Rich Dad Poor Dad“Well, that’s up to you to find out. If you want to learn, I’ll take
you boys into the briar patch, a place almost everyone else avoids. If
you go with me, you’ll let go of the idea of working for money and
instead learn to have money work for you.”
“And what will we get if we go with you. What if we agree to
learn from you? What will we get?” I asked.
“The same thing Brer Rabbit got,” said rich dad, referring to the
classic children’s story.
“Is there a briar patch?” I asked.
“Yes,” said rich dad. “The briar patch is our fear and greed.
Confronting fear, weaknesses, and neediness by choosing our own
thoughts is the way out.”
“Choosing our thoughts?” Mike asked, puzzled.
“Yes. Choosing what we think rather than reacting to our emotions.
Instead of just getting up and going to work because not having the
money to pay your bills is scaring you, ask yourself, ‘Is working harder
at this the best solution to this problem?’ Most people are too afraid to
rationally think things through and instead run out the door to a job
they hate. The Tar Baby is in control. That’s what I mean by choosing
your thoughts.”
“And how do we do that?” Mike asked.
“That’s what I will teach you. I’ll teach you to have a choice of
thoughts rather than a knee-jerk reaction, like gulping down your
morning coffee and running out the door.
“Remember what I said before: A job is only a short-term
solution to a long-term problem. Most people have only one problem
in mind, and it’s short-term. It’s the bills at the end of the month,
the Tar Baby. Money controls their lives, or should I say the fear and
ignorance about money controls it. So they do as their parents did.
They get up every day and go work for money, not taking the time to
ask the question, ‘Is there another way?’ Their emotions now control
their thinking, not their heads.”
“Can you tell the difference between emotions thinking and the
head thinking?” Mike asked.