对于有学识的爸爸来说，稳定的工作就是一切。而对于富爸爸来说，学习才是一切。有学识的爸爸以为我上学是为了做一名船长，而富爸爸明白我上学是为了学习国际贸易。因此，在做学生时，我跑过货运、为前往远东及南太平洋的大型货轮、油轮和客轮导航。当我的大部分同班同学，包括迈克，在他们的联谊会会堂举办晚会的时候，我正在日本、泰国、新加坡、中国香港、越南、韩国和菲律宾学习贸易、人际关系和文化。我也参加晚会，但不去任何联谊会，我迅速地成熟起来了。
There is an old cliché that goes, “Job is an acronym9 for 'Just Over Broke.'” And unfortunately, I would say that the saying applies to millions of people. Because school does not think financial intelligence is intelligence, most workers “live within their means.” They work and they pay the bills. Instead I recommend to young people to seek work for what they will learn, more than what they will earn. Look down the road at what skills they want to acquire before choosing a specific profession and before getting trapped in the “Rat Race”. Once people are trapped in the lifelong process of bill paying, they become like those little hamsters running around in those little metal wheels. Their little furry legs are spinning furiously, the wheel is turning furiously, but come tomorrow morning, they'll still be in the same cage: great job.
常言道，“工作（job）就是‘比破产强一点（Just Over Broke）’的缩写”。然而不幸的是，这句话确实适用于千百万人，因为学校没有把财商看作是一种才智，大部分工人都“量入为出”：干活挣钱，支付账单。相反，我劝告年轻人在寻找工作时要看看能从中学到什么，而不是只看能挣到多少。在选择某种特定职业之前或是陷入 “老鼠赛跑（激烈的竞争）”之前，要好好掂量自己到底需要获得什么技能。一旦人们为支付账单而整天疲于奔命，就和那些在小铁轮里不停奔跑转圈的小老鼠一样了。老鼠的小毛腿跑得飞快，小铁轮也转得飞快，可到了第二天早上，他们发现自己依然困在同一个老鼠笼里，那就是：重要的工作。
When I ask the classes I teach, “How many of you can cook a better hamburger than McDonald's?” almost all the students raise their hands. I then ask, “So if most of you can cook a better hamburger, how come McDonald's makes more money than you?” The answer is obvious: McDonald's is excellent at business systems. The reason so many talented people are poor is because they focus on building a better hamburger and know little or nothing about business systems. The world is filled with talented poor people. All too often, they're poor or struggle financially or earn less than they are capable of, not because of what they know but because of what they do not know. They focus on perfecting their skills at building a better hamburger rather than the skills of selling and delivering the hamburger.
当我在自己教授的班级上问到“你们当中有多少人做的汉堡包能比麦当劳更好”时，几乎所有的学生都举起了手。我接着问，“如果你们当中大部分人都能做出比麦当劳更好的汉堡包，那为什么麦当劳比你们更能赚钱？” 答案是显而易见的：麦当劳拥有一套出色的运营体系。许多才华横溢的人之所以贫穷的原因，就是因为他们只是专心于做更好的汉堡包，而对运营体系几乎一无所知。世界上到处都是有才华的穷人。在很多情况下，他们之所以贫穷、生活拮据或者收入与其能力不相符，不是因为他们已知的东西而是因为他们未知的东西。他们只将注意力集中在提高和完善做汉堡包的技术上，却不注意提高有关汉堡包的销售和送货技能。
