesting problem. And I now consider it a disease. This morning I was flying out of Oakland Airport. And I was in Oakland and I was waiting in my terminal. And I saw this man coming right in front of me with two suitcases, who was obviously his wife and another couple traveling with them were falling right behind him.
And the one guy says, hey, can we stop there and get a bite to eat? Because we're hungry. And I heard him said, well, why don't we get to the gate first, and then we'll find a place to eat. Let's get there first. And he kept going on past me. And I thought, he's got get -there -first disease. He wants to get to the airport gate. So what they did is they got into the terminal. They checked in, got through TSA security. And he wants to get to the gate first.
So he was trying to get to gate 26. I was at gate 22 and they were heading to gate 26. And I thought, cause I had seen that I saw these four people later, about an hour later, I saw them eating at a restaurant in the terminal. Their plane hadn't left yet, an hour later. So I thought, this guy's at gate 22 and he's heading to gate 26. Gate 26 is going to be there, trust me. Gate 26 will be there. It's not gonna disappear.
It's not going to suddenly go away. So he's got to get there first before he will allow himself to eat or to buy something or to relax or whatever it is. So I thought this man has get their first disease. Now, these are rather innocuous, get their first disease problems, but they get worse and they get much worse. For example, when I was a young man, new family,
I had get there first disease. I've always wanted to be a really good father, really good husband, but I thought I had to be really successful first. I had to get to my success first and then I could be a great father. Now, I think I did my best I could as a dad, but I could do a lot, I could have done a lot better in my younger days if I wasn't so worried about getting there, right? Getting to some,
Guy Reams (04:33.166)
elusive success. And by the way, even when I finally did get success, I had more problems to deal with. So it wasn't like I could suddenly take a vacation when I was successful. In fact, I think I've learned a very powerful lesson about that.
Guy Reams (04:54.222)
Just be, when you have success, getting to the success, the success does not free you up, the success actually binds you, right? So this is the great lie we tell ourselves. I will become a great whatever when I get there. I will become a great, here's another one I hear a lot. You know what, I'm gonna give back to humanity. I'm gonna help those in need.
When I get there? Well, you're never gonna get there. So this is a lie. They get their first disease, prevents us from doing great things or being the person we want to be during our travels. Same thing goes for retirement. Somewhere a long time ago, they waved this carrot in front of us that said, if you work 40 to 60 hours a week and only take two weeks of vacation and you do that for 40 years,
then sometime in your 60s or 70s, you'll be able to retire and then you'll be sipping Mai Tai's and eating grapes in the clouds. You'll be doing all these wonderful things. Well, that's also another lie. Now, it could be your retirement will be fine, whatever, but generally, it's a mixed bag, right? You're older, you're not as healthy, maybe you don't make as much money as you thought, maybe the company takes your retirement away from you or they go bankrupt. So, honestly,
Maybe you should just enjoy your life while you're on it, rather than waiting for the fictitious retirement that people pretended that is actually gonna be there. My parents and my grandparents were not, they were relatively successful, they had good lives, but I didn't see my grandfather or my father, or I didn't see any of them.
back on a lounge chair enjoying their retirement, I saw them working. So I just don't think, I don't think that this is just a big lie. So why are we waiting to get there first? I don't understand, right? So you don't need to get there first. So I think maybe the real statement here is we need to think about the journey before the destination. We don't need to get anywhere to live our lives. We don't need to wait for some of that event happened to be the person that we want to be.
Guy Reams (07:18.67)
We don't need to achieve something in order to start acting in the role that we want. We don't need to become CEO before we can do great things. Rather, you know what? You could become a CEO right now, just start a company, and then you've already got to the top, done. But you'll find out the top is freaking hard work, just like it is in anything. So I think that's just a good lesson, right? You don't need to wait there first. So.
Start living your life right now.