Blog | Entrepreneurship

How to Change Your Life

Don't simply try to change your life for the better... transform your life

Every year Robert, myself and several Rich Dad Advisors are asked to give speeches on a seminar cruise organized by The Real Estate Guys. The seven-day cruise ship sails from Belize, Mexico and Honduras and brings together over 200 like minded individuals to discuss everything in the world of real estate.

What’s great about teaching is that I always learn something, usually unexpected, about either the subject of my talk or in the presentation of it. Per usual, I learn more than I ever expect to. My greatest takeaways rarely have to do with real estate but rather personal growth. Every year I manage to learn a new lesson to include in my transformational process.

Information vs Transformation

When someone asks me, “What’s your business?” I typically reply, “We have a financial education company.” Yet I know inside that “financial education” doesn’t completely define our mission. When I say, “We’re in financial education,” most people immediately think of financial advising or retirement planning, which is far removed from who we are.

People who come to Rich Dad don’t come to us to tweak their financial plans. They enter the world of Rich Dad to have their lives—financial and otherwise—transformed. They read our books, play CASHFLOW®, attend our classes, and hire coaches and mentors because they are ready to change their lives for the better.

Looking around the cruise ship I saw our group of 200 participants attending classes, having spirited conversations, studying together, brainstorming and truly excited about what they were learning. But I also noticed the other 4,000 passengers on board. The difference I saw between the two groups was staggering. Most of the 4,000 cruise members were there for a vacation. They wanted a temporary break from their everyday life. The 200 participants in our seminar group were there to transform their lives. They wanted a life-long change to their current lives.

There are many people who can give you tips to change your life. They will give you the data, the facts and figures, the theory, and, of course, the top 10 tips you must know. They present a lot of information. But information alone will not get you to your dreams and life goals. It takes more than that. It takes transformation.

Why change is important?

It’s a caterpillar that turns into a butterfly. It’s an acorn that grows into a tree. It’s a dramatic, positive change. And that is what Rich Dad is all about.

As our friend, JW Wilson says, “Information does not cause transformation.”

So what does it take to transform your life?

It’s one thing – DOING. You have to DO something, take action, move! As Albert Einstein said, “Nothing happens until something moves.” You can read all the books, attend every seminar, play CASHFLOW® every day but until you actually go do something — put what you’ve learned into practice — nothing will change.

For example, for me to go from an employee of a magazine to a self-employed businesswoman took a transformation within me. I had to transform my thinking and my priorities. As an employee my priority was working hard and making my boss happy. As a small business person, my priority was keeping my business alive, paying my vendors and making a profit.

To go from self-employed, where I ran most things, to owning a business that runs on systems and other people’s time and talents, took a whole new level of transformation.

Though I am still proud of my transformation, it wasn’t until after I met Robert and we made the leap from the left side of the CASHFLOW Quadrant to the right side that I discovered why change is important.

Transform your mind, body, finances and life

So if action needs to occur for a transformation to take place, then what prevents transformation? Fear. Fear of making a mistake. Fear of being uncomfortable. Fear of looking stupid. Fear of whatever it is for you. That is what prevents someone from taking the information they’ve learned and putting it into practice. Fear is what keeps people stuck where they are, unable to change and grow.

So how can you overcome your fears?

The following diagram is a tetrahedron. Each corner represents one of the four different intelligences: mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual.

The first dot located at the top refers to your mental intelligence or what you know. The straight-A students in school know a lot of “stuff” so they are considered to be of high intelligence and possess a high IQ. We also say they are smart.

To the right you’ll see physical intelligence. Olympic and professional athletes display a high physical intelligence with their proven ability to push the body beyond most people’s capabilities.

At the bottom of the diagram sits spiritual intelligence. Spiritual intelligence is found through sacrifice of the self. Businesses and organizations that understand the importance of developing strong teams operate with a strong spiritual intelligence.

The fourth and final point on the tetrahedron is emotional intelligence. Testing — and mastering — your emotional intelligence is the key to conquering your fears and transforming your life.

The first step to change your life

Robert and I married in the late 1980’s and quickly began to build our life together. We moved from our home in Hawaii to California in search of business success. Things didn’t work out like we had hoped. We were already one million dollars in debt and now we were broke, too. We were living in friend’s spare rooms and even in our car for a short time. I was depressed, lethargic and feeling sorry for myself. But the moment I decided to do something, to take action, my attitude — and then my life — changed. It is true that action always beats inaction.

So the question I pose to you is, “What changes do you need in your life to bring you closer to your financial dreams and fulfill your life’s purpose?”

When Robert and I moved from Hawaii to the mainland, we did so with the sole purpose of becoming financially free. Our family and friends were constantly pressuring us to get jobs. We were constantly pressuring ourselves to grow through financial education courses and personal development seminars. It took almost a decade of sacrifice to achieve financial freedom.

Even though I have been out of the Rat Race for over two decades, I am always working toward the next step in my transformation. As we like to say at Rich Dad, “If you are not growing, then you are dying.” I plan to keep on growing until the day I die.

Here’s to your transformation process.