Diminished competitive advantages

Although eating food is pleasurable, digesting it is our main purpose. We should eat to live rather than live to eat.

To practice this principle, one can eat plain foods without sauces or try intermittent fasting.

“The impediment to action advances action. What stands in the way becomes the way.”

According to John T. Reed the famous book is filled with bad advice:

Dangerous advice

• "If you're gonna go broke, go broke big"
• Convinces people that college is for suckers

Law-breaking advice

• Advocates committing a felony: have rich friends for trading stock based on non-public inside information, he says "That's what friends are for."
• Recommends tax fraud by deducting vacations and health club dues
• Brags about using a partner weasel clause in which his cat is his partner

Many critics pointed out that Kiyosaki is selling a cult, not financial advice.

He is accused of tapping into the fantasies of the masses & being short on specifics, both attributes of religious cults.

According to research, we get a dopamine surge from buying stuff that causes us to want more and more.

Delayed gratification when the order arrives a few days later also makes is more physiologically rewarding than shopping in stores.

Some online shops have made it especially easy to shop with a one-click buying process. Most major retailers offer free shipping, and only one in ten consumers return stuff they've bought online.

Americans are also taking up more space with all the stuff they are amassing. Self-storage units are rapidly increasing too.

Despite having easy access to information, few people take full advantage of the opportunity we have for self-directed learning.

We still believe that in order to learn something, we need to be formally educated on it, when in fact we're able to educate ourselves.

Self-education is the core skill for the 21st century.

Our ability to respond to changes in the landscape of work and technology will be dictated by how skilled self-educators we are, how well we can take full advantage of the information available to us to grow our skillset.

A culture created in a two-way relationship or a small group is positive and open because it allows for differences to exist, which are not allowed by large groups in which cultures are attached to your identity.

Creating the right kind of culture organically is the magic of a strong relationship, something that is difficult in large groups with a shared ideology.

The idea of a complete and fulfilling life is always related to personal relationships. Happiness, in a way, is the other person. Happiness is our connections, and the relationships we foster, which create and shape us.

It's a lost art to cultivate personal relationships without agenda or motive, just connecting and trying to understand and relate to different people.

Many times, partners do not see eye to eye, have different preferences or moods. Money is the No.1 issue that couples argue about, according to studies.

It is crucial to discuss financial goals and retirement plans with one's spouse, figuring out a strategy in advance, to avoid any confrontation later.

• Firstly, save up for the emergency fund, which is three to six months of expenses, and set it aside. After that, least 15% of your combined gross household income should go towards your retirement, once all debt is cleared.
• If only one of the partner works, you still can save up for retirement using a Spousal IRA, provided a joint tax return is filed. For details, you can consult an investing professional.
• It is also a good idea to clear up the old 401(k) accounts which are hanging around from the old jobs and put one's investments in order.

By following the conventional path of "school to loan to university to work" you risk running into serious debt. Being creative is a potential way to lessen or eliminate that.

Maybe finding a different and cheaper way of doing the same thing, doing a yard sale or getting a side job… Put your mind to it and you may find ways to get a financial boost. 

When you buy mutual funds, you are charged a purchase fee upfront. This is a one-time payment to the fund management institution. Annually, you will be charged with a percentage of management fees, commonly known as “expense ratio”, which can be expensive.

Beware when advisors at your bank recommend mutual funds to buy. They might be earning a sales commission.

A job negotiation is preferable in person or on the phone, as compared to the impersonal and cold feel of the email.

Talking on the phone provides you with an opportunity to build a connection so that the recruiter understands you and your motivations, while you have a better grip on their motivations.

If the job negotiation is on email only, be direct and honest. Email lets you strategize your words carefully.

Having an alternative, a second job offer with you makes your negotiation game stronger, as the employer knows that you can simply walk away. Having the offer from a prestigious company also strengthens your perceived market value.

Having a BATNA (Best Alternative To a Negotiated Agreement) provides you with confidence, based on how strong the employer perceives it as well as how you perceive it.

In practice, adding too many suggestions for living well will create a conflict with each other. 

Suggestions are almost always given on their own, without including a wider context. You can read about why exercise, reading or meditating are good on their own, but rarely find information about how they trade-off against each other.

There are two different types of feeling tired.

1. The feeling you have as you're about to start an activity. Once you actually do it, your mood changes and you find you're glad you did it.
2. The second kind persists throughout the activity itself. You find you struggle with pushing through more than five minutes of it. If you feel like this for weeks at a time, your habits are probably unsustainable.