Rich Dad Poor Dad Book Club (Chapter 6 Part 2)
Work to Learn—Don’t Work for Money
Study Session for Chapter Six, Part Two of Two
Additional Questions
As in prior posts, I recommend formulating your own answers to the following questions before reading my answers (which are written below).
If you feel like putting the Blockchain to work for you, please turn your answers into a post and direct me to it by leaving a link here in the comments. If you don’t have time to make your own post, please feel free to strike up a conversation in the comments section below about any of the following questions and answers.
1 Do you know extremely talented people who make very little money? What could they be doing differently?
2 How have you sought additional skills beyond your specialty? What was the result?
3 Was there a time you stayed in a secure job rather than strike out into a new position that might’ve gained you more in the long run? What was the basis of your decision?
4 If someone were to ask you advice on what the most important skills are for them to learn in their working life, what would you tell them?
5. What role does giving play in your life? Do you see it as an important part of your success?
6 What are different ways you could give that you aren’t currently?
My Answers
1 Do you know extremely talented people who make very little money? What could they be doing differently?
I’ll give a very brief answer to the first part of this question: Yes, of course I do. I know a number of very talented artists, designers, musicians, artisans, cooks, etc. and most of them aren’t making very much money.
Why? Well, in some cases, they are being too picky about what they want to do and how they want to make money. In other cases, their life/family circumstances demand that they have what is considered a stable job WITH benefits. Others don’t have the financial base to go out on their own. In other words, they don’t have the funds to set up their own business and really put their skills to work for them.
What could they be doing differently? Well, in some cases, they could be learning how to raise money and/or how to make favorable deals for themselves. In other cases, they could be a little more flexible and a little more willing to broaden their niche so that it can be applied to various ideas, applications, categories, etc. Still others, I think, need to take a chance, lay it all on the line, and put one hundred percent of their time and effort into pursuing their dreams and utilizing their talent.
2 How have you sought additional skills beyond your specialty? What was the result?
You know, I’ve always just picked skills up as they became necessary. I can’t think of many skills that I specifically pursued either within or without my specialty. I can say that once, while I was working in restaurants, I became interested in baking bread. With the help of some great cookbooks, I pursued baking on my own at home. The result was that it really helped me contribute more to the restaurants that I worked in and gave me access to better positions. Eventually, it led me along its own path and took me away from savory cooking and into the realm of pastries and sweets.
Perhaps, this answer should be a real eye opener to me. Perhaps, I should sit down and really start thinking about the skills that I ought to be pursuing now. First, though, I think I need to spend more time productively thinking about the kind of work that I really want to be doing.
3 Was there a time you stayed in a secure job rather than strike out into a new position that might’ve gained you more in the long run? What was the basis of your decision?
When I was younger, I worked for a few years with a carpenter to learn how to build and repair things. Then I became interested in cooking and worked most of the jobs that I had for the learning opportunities they provided me. Had I continued to pursue cooking, the experiences that I had gathered and the skills that I had learned would have helped me tremendously in my current position, but I decided to give up cooking precisely because it didn’t provide much stability and wouldn’t, I assumed, make it easy for me to spend time with my family in the future (at the time I was single).
So, in my late twenties, I went to university and got a degree that I thought would provide me with more options of stability than other degrees would. While that degree hasn’t given me any great skills, it did open the door for me to come to Japan, where I now have a job that I keep precisely because it is secure, provides benefits to me and my family, and has great hours for raising young children. There are other positions and jobs, I’m sure, that would pay me more and would teach me more, but they would require me to give up things that I’m not ready to give up, like being able to bring my kids to nursery school in the morning and being able pick them up early in the afternoon and spend time with them.
A lot of the reasons I have chosen to pursue more secure options is that I haven’t really known what I wanted to do and/or pursue, so I made choices that I thought would provide the biggest safety net for myself.
4 If someone were to ask you advice on what the most important skills are for them to learn in their working life, what would you tell them?
I think I would emphasize learning clear communication skills, both written and oral, along with resourcefulness.
The reason for this is that regardless of what kind of work you do, you will always have human interaction of some kind while you are working. Making sure that the time you spend communicating is both productive and effective is very important. Not only will it help you get the things and positions that you want, it could also make your product sell better, give your business more appeal, and help you to understand your partner/audience/clientele better.
As for resourcefulness, well, in the various lines of work I have done, I have seen things go wrong in a number of ways: equipment malfunctions, surprise guests, power outages in the middle of a dinner rush, earthquakes, lost/broken/forgotten materials, etc. People who can find ways to perform the duties of their jobs under any circumstances will always be employed. If they are entrepreneurs, I hazard a guess that their companies will be the most successful.
I would also like to say that resourcefulness leads to very successful people, but I don’t think that’s always the case. Other things can still get in the way of a person’s success. Nevertheless, I think resourcefulness is a very important skill to develop. I also think it’s a difficult one to learn.
What do you think? Which skills would you recommend to people who were seeking your advice? More than any of the other questions in this chapter, this is the one that I most want to hear your feedback on.
5. What role does giving play in your life? Do you see it as an important part of your success?
Honestly, I don’t feel like giving plays much of a role in my life at all. The only thing that I can think of that I give away rather carelessly and freely is my time, and even that I only really give away to people who are within a limited circle.
Recently, though, I volunteered at a soup kitchen. It was the first time in many, many years that I had done anything like this, and it feel really great to do. And the reason that it felt really great to do was that I got to meet and interact with a lot of new people who were very fun to work with and talk with. I think that if I had more experiences like this, I would meet a lot of people who could somehow connect me to and/or lead me to more experiences/opportunities that would be beneficial to me in the future. I can’t say for sure why I feel this way. It’s just a feeling that I received from this recent experience.
6 What are different ways you could give that you aren’t currently?
When I read this question, all that I could think of was giving in the sense of giving money, but when I think of the ways in which I could be giving more, and the things that I could be giving, the thing that most readily comes to mind is that I could be doing more volunteer work, especially in the realm of giving free English lessons and doing free translation work (I live in Japan and work as an English teacher here).
When I think of money, I don’t really feel like I have any extra money to give, but maybe that’s just faulty thinking. Maybe I need someone to open my eyes and show me the way. Maybe rather than thinking of how I could give more, I need to think about causes, things, and people that I want to support/give to.
This concludes the second half of the study session for chapter six. Thank you for joining me.
If you would like to participate in this book club, buy or download a copy of Richard Kiyosaki’s book, Rich Dad, Poor Dad, and read it along with me. Each chapter is followed by a study session. I plan to read this book slowly, and to thoroughly explore each study session. I would love to do so in the company of others.
Good discussion promotes deeper understanding and helps to reveal new and original ideas.
I hope to write a post that explores the second half of the study session for Chapter 6 some time next week. If you would like to know when that post has been published, please let me know in the comments below and I will send you a link to the new post.
For those of you who missed the study sessions for chapters one, two, three, four, and five, you can find them by following the links below.
Chapter One: Part 1/2 | Chapter One: Part 2/2
Chapter Two: Part 1/2 | Chapter Two: Part 2/2
Chapter Three: Part 1/2 | Chapter Three: Part 2/2
Chapter Four: Part 1/2 | Chapter Four: Part 2/2
Chapter Five: Part 1/2 | Chapter Five: Part 2/2
Surround yourself with people who give, who are generous with their time, feelings, knowledge, and personality. You can learn a lot.
One of Kiyosaki's points is the rich don't work for money. Money the the result of their work, not the goal. And when he talks about giving, or learning, or building skills, he's just trying to make the point that creating wealth is not about dollars, it's about seeing value -- in things, in people, in situations. If you can't see the value in what you're doing, and what people around you are doing -- you can't see how to acquire wealth.
Frankly, I think it's a little simplistic but good enough advice. I know lots of wretched people who amass great wealth. Few are happy -- but they are rich.
If someone were to ask my advice on what the most important skills are for them to learn in their working life, I would tell them to learn how to feel gratitude. Make conscious effort to remember the good things you have and remind yourself of the good things in others. Because that's where the opportunities lie.
Nobody ever said, "that steaming pile of cow manure smells great and I'm going to go roll in it." Most people turn up their nose a avoid it, and a few begrudgingly clean it up.
But at some point in human history, somebody didn't do either of those things. At some point in human history, somebody noticed that flowers and plants grow really good in poop. That person pinched his or her nose, put on a pair of gloves, scooped that manure into a big bag, and spread it all over their freshly seeds. Next year, that person grew a bumper crop.
What do you see in the shit life gives you?
Geez. Good question. Let me get back to that when I have more time.
Out of those 6 question i think i can only answer the first one.. because of me being a student..
Do you know extremely talented people who make very little money? What could they be doing differently?
Now if i was in that guys shoes i know it wouldve been hard for me because i dont think i can cope with the ammount of determination and patience he showed but for the wrong job... I wouldve atleast tried to keep doing whats natural to me..... Because whenever i would see myself in formal dresses working for a boss i wouldve had hardship..as you said, they dont have the support or the finnace to support them.
And what he couldve been doing differently if you may ask.. well theres always a word called entrepreneurship.
Much like entrepreneurship, being a professional athlete takes a lot of work and a certain amount of risk. It isn’t an easy decision for a lot of us to make, especially few when finances are tight. And a lot of times, really, self doubt is what pushes us into conventional jobs. I wonder if your friend doubted his chances of success.
He mustve had some doubt.. Not about his success mayb.. mayb it was about the ammount of time he would need to get there...he had to support his family.. he had an extended family and had to support his parents as they were elderly.. that mustve influenced his decision..
That’s huge. That a lot of pressure. And if he had missed or failed in soccer, what would he have done? I wonder.
In my part of land our elders judge someone with their job and it determines their place in the society...the more stable job you have the more respect you would get... On that basis sports are taken as a vagabonds job...he had a girlfriend and her parents said the exact same thing to him which i just said.... But it also takes a certain ammount of passion to pursue what you want..without that no matter how much talented one is cant shine..
Very true!
I really learnt alot from this post, nice post.
I’m glad to hear it. Do you have any thoughts to share?
Questions #2 (How have you sought additional skills beyond your specialty? What was the result?) and #3 (Was there a time you stayed in a secure job rather than strike out into a new position that might’ve gained you more in the long run? What was the basis of your decision?):
I had a career in the military as a family medicine physician but, towards the end of my career as I was nearing retirement, I began to doubt the good I was doing. I began to suspect that many of the treatment guidelines I was following had been developed to push medications that had the chance to do as much bad as good. So, I spent a year studying acupuncture with the intent of opening an acupuncture clinic after military retirement.
I had the opportunity to take over the acupuncture practice of one of the teachers who was moving. When I examined the practice though I found that she made much of her income as a neurology consultant and Chief of Staff of the local hospital, jobs I wouldn't have. In the end, I just transitioned from active military to being a civilian in a military clinic.
I still have doubts about many of the medications I prescribe, but I share those doubts honestly with patients and assist them in making good decisions about their treatment. I forgot most of the acupuncture, but I'm nearing a second retirement so maybe I should dust off those skills and take another look at that option.
Be a civilian in a military clinic just means that you continued to be a doctor in a military clinic but that you were working there as a civilian and not as a military personnel, right? Sorry, I’m not very familiar with military lingo.
Combining holistic healing with western medicine seems like it would have a lot of value, especially if there is a trusted doctor behind the practice who will honestly talk to you about the risks of medicines.
Yeah. I took off the uniform but do the same job.
To that bring about any changes in duties/responsibilities?
Since I'm no longer in the military, I don't have any administrative responsibilities such as being the senior medical officer.
Is that essentially a leading doctor position that makes you accountable for all the other doctors in the unit and their actions and mishaps, if any? If so, I imagine relinquishing that role would relieve you of a lot of stress.
No everyone is responsible for his or her own actions and mishaps. The SMO is mainly a liaison between the leadership and the staff physicians. Meetings, paperwork, no fun...
I see. Well, it sounds like a good thing that you were able to step down from that. I’ll be curious to hear if you pursue acupuncture again down the road.
#4 Interest based negotiation.
What is interest based negotiation?
it's from "getting to yes", basically too often people can't come to agreement because they have intractable positions but if you can separate their actual interests from their positions often you can reach a mutually beneficial or acceptable agreement. It works best if both parties understand the concept but you can also use it when the other side doesn't understand it.
So it’s a negotiation style. I’ll have to look a little further into it. I see what your saying, but don’t fully understand how you separate a persons interests from their positions.
For example here in America we have pro and anti abortion folks. So one position is that abortion should be banned and the other is that it should be legal. Those two positions are irreconcilable. But perhaps we can find out that both groups have an interest in actually reducing the number of abortions and then find a way to do that. Getting to Yes goes into a lot of detail about it and it is a quick read.