Robert Kiyosaki is no doubt one of the most famous icons when it comes to achieving financial success. He is the author of the ground-breaking book, Rich Dad Poor Dad. He runs a financial education company and he shares his financial knowledge and business knowledge through books, seminars, and videos.
Do you also know that his book, Rich Dad Poor Dad is the book that transformed my life and made me think about the kind of life that I wanted to live?
I bet you have heard about Kiyosaki and most likely, you have also read one or two of his books too.
But today, we’re not going to talk about his books. Instead, we’re going to talk about his powerful sayings that can inspire you to achieve higher success in life.
I believe that quotes are powerful. Especially when you can closely relate the quote with the situation that you face in your life right now. And this is why motivational quotes can change a life.
So here are the 21 best quotes from Robert Kiyosaki that can transform your life and make you rich. Check them out.
1. “In the real world, the smartest people are people who make mistakes and learn. In school, the smartest people don’t make mistakes.”
No matter who you are, to get to higher ground and achieve greater success in life, you must be willing to fail. Dare to make mistakes because mistakes are experiences. The more experience you gain, the more successful you can be.
If you read Kiyosaki’s book, you will know that he is someone who constantly talked about learning and trying new things. Your mistakes and failures are in fact the stepping stones that will make you successful.
2. “The size of your success is measured by the strength of your desire; the size of your dream; and how you handle disappointment along the way.”
Look at your life right now, are you living the kind of life you desire? If you are not, it means that your desire is not strong enough. Successful people are able to go through all the hardships and produce extraordinary results in life because they have a strong desire for what they want.
They have big dreams and they learn to handle the disappointments they encountered along the journey. You have to be the same. But first, learn to grow your desire.
3. “It’s not what you say out of your mouth that determines your life, it’s what you whisper to yourself that has the most power!”
I totally agree with the idea behind this powerful saying. Often, it is what you tell yourself that matters in your life. It is your self-talk that will determine how successful you are in life.
Successful people constantly remind themselves about their dreams. They keep telling themselves that they can do it in their head. If you want to create outstanding success, be the same. Monitor your self-talk and keep feeding your mind with positive messages.
4. “If you want to go somewhere, it is best to find someone who has already been there.”
If you want to invest in the stock market, would you get advice from someone who has never invested in the stock market before? Or are you going to get advice from a veteran who has been investing since a decade ago and has made a nice return on his investment?
The answer is obvious, isn’t it? If you want to be successful, be it financially or in your career, find someone who has done it and asks him or her how to do it. You want to learn from other successful people who have done it, not just anyone.
5. “When people are lame, they love to blame.”
Don’t blame. One of the most important keys to success is to stop pointing fingers at others and start taking full responsibility for what has happened in your life. The moment you blame on other people or things, you are giving away your power to change the situation.
Think about it, if you blame the economy or your employees for your failure, what can you do to change? Nothing. But if you take 100% responsibility, guess what, you are in control. When you believe that you are the reason, you can take a different approach and that will make all the difference.
6. “It’s more important to grow your income than cut your expenses. It’s more important to grow your spirit than cut your dreams.”
If you fail to achieve your goals, don’t lower your standards. Like what Robert Kiyosaki said, learn to grow your income rather than cutting down your expenses. You want to play an offensive game rather than a defensive game.
Extraordinary people play the game to win. Ordinary people play the game so that they don’t lose. You have to understand which mindset you are coming from. You want to play to win, not to avoid losing. So go big and never cut your dreams.
7. “Academic qualifications are important and so is financial education. They’re both important and schools are forgetting one of them.”
To be honest, I don’t really apply what I have learned from school. And Kiyosaki is right when he said that both academic and financial education is important. But too bad that our schools only teach us academic education and never about financial education.
This is why Jim Rohn also said:
“Formal education will make you a living; self-education will make you a fortune.”
So don’t stop learning even after you have graduated from school. Continue to learn and improve your skills and keep on gaining new knowledge.
8. “Don’t be addicted to money. Work to learn. don’t work for money. Work for knowledge.”
A lot of people work hard for money. And they got it wrong. It is not that you work hard to earn the money so that you can enjoy. You must learn to enjoy the work you do so that money will come automatically.
Ordinary people:
Work hard ==> make money ==> enjoy
Extraordinary people:
Enjoy and love the work ==> make money ==> continue enjoying the work and make more money
Can you see the difference how the successful and the unsuccessful think right now? Learn to enjoy and love your work. Stop chasing the money and start chasing the passion and the vision.
9. “We go to school to learn to work hard for money. I write books and create products that teach people how to have money work hard for them.”
This is one of my favorite quotes from Robert Kiyosaki. He regularly mentioned that we need to make our money to work hard for us rather than working hard for the money.
There is nothing wrong with work for someone else if you love the job and that is what you want to do. But you must also come up with a way to invest your money so that your money will for you too. You can’t just rely on yourself. What if you were fired or something happens and you can’t work anymore?
Hence, find a way so that you can earn passive income. Create plans for your money to work for you.
10. “The only difference between a rich person and poor person is how they use their time.”
So how do you spend your time? Rich and successful people use their time wisely. They focus on their priorities before they spend time on other less important tasks. What about you?
Do you spend time checking updates on Facebook and watch endless videos on YouTube? You can do that, but first, you must focus and complete the important first. Work on your high-impact tasks first before you do other things.
11. “The fear of being different prevents most people from seeking new ways to solve their problems.”
Don’t be afraid to be different. A lot of people resist change and they are living every year the same without making much different because they are afraid. They fear the uncertainty that change can bring.
If you want to be successful, you must welcome change. Like what Robin Sharma said:
“Don’t live the same year 75 times and call it a life.”
When you keep repeating what you do every day, you will get the same old result. If you want something better, you must do something different. Make a change, my friend.
12. “Winners are not afraid of losing. But losers are. Failure is part of the process of success. People who avoid failure also avoid success.”
Here is the short version of this quote from Robert Kiyosaki:
“Failure defeats loser. Failure inspires winner.”
Don’t be afraid to fail. In fact, failure is inevitable. No matter what you do in your life, there is a chance that you can fail. But if you are being so secure and protective of yourself and you don’t take chance, you fail by default.
The best way to overcome failure is to treat it as a lesson. When you take action, try out something, and work for your goal, you either succeed, or you learn. There is no failure.
13. “Find the game where you can win, and then commit your life to playing it; and play to win.”
First, play a game that you can win. If you can’t win in a game, why do you want to play it in the first place, right? Once you are confident that you can win, commit your life to playing it and play to win.
This is the approach every successful people have. No matter what dreams or goals you want to achieve, you must approach them this way.
14. “Often, the more money you make the more money you spend; that’s why more money doesn’t make you rich – assets make you rich.”
Again, this is another of my favorite sayings from Robert Kiyosaki. When you get a raise or a promotion, what do you do? Most people will spend it on a night out. Some people change their car or buy and move into a bigger house. They upgrade their lifestyles.
There is nothing wrong with that, but you have to understand that doing so will never make you rich. Making more money will only make you want to spend more. Unless you invest your money and buy assets, you will always be where you are.
15. “If you want to be financially free, you need to become a different person than you are today and let go of whatever has held you back in the past.”
Regardless of whether you want to be rich or you want to build a successful career, you have to understand this – you are where you are right now because of who you are.
And in order to achieve greater success, you must let go who you are now and become someone better. What you know and what you do get you exactly where you are now. Thus, if you want something better, you must let go of yourself and do something different.
Stop letting your past hold you back. Focus on the future that you want to create and develop the characters that you need to become that person.
16. “Never say you cannot afford something. That is a poor man’s attitude. Ask HOW to afford it.”
This is the same as saying, “I don’t know”. When you say that you cannot afford something or you don’t know how to do it, you shut your mind off and you stop thinking about it altogether.
However, when you ask yourself how you can afford it or how you can do it, your brain will start the thinking process and tell you the answer. Hence, the next time you want something, don’t say that you can’t afford it or you don’t know how to do it or get it. Ask question to spark the creativity in you so that you are inspired to achieve.
17. “Hoping drains your energy. Action creates energy.”
When you sit and hope that things will come to you, you are draining your energy in the thinking. Eventually, you will start worrying because won’t just come to you.
On the other hand, successful people take actions rather than waiting for things to come to them. They are proactive and they make things happen.
If your ship doesn’t come to you, swim out to meet it. Opportunities will not fall from the sky, my friend. You need to take action and do something to make it happen.
18. “The philosophy of the rich and the poor is this: the rich invest their money and spend what is left. The poor spend their money and invest what is left.”
It makes a big impact on how you manage and spend your money. If you want to be financially free, you must invest first and then only spend what is left. Sadly, the majority of people do it the opposite, they spend first and then invest what is left.
And usually, they don’t have much left to invest. Therefore, you must make it a habit to invest a portion of your money. It doesn’t matter how much it is, the key is to develop the habit. If you don’t have much, just start small.
19. “The more a person seeks security, the more that person gives up control over his life.”
The more you want security, the less control you will have on your life. Success goes to those who are willing to try out new things, who are not afraid to fail, and who dare to make a change.
Throw away the mentality that you need security. The key to success is to constantly evolve and learn to adapt to change. When you seek security and refuse to change, you fail.
20. “If you want to be rich, you need to develop your vision. You must be standing on the edge of time gazing into the future.”
So you want to be rich and successful? Well, start with your vision. What do you want to achieve in the future? What kind of lifestyle do you want to have? What success do you want to achieve?
It all starts with a dream and a vision. Steve Jobs once said:
“If you are working on something exciting that you really care about, you don’t have to be pushed. The vision pulls you.”
Thus, develop your vision. Make it exciting and empowering. Let the power of your dream and vision pulls you.
21. “Losers quit when they fail. Winners fail until they succeed.”
You have to understand the fact that successful people don’t quit. They make mistakes, but they don’t quit. When you quit and give up, you lose.
This is one of the biggest differences between someone successful and someone who is not. If you don’t quit, you will never fail. More importantly, learn from your mistakes and failures. As Robert Kiyosaki said, winners fail until they succeed.
Conclusion
These are some of the most inspirational quotes from Robert Kiyosaki. Did I miss out any saying from the list above? And which quote relates and inspires you the most? Let me know.