The Most Important Lesson I Learned from Robert Kiyosaki
The Rich Dad, Poor Dad author helped me help myself
Photo by Jaime Lopes on Unsplash
Not long after selling my financial advisory business and falling into a black hole, I needed to reinvent myself and find a new focus for my work. I started a consulting business that led me to work briefly with the author of the book Rich Dad, Poor Dad, Robert Kiyosaki.
I was a consultant to his tax advisor, and I was working at a big-ticket event at a fancy resort in Phoenix, Arizona. After being on stage with Robert and watching him in action for two days, I noticed the reaction to the hundreds of people in his audience.
They wanted to become real estate investors. Medical doctors, CEOs, entrepreneurs, and people from all walks of life were entranced by the potential to “get out of the rat race” by learning to invest in real estate.
Risky business
Having grown up in a real estate family, attended real estate school, and worked for over a decade helping people do their financial planning and manage their investments, I knew the complexities and risks of investing in anything, owning a business, and figuring out how to avoid the many pitfalls that come with risk.
By chance, while standing at the back of the ballroom, I found myself next to Robert, who was on a break from being on stage. I greeted him and said, “Robert, great job. May I ask you a question?”
He said, “Sure.” I proceeded to ask the question that had been bugging me for a while, “What happens when all of these people leave the ballroom and try to invest in real estate?”
A change in context, thinking, and focus; new clarity
I’ll never forget what he said because it changed my life by helping me figure out what I wanted to do with my consulting business. Robert said, “Cliff, that’s not my job. My job is to change their context of thinking.”
What that meant to me is that hundreds of people at this event, and any like it, had a change of mind. They wanted to learn how to invest and get out of the rat race. They wanted freedom. Financial freedom. Time freedom. And liberty from the suck of life that was tugging at their souls.
It was then and there that I said to myself, “My job for the rest of my life is to coach, mentor, and consult people who have changed their context of thinking, and are ready to shift gears by investing, building a new business, etc.”
That was 2004. Over 20 years later, I’m still coaching, mentoring, and consulting people, and primarily men. That’s the constant. What’s changed is how I do my job of guiding my clients, or those I help for free when they have no budget, like the men who are trapped in crappy jobs they hate due to their past addictions and mistakes, mostly.
Same job, different focus
I recently retired from marketing and business development consultant to focus on writing a new book, and helping people with their “inner game.”
That’s the term I use for shifting the mind, heart, and soul to align with a more holistic way of seeing themselves, their work, and life. In other words, most of my work these days is helping my clients with the business of life.
What I do is the same, but I’m getting better at helping my clients by focusing on the business of life more than business problems.
Who are you?
When I ask this question, my clients tell me, “I’m so and so. I’m a software developer. I’m a father. I’m a husband. I’m not happy with my job, life, etc.”
A huge part of my job is listening. The best listeners can hear what is not being said. They can read between the lines and see the hidden gems buried in the burdened consciousness of others.
I make constant and continual progress listening, asking probing questions, taking notes, and finding ways to help my clients help themselves. That’s the subtle art of facilitating and guiding others to find their true, higher selves.
One of the questions I ask each client is, “Okay, you’ve told me who you are. You are John, a software developer, etc. What’s the one constant in everything you told me you are?”
They always pause for a moment, wondering if it’s a trick question. It’s not. It’s a question about awareness of what is real, unchanging, and what is not. It’s the “I am.”
The power of seeing the I am
The “I am” is the one constant. The job, title, income, relationships, health issues, burdens, and everything else are constantly changing. Our entire bodies and minds are completely different every seven years or so because our cells regenerate. Old cells die, new ones live. That’s how humans are constantly changing.
Human brains and egos despise change. We’re wired for consistency even though everything is changing. When we see the “I am” that is always constant, and we allign with that truest and highest part of ourselves, and we train the mind to be the objective observer, accepting, loving, and letting go of the things we can’t control, we’re left with the one thing we can love and manage; our thinking.
That’s the hidden power of the “I am” and the human mind.
The gift and curse of human consciousness
We’re the only animal on the planet with the gift and curse of self-awareness. Our consciousness is the most evolved of any animal on Earth. That partly explains why we, unlike dolphins and dogs, don’t fight over stupid stuff like what we believe or don’t, where we go to church or don’t, what we wear and don’t, and so on.
But, look at us. We can evolve to the highest, most esoteric realm of being human, which is unconditional love, serenity, bliss, and maybe even enlightenment. But anyone who knows anything about enlightenment knows the adage, “Before enlightenment, chop wood, carry water. After enlightenment, chop wood, carry water.”
The gift is the awareness of the I and the now, the present. It’s not being sucked into the rip tides of human existence and constant change. It’s being okay even when the world is not.
Unconditional love has no conditions, and that’s what we’re striving for as humans.
Shifting gears, higher consciousness
The Clarity S.H.I.F.T. Method™ is the model I created and use to help each client see themselves and the world around them in a different light. It’s all about Self-Awareness, Higher Understanding, Introspection, Focused Intention, and finally, Transformation.
In the end, everything we build, own, or chase will change, fade, or be replaced. What remains is the “I am.” It’s the unshakable core that sees, chooses, and creates.
When we align with that constant, we stop being pulled under by life’s chaos and start steering with clarity. That’s the work I’ve devoted my life to: helping people shift into a higher gear of consciousness and to remember who they are so that they can live, lead, and love from the inside out.
After all, the best part of life is knowing who you are by knowing who you’re not, and that’s the art of the inner game.
I’m an author, visual artist, mentor, and strategic guide. Discover how the Clarity S.H.I.F.T. Method™ helps founders, leaders, and professionals to overcome challenges and find clarity, purpose, meaning, and prosperity. Learn more at www.CliffordJones.