Rich Dad Poor Dad is a starting point for anyone looking to gain control of their financial future

For most people, the 
reason they don’t win 
financially is because 
the pain of losing money 
is far greater than the 
joy of being rich.

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Chapter Seven: Overcoming Obstacles
132
money, he told us this story. It gave him strength, for it reminded him 
that he could always turn a financial loss into a financial win. Rich dad 
knew that failure would only make him stronger and smarter. It’s not 
that he wanted to lose. He just knew who he was and how he would 
take a loss. He would take a loss and make it a win. That’s what made 
him a winner and others losers. It gave him the courage to cross the line 
when others backed out. “That’s why I like Texans so much,” he would 
say. “They took a great failure and turned it into inspiration… as well a 
tourist destination that makes them millions.”
But probably his words that mean the most to me today are these: 
“Texans don’t bury their failures. They get inspired by them. They take 
their failures and turn them into rallying cries. Failure inspires Texans 
to become winners. But that formula is not just the formula for Texans. 
It is the formula for all winners.”
I’ve said that falling off my bike was part of learning to ride. I
remember falling off only made me more determined to learn to ride, 
not less. I also said that I have never 
met a golfer who has never lost a ball. 
For top professional golfers, losing 
a ball or a tournament provides the 
inspiration to be better, to practice 
harder, to study more. That’s what makes them better. For winners, 
losing inspires them. For losers, losing defeats them.
I like to quote John D. Rockefeller, who said, “I always tried to 
turn every disaster into an opportunity.”
And being Japanese-American, I can say this. Many people say that 
Pearl Harbor was an American mistake. I say it was a Japanese mistake. 
From the movie, Tora, Tora, Tora, a somber Japanese admiral says to 
his cheering subordinates, “I am afraid we have awakened a sleeping 
giant.” “Remember Pearl Harbor” became a rallying cry. It turned one 
of America’s greatest losses into the reason to win. This great defeat 
gave America strength, and America soon emerged as a world power.
Failure inspires winners. And failure defeats losers. It is the biggest 
secret of winners. It’s the secret that losers do not know. The greatest