That is an example of the two sides of the table. When a person shifts to the other side, his or her point of view of the world also changes. And when a person shifts quad- rants, if only mentally and emotionally, then loyalties often change. And I believe that this shift is brought on by the change of ages, the change from Industrial Age thinking to Information Age thinking, and it will cause businesses and business leaders some of the biggest challenges in the fu- ture. As they say, "The rules have just begun to change." Chapter 14 Investor Lesson #12: The Basic Rules of Investing One day, I was feeling frustrated about my financial progress in life. I had about four months before I was to leave the mil- itary and enter the civilian world. I had stopped all efforts to get a job with the airlines. I had decided that I was going to enter the business world in June of 1974 and see if I could make it in the B quadrant. It was not a hard decision since rich dad was willing to guide me, but the pressure to become fi- nancially successful was building. I felt that I was so far behind financially, especially when I compared myself to Mike. During one of our meetings, I shared my thoughts and frustrations with rich dad. I said, "I've got my two plans in place. One plan is to ensure that I have basic financial secu- rity, and the other, more aggressive, investment plan is so I will be comfortable financially. But at the rates those plans will be successful, if they are successful, I'll never be rich like you and Mike." Rich dad grinned when he heard that. Smiling and laugh- ing quietly to himself, he said, "Investing is not a race. You are not in competition with anyone else. People who compete The Basic Rules of Investing 129 usually have huge ups and downs in their financial life. You are not here to try to finish first. All you need to do to make more money is simply focus on becoming a better investor. If you focus on improving your experience and education as an investor, you will gain tremendous wealth. If all you want to do is to get rich quickly, or have more money than Mike, then the chances are you will be the big loser. It's OK to compare and compete a little, but the real objective of this process is for you to become a better and more educated investor. Anything other than that is foolish and risky." I sat there nodding and feeling a little bit better. I knew then that rather than try to make more money and take big- ger risks, I would focus on studying harder. That made more sense to me, it seemed less risky, and it certainly took less money... and money was not something I had much of then. Rich dad went on to explain his reasons for starting Mike out in the I quadrant, rather than the B or E quadrant. He said, "Since the objective of the rich is to have your money work for you so you don't have to work, why not start where you want to wind up.