This post Are You a Team Player? appeared first on Daily Reckoning.
I hope you had a wonderful Christmas. And I hope you got the chance to look at that potentially life-changing video… though if you didn’t don’t worry. I made sure to get you some extra time, just click here to take a look before it comes down tonight!
After that, let’s back to the story.
What’s Your Game?
If you didn’t already know, rugby is one of the most physically demanding sports there is, far more challenging than American football. Unlike American football, players never stop. Most American football players play less than 10% of the entire game. Rugby players are playing 90% of the game, because a rugby player plays both offense and defense, simultaneously.
American football is like corporate America. Football players are told what to do before every play.
Rugby is a sport for entrepreneurs. Rugby is freestyle, free-flowing, always changing, always dynamic. The rules are clear. Yet there are no set plays. Rugby is fluid and instinctive—no one is ever told what to do.
Single-Phase and Multi-Phase Games
American football is single phase. One play and the play are over. The teams, both offense and defense, huddle, a new play is called and executed and again, once that play is over, the game stops. Players take a break.
Rugby is multi-phase. If a play breaks down, both teams converge on the ball, a “ruck” forms, the ball comes out, and the play continues, and continues, and continues. The team that controls the ball through the most phases, wins the game. Players do not take breaks.
Advancing the Ball
American football is a game of advancing the ball by running forward, by forward passes, or by kicking the ball forward when the team is out of downs for failing to advance the ball 10 yards.
In rugby, a rugby player advances the ball by passing the ball backwards. This means the ball is often passed “in the blind.” This means all rugby players must be running in support and close by, following the player with the ball—just in case the player with the ball needs help. I’ll repeat: Rugby players do not take breaks.
American football players do not cheat. They do only as they are told to do.
In American football, only a few players handle the ball. If the play is on the other side of the field, American football players stop and wait for the play to end. They are not helping the player with the ball, especially if that player is on the other side of the field.
Rugby players are always cheating. They are always ready to help a player in need, the player with the ball. That is because all rugby players run, pass, and kick the ball. If a fellow player is on the other side of the field, all players are running in support ready to help a fellow player in need.
American football players are specialists. Most players do not handle the ball. They all have specific jobs and assignments. That is why most American football players are playing less than 10% of the time they are in the game.
Rugby players are generalists. They have to do everything. Rugby players are playing 90% of the game.
Why Rugby Is Not Physical
If rugby is such a physical game, why is it not physical? Most games define players by physical characteristics. For example, the best basketball players are very tall, lean and agile, with great eye-hand coordination. American football players are tall, big, solid, and heavy. Soccer players are generally average in height, thin, quick, nimble, and fast. Jockeys are tiny, light, and strong. A jockey’s team is his horse. That is why there are no 250-pound professional jockeys. Race horses do not like fat jockeys.
Different Sports… Different Strengths
The game of golf and golfers are different. A golfer is does not need a team. A golfer is able to play the game by themselves. Golfers can practice by themselves.
Team players cannot. Team players need a team to practice with and a team to play against. Golf is a game you play with yourself and against yourself.
Rugby players come in all sizes. There are positions for short players, tall players, fat players, fast players and slow players. Physical size is not important.
At the core of all rugby players is the love of the game and the love of their team because, unlike golfers, rugby cannot be played by yourself or against yourself.
Business and Sports
Pictured below is my rich dad’s CASHFLOW Quadrant. It’s also the title of book number two in the Rich Dad Series of books: Rich Dad’s CASHFLOW Quadrant.
E stands for employee.
S stands for self-employed, small business, or specialist such as doctor, lawyer, web programmer, plumber, etc.
B stands for Big Business owner… with 500 employees or more.
I stands for Investor… professional investor or insider investor.
Most people are passive investors, investing in pension plans, savings plans, stocks, bonds, mutual funds, and ETFs. They invest from the outside.
Our educational system teaches students to be E’s and S’s. My poor dad wanted me to get my Masters degree and climb the corporate ladder in the E quadrant. My mom, a registered nurse, wanted me to become a medical doctor in the S quadrant.
My mom and dad saw the game of money like golfers, a game played by themselves and against themselves. They did not cheat. They never asked for help. They saw the world through the lens of the E and S quadrants.
Although he never played rugby, rich dad saw the world of life, business, and investing as a rugby player does. Rich dad was taught by real teachers, professionals from the real world of business. Hence, he saw the world through the B and I quadrants.
When it came to money, poor dad was not a team player. That is why he was poor.
Rich dad was. He had a great team of business professionals. That is why he was rich.
When it comes to life, money, business, and investing, team is important. It’s everything. You can’t reach success alone.
Are you a team player? And who is on your team?
What’s more important than money?
Your team.
If you want to know who is on my team, the Rich Dad book More Important Than Money features sections by each member of my team, including my wife Kim.
Kim is the most important member of my life and my business team.
Make sure any partner you have is worthy of joining your team!
Regards,
Robert Kiyosaki
Editor, Rich Dad Poor Dad Daily
The post Are You a Team Player? appeared first on Daily Reckoning.