This is an excerpt from Robert Kiyosaki's book "The Cashflow Quadrant." He is describing how easy it is to do what rich people do, and ultimately, how to progress with increasing your wealth.
Doing what rich people do is easy. One of the reasons there are so many wealthy people who did not do well in school is because the "to do” part of becoming wealthy is simple. You do not have to go to school to become rich. The "to do" part of becoming rich is definitely not rocket science.
There is a classic book I recommend you read: Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill. I read this book as a youngster, and it greatly influenced the direction of my life. In fact, it was my rich dad who first recommended I read this book and others like it.
There is a good reason why it's titled 'Think and Grow Rich' and not 'Work Hard and Grow Rich' or 'Get a Job and Grow Rich'. The fact is; people who work the hardest do not wind up rich. If you want to be rich, you need to think. Think independently rather than go along with the crowd. In my opinion, one great asset of the rich is they think differently from everyone else. If you do what everyone else does, you'll wind up having what everyone else has. And for most people, what they have is years of hard work, unfair taxes and a lifetime of debt.
Years ago I was in this class on goal setting. It was the mid-1970’s, and what I learned from that class has helped me achieve what I want in life.
The instructor put up on the board these three words.
BE – DO – HAVE
She then said, "Goals are the 'have' part of these three words. Goals such as to have a nice body, or to have the perfect relationship, or to have millions of dollars, or to have great health, or to have fame. Once most people figure out what they want to have, their goal, they begin listing what they have 'to do.' That is why most people have ‘To Do' lists. They set their goal and then begin 'doing.' "
She first used the goal of the perfect body. "What most people do when they want a perfect body is go on a diet, and then go to the gym. This lasts for a few weeks and then most are back to the old diet of French fries and pizza, and instead of going to the gym, they watch baseball on TV. This is an example of ‘doing’ instead of 'being.' "
“It’s not the diet that counts; it's who you have to be to follow the diet that counts. Yet, every year millions of people look for the perfect diet to follow in order to become thin. They focus on what they have to do, rather than who they have to be. A diet will not help if your thoughts do not change."
She used golf as another example: "Many people buy a new set of golf clubs in hopes that they can improve their game, instead of starting with the attitude, mind-set and beliefs of a professional golfer. A lousy golfer with a new set of golf clubs is still a lousy golfer."
Then, she discussed investments: "Many people think that buying stocks or mutual funds will make them rich. Well, simply buying stocks, mutual funds, real estate and bonds will not make you rich. Just doing what professional investors do does not guarantee financial success. A person who has a loser mentality will always lose no matter what stock, bond, real estate or mutual fund they buy."
Next she used an example of finding the perfect romantic partner: "So many people go to bars or to work or to their church looking for the perfect person, the person of their dreams. That is what they 'do'. What they 'do' is go and look for the ‘right person’ instead of work on 'being the right person.' "
Here’s one of her examples about relationships: "In marriage, many people try to change the other person so they can have a better marriage. Instead of trying to change the other person, which often leads to fights, it is better to change yourself first,” she said. "Don't work on the other person; work on your thoughts about that other person.”
As she was talking about relationships, my mind drifted to the many people I had met over the years who were out to "change the world" but were not getting anywhere. They wanted to change everyone else, but not change themselves.
For her example of money, she said, "And when it comes to money, many people try 'to do' what the rich do and 'to have' what the rich have. So they go out and buy a house that looks rich, a car that looks rich, and send their kids to the schools where the rich send their kids. All this does is cause these people ‘to do’ by working harder and 'to have' more debt, which causes them to work even harder ... which is not what the truly rich do."
I was nodding my head in the back of the room in agreement. My rich dad not use these same words to explain things, but he did often say to me, “People think that working hard for money, and then buying things that make them look rich, will make them rich. In most cases it doesn't. It only makes them more tired. They call it 'Keeping up with the Joneses,' and if you notice, the Joneses are exhausted."
During that weekend class, much of what my rich dad had been telling me began to make more sense. For years he lived modestly. Instead of working hard to pay bills, he worked hard to acquire assets. If you saw him on the street, he looked like everyone else. He drove a pickup truck, not an expensive car. Then one day, when he was in his late 30s, he emerged as a financial powerhouse. People took notice when he suddenly bought one of the prime pieces of real estate in Hawaii. After his name hit the paper, it was then people realized that this quiet unpretentious man owned many other businesses, lots of prime real estate, and when he spoke, his bankers listened. Few people ever saw the modest house he lived in. After he was flush with cash and cash flow from his assets, he then bought a new large house for his family. He did not take out a loan. He paid cash.
After that weekend class on goal setting, I realized that many people tried "doing" what they thought the rich did and tried "having" what the rich had. They often would buy big houses and invest in the stock market because that is what they thought the rich did. Yet, what my rich dad was trying to tell me was if they still thought and had the beliefs and ideas of a poor person or middle-class person, and then did what the rich did, they would still wind up having what the poor and middle class have. "Be-Do-Have" began to make sense.
