By: RK
The rich work to learn, the poor work to earnMy poor dad said, "Job security is the most important thing."
My rich dad said, "Learning is the most important thing."In the movie Jerry Maguire, there are many great one-liners. But there is one that I found particularly truthful. Tom Cruise's character is leaving his high-paying job to start his own agency after being fired, and he says, "Who wants to come with me?" The whole place is frozen and silent, looking down at him. Finally, one woman pipes up and says, "I'd like to, but I'm due for a promotion in three months."
Sadly, this is the mindset of most people when it comes to work. Rather than look at work as an opportunity to grow and learn, they look at work as a necessary evil and try to get as much money from their job as possible.
As a young man, I faced the same decision as the woman in Jerry Maguire. After graduation from the Merchant Marine Academy, I had a good career ahead of me. My first job was on a Standard Oil of California oil-tanker fleet as third-mate. I made $42,000 a year, including overtime, and only had to work seven months of the year. My poor dad was very happy.
After six months, however, I resigned my position with Standard Oil and joined the Marine Corps. My poor dad was devastated, but my rich dad congratulated me.
The reason I joined the Marine Corps was to learn new skills. I wanted to learn how to be a pilot and to learn how to lead others into difficult situations. I knew that the leadership skills I learned in the Corps would benefit me greatly in life and business.
After my tour of duty, I had the opportunity to get a steady paying job as a commercial airline pilot. Instead, however, I took a job with Xerox as a salesman. Again, my poor dad was devastated and my rich dad was happy. Though I could have had a comfortable life as a pilot, I wanted to learn the skill of sales. I knew that skill, coupled with the leadership skills I learned in the Marine Corps, would make me rich.
Specialist vs. generalistThe fundamental difference between my poor dad's philosophy and my rich dad's philosophy about work was one of specialization versus generalization.
My poor dad believed that the best thing to do was to become increasingly specialized in your work. He admitted that people were paid more for knowing more and more about less and less. This is why he was so proud to get his doctorate. Yet, he always struggled financially.
My rich dad believed that the best thing to do was to become a generalist and to know a little about a lot. He said the best thing to do was to work in many areas of a company and pick up skills rather than a profession. He knew the best way to get rich was to be able to lead specialists across a wide spectrum of departments in a company.
Can you cook better than McDonald's?Sometimes when I'm teaching a class, I'll ask, "How many of you can cook a better hamburger than McDonald's?" Nearly everyone in the room will raise their hand. I'll then ask, "If you can cook a better hamburger, how come you're not richer than McDonald's?"
The obvious answer is that McDonald's is better at business than they are at making hamburgers. They have developed sophisticated sales and business systems and skills that equal success. The reason why most people are poor is because they're so focused on making the better hamburger but not developing the best business systems and skills.
Work to learn not to earnToday, you're faced with these same choices. Will you work to earn, holding onto security over opportunity? Or, will you work to learn (and get a financial education), giving up some security to embrace greater opportunity?
Most people will follow the conventional wisdom and choose to work to earn. But if you want to be rich, I recommend that you work for what you want to learn rather than what you want to earn. Figure out what skills you want to acquire before choosing a specific profession and before getting trapped in the rat race.
