In this article, I want to share Robert Kiyosaki’s insights regarding motivation to work. But before we proceed to those insights, I think we have to deal first with this popular idea that employment is a modern form of slavery.
Employment as Slavery
Such an idea can originate from diverse reasons. They might include factors such as an oppressive work environment caused by an abusive superior and low pay that people see their employment just as a means to survive rather than a choice. Moreover, lack of freedom for personal pursuit and leisure due to long working hours can also contribute to this negative perception of the employment world. Rigid organizational policies and guidelines that give no space for autonomy and decision-making are another. And I think the worst of all is the absence of meaning and satisfaction due to the monotonous character of a job.
Though the foregoing reasons might justify the perspective that employment is a kind of slavery, many people don’t share such a view and instead are satisfied and growing both personally and professionally through their work.
Mindset and Attitude Matter
Having the right mindset and motivation in your day’s job will help you a lot not only survive but thrive even amidst the various factors identified above. Chapter 7 of Rich Dad Poor Dad is about this lesson of appreciating your job not because of the monetary rewards but because of the opportunity to learn. In this chapter, Kiyosaki stresses the following:
The importance of financial intelligence
Making informed decisions
Being a generalist rather than a specialist, and
The value of teaching and giving.
Importance of Financial Intelligence
Kiyosaki shares a story about an interview he had with a talented newspaper writer who struggled financially. Despite her skills, she lacked financial intelligence. Robert suggested enhancing her skill by studying a course on sales. She felt insulted and boasted about her master’s degree in English Literature and being a professional and how she hated salespeople.
Robert states that possessing great talent in one industry does not guarantee financial success. The world is full of talented people but struggling financially. People need to acquire financial intelligence, which “is a synergy of accounting, investing, marketing, and law” (p.172) to succeed in life. Financial intelligence gives a person various life options and helps to make informed decisions.
Can you relate to the experience of that newspaper writer? Skilled and yet suffering financially due to lack of financial IQ. Such ignorance causes her to despise the selling profession, which is the key to the improvement of her financial well-being. She failed to appreciate the wisdom in Kiyosaki’s advice.
Making Informed Decisions
Kiyosaki demonstrated such intelligence in his decisions.
One decision that Robert’s dad with a Ph. D. could not understand was his choice to leave a company with a promising career and entered the Marine Corps. His dad thought that Robert was interested to be an official of the ship. His dad, without a college degree, knew that Robert entered that school to learn international trade.
Still, another decision of Robert that was misinterpreted by his true dad was his decision to work with Xerox Corporation. His true dad was ashamed but his rich dad was proud. He applied for a job at Xerox Corporation to learn how to sell and how to overcome his shyness.
Robert believes and recommends that people should work not for money or promotion but for the opportunity to learn. He suggests that employees assess their daily activity and their future destiny. He proposes to have a long view of one’s life. Robert even suggests joining a network marketing company due to their excellent training programs to overcome the fear of failure and rejection.
The reason why Robert gave a piece of advice to the newspaper writer to study sales is that he experienced the value of such learning in his own life. Most people only see the monetary side of their jobs. They failed to appreciate the opportunity to learn for they only focus on the numbers in their paycheck. Nevertheless, no matter how low the salary is, if you have an opportunity to learn, that is something worth appreciating. Such an education can serve as building blocks for future success.
Be a Generalist Rather than a Specialist
Robert is aware that the primary obstacle to learning is the unwillingness to change. “You cannot teach an old dog new tricks” is his favorite quotation to describe adults refusing to learn. Contrary to the dogma of his educated dad, the school, and the employment world, Robert follows his rich dad on the path of becoming a generalist, instead of aiming to be a specialist.
Kiyosaki describes, a specialist as someone who studies “more and more about less and less’ (p.173). In contrast, a generalist knows “a little about a lot” (ibid.). Robert believes that specialization works in World War II generation but not today. To specialize in just one field is to expose oneself to what Kiyosaki called as “professional vulnerability.”
Professional vulnerability starts with hard work, then an increase in competence, and ends with specialization. As one person specializes, he receives a higher salary but with fewer options in life. Kiyosaki believes that as one person specializes in his chosen field, unknowingly he ends up economically trapped. That is why Kiyosaki proposes that aside from your chosen field, you also need to learn other skills, especially marketing skills.
Reflecting on this lesson, I suspect that specialists find it difficult to learn something new. It is as if they don’t like the idea of returning to the basics again after spending so many years in their chosen field. Nevertheless, though Kiyosaki’s advice is difficult to swallow, it made sense in the real world. Unfortunately, many of my colleagues are specialists and I am not sure when will I see the consequence of such “professional vulnerability” and “economic trap” that Kiyosaki describes will show up in their lives. Perhaps, at that time they will be more open to learning new things. I hope that it will not be too late then to remedy their situation.
The Value of Teaching and Giving
Kiyosaki concludes the chapter by discussing the importance of teaching and giving. He believes that teaching is a form of giving and notes that wealthy families often engage in significant giving.
If this is the case, those who share a lot of solid information on Hive, LeoFinance, and other tribes are not only into crypto earnings but also involved in digital instruction. If Kiyosaki is correct, then it is just a matter of time to see the result of such a secret in the life of the Hive community. If this secret is true, the Hive community is not only into social media and online learning but also into wealth-building strategy. The Hive community is destined to be wealthy for it is exceedingly generous when it comes to giving in the form of teaching.
Ok, that’s all I can say about motivation to work as a means of learning.
Grace and peace!
Note:
Talking about repurposing an article, this current article was originally written in 2011 in my financial literacy blog. Moreover, I used this article in the 3Speak video where I talked about Work as a Means of Learning.