Robert Kiyosaki has always emphasized the significance of financial literacy and independence along with wealth building through investment in different ventures like real estate, assets and even starting your own business as well as learning and honing your financial intelligence.
Even in his book, Rich Dad Poor Dad which he and Sharon Lechter wrote, Robert talks about quite a few rules to success.
In this book, he says that the number of days one can survive without anyone in his/her household working including them and still retaining their standard of living is what defines wealth.
Let us discuss in-depth about 10 rules for Success that I learnt from Robert Kiyosaki
1. Change The Way You Think
The way one perceives the world and then forms thinking about it matters a lot in daily in-n-out activities and difficult situations. The basic difference between a rich and poor is the way they look at a situation, a poor would always be stuck in the zone of ‘I can’t afford this’ or ‘it’s out of our budget’ whereas a rich will look at the same situation with a positive perspective like ‘how do I make this happen?’ or ‘how can I make it?’.
If you look precisely, you will see that a rich man didn’t just look at the situation in a positive manner but also, raised a question and didn’t just end with a statement.
When you raise a question to yourself, you let your mind run wild.
Our mind is capable of things we can’t even imagine so when you put a question for it, you don’t just motivate but also surprise yourself with the ideas it presents you to get what you want.
2. The More You Give, The More You Receive
No act can ever be called selfless, and when we talk about giving, we don’t talk about giving away your money but putting more into this world and it shall pay you back with interest.
Giving more doesn’t just mean putting up langars but also means putting more effort into your work life. The more you invest yourself in work, the more you will get out of it, this not just makes you more involved in what you do but also improves your financial wellbeing.
However, putting more into work doesn’t mean that you burn yourself out in the process but just a healthy involvement of you in your work.
3. Learning by doing is the key
There are a lot of things we’re taught in school and most of the time, half of it is not even applied in real life. Learning with experience is more valuable than anything else.
Many a time we come face to face with situations that push us very close to calling quits on our dreams and aspirations but as life passes by, we see more and more situations coming our way and the times we think to quit reduces, this happens because we tend to learn more from our own experience than anything else.
Even a young child of just a few years will work more by his little experience and reflex than listen to what his/her parents say. For example, if we tell a child not to go close or touch a burning candle; he won’t listen until he does it once and experiences the consequences himself.
In simple words, your experience defines who you are and the more experience you have in life the more you come closer to the path to success.
4. Acquire Assets Not Liabilities
An asset is something that brings in money whereas a liability is something that takes out. It is very easy to get confused and think of something to be as an asset while all long it was a liability that kept on sucking in your money.
Having assets help you earn more and have a sense of security, and while we are on the topic of security let us just get one thing straight your own home isn’t an asset! It is a liability, that doesn’t cause you any income and requires more care and maintenance.
Liabilities like taking up loans bring in only temporary money, thus before giving into liabilities remember, the rich get the asset while the poor are left with a liability.
5. Multiple income sources
Being confident about having a job is good but being so sure that you stop investing in other sources of income is foolish. Life is very unpredictable and no amount of income from your first job is going to give you that financial security that you need.
To have multiple sources of income not only means having more cash flowing into your bank accounts or wallets but also means having a shortcut to your dreams.
6. FOCUS
Focus on one goal at a time and try not to make this goal way too bigger than your capability. The best is to make a bigger goal and then dissect it into a few smaller ones and accomplish them one by one because focusing on different things at once, is like punching a hole in your boat.
Robert Kiyosaki created his full form of focus which went something like this: –
F.O.C.U.S. = FOLLOW ONE COURSE UNTIL SUCCESSFUL.
He believed that one should not jump from one thing to another until you have perfected it and gained success.
7. Failure isn’t the scary part
Everyone has their share of failure, according to Robert.
Everyone knows that we fail once or even more in our lifetime but failing isn’t the scary part, what people are most scared of is facing it and then getting themselves up again. Many times, people are prepared for failure or even to face it but once it happens, they can’t gather the strength to get themselves up and start working again.
Our society teaches us that failure is a foolish man’s act, however in the real world we’ve all learnt the hard way that failure does hit us, no matter how perfect you try to keep your work, you are still going to face failure. So don’t be afraid of it and remember not all new beginnings have smooth sailing.
8. Know What You Are Working For
Robert explains how in recent times, there are a lot of new and different ways to earn money however people should do thorough research and know more about how they can earn before stepping into it.
It’s said that half knowledge is more dangerous than none at all and as a fact it is true. If you jump into the first opportunity you get to earn money, you will never get the chance to explore more and weigh your options.
Working hard is good but if you are working hard for things, you can work smart for then you are wasting your time, talent, and resources.
9. Have A Team Spirit
How many of us understand the meaning of solopreneur? It’s a person who runs the whole business all by himself without taking any help.
Yes, starting a business like this is possible but after a point, the business no matter what field you’re in will stop growing. It is because no matter how hard your try, ruining a business all by yourself is impossible. One needs some expertise in all the domains he is working for and then even if he has that, he won’t be able to give enough hours to its work even after working 24*7.
Having a team is a must. Working in a team doesn’t just help you grow your business but also helps you grow as a person and learn new things that you might have never learned if not exposed to this team.
10. Saving isn’t the key
According to Robert, saving is an old culture and it is very impractical in the modern world. The more money is printed the more your will lose its value and even the interest isn’t as much as the inflation.
Yes, savings are important but with time the more we save the more we turn ourselves into misers. Investing will not only give you an extra income but will also put your saved money to some use. Moreover, even if you fear putting in stocks or such, there are many other ways to utilize your money efficiently.
Conclusion
It isn’t easy to be successful, even Robert Kiyosaki has had his fair share of failures. Don’t get yourself stuck in a rat race and learn how money is created and how it travels.
The bottom line is that if you’re willing to study, learn, work, and face all the obstacles that come your way, you always have a chance of succeeding.