How Kiyosaki’s Wisdom on “Rich Dad Poor Dad” Will Change How You View Money

Most people have different perspectives on money. Some view it as a tool to survive, some view money as a God to them, others love money, and then there are those that view money as the root of all evil.

Money is not inherently bad. In fact, a lot of good can be done with the money when it is used properly. Good people are often empowered to do even more good when they have money. Money amplifies a person’s attributes. For eg, if a person is generous, money amplifies this to help other people and to contribute to society. If a person is a scumbag, money will amplify the scumbag personality of that person.

Be aware of your thoughts

If you want to succeed and live your best life Kiyosaki taught me this:

People really do shape their lives through their thoughts.

A negative mind will never let you live a successful life. Similarly, a positive mindset would keep you down forever.

How we generate wealth and money is through our:

• Thoughts
• Actions

Kiyosaki shares in his book “Rich Dad Poor Dad” that his rich dad would always emulate a rich person even if his rich dad was flat-out broke. Kiyosaki’s rich dad had a good mindset and would say things like “I’m a rich man, and rich people don’t do this”.

Conversely, Kiyosaki’s poor dad always said “I’ll never be rich” and that prophecy became his reality for Kiyosaki’s poor dad.

“Your income right now is a result of your standards, it is not the industry, it is not the economy.”

— Tony Robbins

Life Pushes us Around

Unless you grew up with significant wealth and privileges, you will realize life is unfair. The other person may have an upper hand because of their social class, the country that they were born in, race, nepotism, etc.

The school of life is the greatest teacher. Most of the time life does not talk to you like a teacher would in a classroom setting. It sort of pushes you around, shoves you in a corner, and slaps you in the face for each failure, setback, and negative outcome. It’s kind of saying “ wake up, there is something I want you to learn.”

When this happens some people:

• Give up while

• Others fight

If you are the kind of person that has no guts, you would usually give up when life pushes you around. If you are that kind of person, you will spend your life playing it safe, doing the right thing, and saving yourself for some event that never happens.

As Kiyosaki’s dad puts it, you will have plenty of friends because you were a nice hardworking guy but the truth is life pushed you into submission. The truth is you really wanted to win, but the fear of losing and taking risks was greater than the drive to win. Deep down you know you didn’t go for it.

For those that fight, they stop blaming others for their problems, the government, their employer, the economy, etc. If you realize that you are the problem, then you can change yourself, learn something and grow wiser.

Most people think more money will solve their problems. They work hard for a raise, a bonus, they take a second job or go back to college for a higher certification. They work hard for the money but never have their money work hard for them.

“If you don’t value your time, neither will others. Stop giving away your time and talents. Value what you know & start charging for it.” — Kim Garst

Seeing what others miss

Kiyosaki’s dad highlights a very important point in which most people are only looking for money and security and that’s all they get. He highlights that the moment you see opportunities, you see them for the rest of your lives. These opportunities are often missed by the average person that is not tuned in to search for them.

Opportunities come in various forms. For Kiyosaki, he and his best friend opened a comic book store and charged customers admission fees.

For you it may be launching a new product, finding ways to add value to other people, filling a gap in the marketplace, seizing a business opportunity, or finding ways to improve upon an existing business or product.

When you are tuned in to seek opportunities and growth you will more likely find it compared to if you are not searching for it.

This is very much like the real world, if there’s something you want it’s up to you to make it happen. If you have a goal, you’ll need to actively work towards it. In the real world, there is no deadline, there is no homework, and there is no test…it’s just you, for better or for worse. You need to learn to figure things out on your own and be proactive in taking initiative if you want to succeed.

“Formal education will make you a living; self-education will make you a fortune.” — Jim Rohn

Tap into your financial intelligence

Most people don’t really take the time to answer the hard and important questions.

For example:

• Is a job the best solution to a long-term problem?
• Will working on this task help me to get to my desired goal?
• Is there a faster (more efficient) way of doing this?
• Is there any other way to solve this?

“Don’t wait for your ship to come in. You’re not going to be discovered, saved, or made rich by an outside force. If you want a lot of money, build your own ship.”- Steve Siebold

Most people don’t really challenge the status quo because of the fear and limiting belief that they may have. The fear is that if they do something in a different manner they will be judged for it. They fear that they won’t earn enough money, they won’t fit into society and fear that they will be ridiculed by their peer. Hence, this holds them back from tapping into their financial genius and becoming wealthy.

Imagine Richard Branson, Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates all just following the conventional path to success, they wouldn’t have the astronomical success we all know so well today.

• Bill Gates dropped out of Harvard to pursue Microsoft.
• Richard Branson was a high school dropout many years before he founded Virgin.
• Elon Musk was bullied as a kid. He dropped out of his Standford Ph.D. to launch his first company Zip2 Corporation in 1995.
• Jeff Bezos worked in an investment firm D.E. Shaw before quitting his lucrative job to open Amazon.com. Imagine if he stayed on and never founded amazon.com, we wouldn’t enjoy the huge e-commerce shopping experience we all know so well today. The fulfillment by amazon(FBA) has allowed so many entrepreneurs to be able to sell online, something that would have been a huge hassle if it had to be merchant fulfilled by the sellers themselves.

“If your ship doesn’t come in, swim out to meet it!” — Jonathan Winters

Why do most people want financial freedom?

Financial freedom is appealing to most people because while money doesn’t buy happiness it allows us to buy back our time, our freedom, and gives us the freedom of choices.

Money provides one the freedom to walk away from something without being reliant on the next paycheck. At the end of the day, financial freedom means not having to worry about money ever, and knowing this with a high degree of confidence.

Conclusion

Everyone has the ability to be successful and wealthy. However most people let fear hold them back, they play it too safe and never go beyond what is expected of them. When someone does not have the right mindset and attitude this holds them back from their true value and potential.

The most powerful message is the one that you tell yourself every day. Hence fill your mind with the right things and surround yourself with the right people.

Lastly, tap into your financial genius. When you are willing to ask yourself the hard questions, work hard, work smart and tap into your financial genius, you will be amazed at how much you can truly achieve.

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