Robert Kiyosaki's Father

Robert Kiyosaki has quite a bit of acclaim, but also critics such as John Reed who has also published real estate investing books and has a site devoted to his analysis of other real estate gurus. His criticisms of Robert Kiyosaki are found at this link.

Some wonder about Kiyosaki's "Poor Dad," Ralph Kiyosaki. Something interesting I found were this plate and father Ralph's introduction in the Index to the Honolulu Advertiser and Honolulu Star-Bulletin 1929-1967 (in five volumes). It was published by the Office of Library Services in Cooperation with the Friends of the Library of Hawaii and the Hawaii State Department of Education in 1968.



I just thought I would try harnessing the power of blogs to share information by posting these scans since I know it wouldn't be easy for everyone to find these newspaper indexes that don't even have ISBN numbers. I'm hoping to get some interaction with my audience soon so that I can witness and experience the social/collaborative/community power of blogs as well. Please comment and let me know what you think!

"Flipping" from worst to first in the creative process and in project management

Watching Top Chef and Project Runway on Bravo network has provided illumination into the creative process and project management. Top Chef season two's Elia had a disappointing result and was criticized by judges. She was very down about this while working on the succeeding challenge and even started painting chocolate on her face in frustration. She spoke frankly with the judge of the previous challenge and realised he had a different palette. She went on to win the next challenge with her mushroom soup.

Project Runway season three contestant Laura had done well, but in Paris for the couture challenge, her creation did not wow the judges. Part of the problem was a handmade ruffle that was crushed in transit and did not show well in front of the New York judges. Depressed about this, she wondered if she could make it. With some resolve, she put her all into it, broke out of her comfort zone, and won the next challenge with a stunning cocktail dress.

Creative people sometimes appear to gain strength from a down moment. It may take some thing to reduce the stress and disappointment--perhaps a listening ear, doing something crazy like Elia's chocolate facepainting, etc., but it's clear one can achieve a drastic 180 degree turnaround flip in these initially disappointing situations.

PMA Positive Mental Attitude

A wonderful article on page 9 of the December 5, 2006 Financial Times newspaper recounts author James Altucher conversation with venture capitalist John Pappajohn. Altucher is 39 and contrasts depressing examples of items he recently was exposed to in the worlds of professional baseball, chess, and financial trading. In all cases, the industry literature or friends cited shockingly lower and lower ages for practitioners considered in their "prime." Joe DiMaggio was "breaking down" at 34; Boris Gelfand is an "oldtimer" at 37 on a list of predominantly younger chess stars; a trader is hired by the seat of his pants at 29 by a firm that doesn't hire over 30s.

This article immediately reminded me of my friend ^ and our interactions since 2000. We both shared uncertainty post high school and fretted over being "behind" peers of our age group who had already decisively gone onto graduate schools or employment at famous companies. ^ got over this sooner than I and began to staunchly believe it was still possible for us laggards to make something of ourselves, no matter how old. I admired her as she stuck with a dead-end job at an unprofessional firm yet continued to believe. Of course, she still got massively discouraged at times, but ^ could always call me for shared chats, analysis, and agreed renewals. So, even though ^ was not perfectly productive all the time, several years later, she has obtained a new position at a big and famous firm that's not under the table and includes health insurance! Her attitude eventually worked and she got this position even though she didn't have perfect grades, wasn't an overachiever at an ivy league school, graduated after 22, and didn't go into the workforce immediately afterward.

Altucher is also encouraged after calling John Pappajohn. We learn that Pappajohn was 41 in 1969 when he started his new heatlhcare venture capitalist career, after being rebuffed by Warren Buffett and right before interest rates went to 16 percent--certainly not "good timing" for becoming a VC!!! However, he and his wife continued with their "PMA--positive mental attitude," and have returned 60 percent annually since then starting over 50 companies.

There is more information about John Pappajohn at his website. What an uplifting individual to think about--very useful for those of us who get caught up in worry that we haven't got it perfect early enough. Pappajohn was 41 when he started and ^ and I are 27! Combined with increasing life expectancy, we could be fine, but we must defend, maintain, develop, and grow that Positive Mental Attitude!


The photo above is a sculpture of a thinking hare a la Rodin by Barry Flanagan. Pappajohn and his wife donated this statue to the Smithsonian. I wonder if the hare is summoning up his PMA to continue on despire the discouragement so he can go on to great things!

Jasper Johns and Karen Kingston -- Clearing Out the Clutter

A recent issue of Investors Business Daily featured painter Jasper Johns in their "Leaders and Success" column. It starts with: "At 24, Jasper Johns destroyed all his previous artworks. It was the only way, he knew, that he'd achieve his life's goal"--pretty dramatic eh?

This reminded me of Karen Kingston, the clutter-clearing and feng shui expert who divides her time between the UK and Bali, Indonesia. Sometimes, the physical things we hold onto keep us from getting where we want to go. Kingston says this is because there is no space for the new to come into our life.

I doubt Jasper Johns knew of Karen Kingston, as she has become famous more recently, and he has had renown for quite some time. It's amazing they may have jumped onto the same ideas on their own.

As I clear out things in my room and at my Grandmother's, I try to think: "Why am I keeping this? Is it relevant to what I want to do now--acquire true assets and develop positive cashflow so I can get out of the rat race? Does it represent what I want to be?" More often than not, the answer is no. I try to remember the reasons I initially held onto it, and the reasons sometimes give insight into my personality--for example, holding onto a section of an old Financial Times because I loved the writing quality, had a crush on the author, hadn't been to the place that was written about so interestingly etc.--in other words, the article represented something I aspired to be, see, experience, or participate in. I try to have compassion for myself and my original reasons for keeping the item, remind myself that my security and life do not depend on keeping the object around, and physically hug and kiss the item into a donation box for the cat sanctuary white elephant fundraisers, or to the trash.

If any of these items are holding me back from getting out of the rat race and getting assets with passive income, then I'd much rather get rid of them, because they are liabilities of the mind, even if their cost in money has been paid off long ago. For the Financial Times example, I no longer put out for it at the newsstands, but read it in the library and take mindmap notes. This way I avoid holding onto them forever and avoid them as a Robert Kiyosaki doodad.

Wouldn't it be awful if Jasper Johns never achieved all that he did just because he "held on" to those early paintings? What a tragedy that would be!