Are you a reader? Do you have a thirst for knowledge?
I’m an avid reader and have been ever since I learned to read. Because I love learning new ideas and skills that can help me get ahead in life.
Since High School, I’ve been reading mostly non-fiction books. Self-help or motivational books, books about business, about sales, about entrepreneurship… life-changing books.
Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki, is one of those books that changed my life. It’s the story of the lessons two young boys learned about wealth creation from a rich man who took them under his wing.
Here are the lessons in Rich Dad, Poor Dad that changed my life.
Lessons in Rich Dad Poor Dad that changed my life
Lesson 1: Getting a job will not make you rich
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“Financial struggle is often the direct result of people working all their lives for someone else.”– Robert Kiyosaki
“The moment I pay you, you think like an employee.” — Robert Kiyosaki
We think that if we go to school and get good grades, we will get a good job. And once we have a good job we’ll be golden.
But the Schooling system is flawed. It teaches us literacy but it doesn’t teach us about financial literacy. It doesn’t teach us how to make money and keep it.
- How many people do you know who have jobs and are wealthy?
- How many pensioners do you know who are wealthy?
Most wealthy people I know have their own businesses. Or are living on their investments.
If you want to take control of your destiny, you need to forge your own path, not follow the crowd.
If you want freedom, don’t lock yourself away in an office and chain yourself to a desk.
“The more a person seeks security, the more that person gives up control over his life.” — Robert Kiyosaki
“When I started my last business, I didn’t receive a paycheck for 13 months. The average person can’t handle that pressure.” — Robert Kiyosaki
I followed this advice and became an Entrepreneur.
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Lesson 2: Making mistakes is essential to business success
“In school, we learn that mistakes are bad, and we are punished for making them. Yet, if you look at the way humans are designed to learn, we learn by making mistakes. We learn to walk by falling down. If we never fell down, we would never walk.” — Robert Kiyosaki
“The trouble with school is they give you the answer, then they give you the exam. That’s not life.” — Robert Kiyosaki
I remember the day I went off School.
Up until this point, I loved school and had always been a diligent student, top of the class. In the second last year of High School, I went to the school library and took out a couple of books on History. I did my research and wrote what I thought were brilliant essays for my History exam. I eagerly awaiting my results. I was in for a huge disappointment.
My results were terrible. I asked the Teacher why I got such a low score and he said,
“You didn’t give us the answers that were in your textbook.”
That’s when I realised that School was not designed to teach me to think. School was designed to teach me to regurgitate what the textbooks say, not to teach critical thinking.
That’s when I became less interested in my School work and more interested in learning.
“Being an entrepreneur is simply going from one mistake to the next. You must have the fortitude to continue on.” — Robert Kiyosaki
“You will make some mistakes but, if you learn from those mistakes, those mistakes will become wisdom and wisdom is essential to becoming wealthy.” — Robert Kiyosaki
I followed this advice and started learning from the school of hard knocks.
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Lesson 3: Questions open the mind
“The most successful people in life are the ones who ask questions. They’re always learning. They’re always growing. They’re always pushing.” — Robert Kiyosaki
The poor say, “I can’t” and the rich say, “How can I?”
Find out how to ask the questions that change your money blueprint in this post.
“The power of “can’t”: The word “can’t” makes strong people weak, blinds people who can see, saddens happy people, turns brave people into cowards, robs a genius of their brilliance, causes rich people to think poorly, and limits the achievements of that great person living inside us all.” — Robert Kiyosaki
I followed this advice, asked questions, got answers and learned I can do anything I set my mind to.
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Lesson 4: Entrepreneurs need to learn how to sell
“The ability to sell is the number one skill in business. If you cannot sell, don’t bother thinking about becoming a business owner.” — Robert Kiyosaki
Children are born with natural sales skills. They sell you on their wants and needs all the time. Some get so good at it that parents have a tough time saying no to their children’s every whim.
Yet, many adults develop resistance to selling. They say things like, “I can’t sell” or “I hate selling” or “I’m not a salesperson.”
Really, I think most people have a block about selling because they hate being “sold to”. Usually, it’s because of a bad experience with a pushy salesperson.
But if you want to become wealthy, you’ll have to let go of all your preconceived about salespeople and become one.
Selling and networking are crucial skills to master as an entrepreneur.
“If you want to be financially free, you need to become a different person than you are today and let go of whatever has held you back in the past.” — Robert Kiyosaki
I followed this advice and learned to sell.
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Lesson 5: You are the solution to your problems
“You’ll often find that it’s not mom or dad, husband or wife, or the kids that’s stopping you. It’s you. Get out of your own way.” — Robert Kiyosaki
I’ve always noticed that the most successful people in life are those that are out there doing it. They are in action.
People who waste all their time and energy complaining about their parents, their childhood, the government, society, everything they don’t have, all the opportunities that never came their way, never get anywhere.
“The only difference between a rich person and poor person is how they use their time” — Robert Kiyosaki
“If you realize that you’re the problem, then you can change yourself, learn something and grow wiser. Don’t blame other people for your problems.” — Robert Kiyosaki
I followed this advice and became a problem-solver.
These are just a few lessons and some quotes from Rich Dad, Poor Dad. You’ll get so much more from reading the whole book. Get it Now on Amazon *This is an affiliate link.
Oh, and there was one more golden piece of advice that made a huge impact on me.
“If you want to be rich the rule of thumb is to teach others how to be rich.” — Robert Kiyosaki
So I took his advice and started teaching what I know.
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