I have a deep rooted memory of being out in Turkey on holiday as a kid.

My family at some old town market haggling with men over a handbag or wallet or something.

They give you some nice Turkish tea and you settle in for a short bartering session that seemed to last for hours.

All for the sake of some leather and a few quid discount.

For some reason I just hated it.

On reflection it's because, as a kid you have zero interest in pissing about in some little market that smells like a camels.

You want to be in the park or at the disco or doing something exciting.

And that's why, when we went away this year I heard the term...

...that sends a small shiver down my spine.

'We're ALL going shopping to the Old Town and look for a bargain on handbags'.

FFS

'It'll be fun' they said.

And so, we trawled round places like this with the kids going crazy, my patience wearing thin, and the clock ticking.

I don't have anything against shopping in general, but there was two things:

1) Taking kids to something like this is a clusterfuck.

The younger they are the more of a shitshow it becomes.

Because they want to run about, not wait about.

So they get restless, start knocking stuff over, hiding...

...and there's only so much pacifying you can do to an energetic but tired 2 or 3 year old...

...whilst you have men every few yards asking you to come in and see their goods.

2) There's something in me about buying 'fake' goods.

I guess I look at it this way.

If someone said they had a new Ferrari for sale...

...which wasn't officially a Ferrari...

...and sold in a market, and was only £30,000 instead of £100,000... you wouldn't buy it.

You'd feel like a plonker if you pulled up in your gleaming red supercar at the pub and someone asked...

Is that real?

And you had to say no.

...or maybe that's just me.

It's the same for watches and bags and anything.

I have plenty of mates with fake Rolex's and I saw a lot of it in the City... but I just wasn't that interested.

Part of this comes from the years where I have stripped back my views on life and what I value.

Maybe the fake or real stuff comes as part of the journey of life as well.

Maybe you can't afford the watch or car or bag...

...but if you work towards it and achieve the ability to buy it, thats where things get exciting.

Like the guys I saw at a recent Supercar event...

Most of them didn't just 'inherit the money'.. they worked their bollocks off to build a business or career that afforded them the ability to buy the Breitling or Porsche or Big House, or whatever.

And my last angle on it is this...

If you want the luxury goods, and can't afford it yet...GOOD!

There's a target.

A reason to build something or create something and get up early or stay up late... if that's your bag (pun intended).

The adventure is in the journey to getting that watch on your wrist or fast car in your garage (or smoking hot woman in your bed).

And for a lot of guys, that journey is more interesting in one of the memberships.

Because we help you work towards the life you want, just like the guy who went from employee to launching his own. business and doing £10,000 months.

Nobody said it was easy, but it is possible with the right attitude and plan.

Right, I just checked the time on my £25 Casio and I must get on with some more work.

Have a great weekend.

I have no idea what next week's Journals will be about, but there's loads going on, both in the Whole Man Academy, and in the wider world, so plenty to talk about.

Anthony

Whole Man Academy