You decide what is trivial and what is vital—that is true for every aspect of your life, from your education to your goals.
Dreaming Is Free
I’m alarmed at how little time people spend dreaming these days. Nearly everywhere I visit, times have become so tough that people are concentrating on mere survival rather than making plans for abundance. The conversations people are having now about their finances are too often focused simply on getting by, rather than on achieving their full potential or exploiting their opportunities to the very maximum.
I like to remind people that dreaming is free. It’s an indulgence we need not feel guilty about. Wherever you live, you stand on the shoulders of those who went before you. I’m sure you can think of sacrifices made by others that have provided you with opportunities you can seize on this very day. When you think about it like that, not only is it okay to dream, but it’s actually a very important activity for you to do. You owe it to those who have gone before you to honor their sacrifices. You can enjoy time spent dreaming of the great things your future can hold.
Let your dreams fuel your determination and fill you with energy. Dreams unleash the power of both your conscious and subconscious mind. Dreaming feels good. Dreaming is good.
Take these dreams and turn them into goals by writing them down.
Money Goals
We can also have money goals. Money goals are different from lifestyle goals. But money goals alone tend to lose their power. They’re too vague, too dry.
• I want $1,000,000.
• I want $10,000 a month.
• I want to be free of debt.
For some people, perhaps these statements are more wishes than goals. But money goals become instantly more meaningful when they grow out of your lifestyle goals.
Let’s take an example of a goal to make $10,000. Standing alone, $10,000 is just money.
But if we start with a lifestyle goal, such as to buy yourself a top-of-the-line Harley-Davidson motorcycle, suddenly your heart beats faster and that dream starts to come alive. You might visit a dealership and pick the one you’ve always wanted. You could sit on it, touch it, and feel it. This becomes a very powerful experience for you.
Now it’s time to look at the price tag. How much money will you need to make that dream come true? If the price tag is $11,799, you now have a meaningful money goal. At this point you can choose to buy it outright or set a goal to increase your cash flow to cover a payment of $389 per month. Now your money goal is even more specific.
Education Goals
So how are you going to increase your cash flow by $389 each month? The good news is that earning that extra $389 per month is simply a matter of education and action. Some folks may think the only way to gain that amount is to cut an equal amount from their monthly spending. I don’t know about you, but I’m not really interested in giving up anything in my life. But there is another way—a better way. Instead of cutting your current spending, you can decide to learn how to acquire income-producing assets that will create that extra money for you.
What Is Wealth Building?
In a nutshell, wealth building is simply learning how to buy assets intelligently. These assets can come in multiple forms:
• Business
• Real Estate
• Paper assets like stocks
• Commodities like gold or oil
When I look at wealthy people like Warren Buffett, Donald Trump, and Robert Kiyosaki, I see people who have become wealthy because they have become educated about how to buy assets. I imagine they wake up in the morning and ask, “Where will I find an asset I can buy today?” They don’t need a hot tip. More importantly, they don’t sit around waiting and hoping for a hot tip to find them. They know how to look for and look at an opportunity and use their financial knowledge to decide whether to play or pass.
If someone with a financial education wants to buy a Harley, they don’t skip their morning latte and put their pennies in a savings account and until they have enough money. They don’t put it on a credit card and cross their fingers each month when the bill comes due. They don’t get a second job. What can you do when you want to make a lifestyle goal a reality?
• Start a business to earn the $389 per month...if we have a business education.
• Acquire a rental property to earn $389 per month...if we have a real estate education.
• Sell some covered call options to earn $389 per month...if we have an options education.
Now can you see that earning extra income is simply a matter of gaining the right financial education?
As we learn about these different asset classes, we can choose which ones we want to dive into and learn more about. Then we can set specific money goals tied to acquiring assets that will meet our lifestyle goals. We use education goals to achieve money goals to meet lifestyle goals. It’s a formula that works time and again for the wealthiest people in the world. And it can work for you, too.
Education gives you power.
When you think about it, you might find it striking that once people leave college, they often look only to lifestyle goals or money goals. Many folks draw a blank when asked about their education goals because they never learned to be an active participant in their learning.
The Best Path to Proficiency Is Mentorship
If you’re reading this book it’s likely that you’ve also read Rich Dad Poor Dad, which is the cornerstone of your financial education. You might take note of the fact that the book Rich Dad Poor Dad is primarily a story of mentorship. A great question to ask yourself after reading the book is: “Would Robert Kiyosaki have become successful without the help of his rich dad?” Knowing Robert as I do, I would say absolutely yes. But I would also say that he would have found another mentor. Even after his rich dad passed away, Robert still sought out new teachers and mentors, just as he does today.
When I read Rich Dad Poor Dad for the first time, I realized I wanted to find many rich dads to help me along my journey. I am always looking for fellow journeymen who are further along the path than I am. It’s just common sense.
If you have ever seen the movie The Karate Kid, you’ve seen a great portrayal of how a mentor can change a student’s context for the better. We all know the story, I think. (Or maybe I’m dating myself.) It’s the story of a student-mentor relationship that develops when an average kid decides to defend himself against the neighborhood bullies. The mentor agrees to train him, but the boy becomes frustrated almost immediately with his teacher’s unorthodox methods. Why? Because the student’s context is so different from that of his mentor. He believes that success is going to come by learning how to punch and kick. His mentor, being much wiser, begins the training in a very different way from what the boy expects.
In his thick Japanese accent, the mentor begins the first lesson by asking the boy if he is ready to begin.
“I
