Rich Dad Poor Dad: What the Rich Teach Their Kids About MoneyThat the Poor and Middle Class Do Not!

9. Choose heroes: the power of myth
When I was a kid, I greatly admired Willie Mays, Hank Aaron, and
Yogi Berra. They were my heroes, and I wanted to be just like them. I
treasured their baseball cards, I knew their stats, the RBIs, the ERAs, their
batting averages, how much they got paid, and how they came up from the
minor leagues.
As a nine-year-old kid, when I stepped up to bat or played first base or
catcher, I wasn’t me. I pretended I was a famous baseball player. It’s one of
the most powerful ways we learn, and we often lose that as adults. We lose
our heroes.
Today, I watch young kids playing basketball near my home. On the
court they’re not little Johnny. They’re pretending to be their favorite
basketball hero. Copying or emulating heroes is true power learning.
I have new heroes as I grow older. I have golf heroes and I copy their
swings and do my best to read everything I can about them. I also have
heroes such as Donald Trump, Warren Buffett, Peter Lynch, George Soros,
and Jim Rogers. I know their stats just like I knew the ERAs and RBIs of
my childhood baseball heroes. I follow what Warren Buffett invests in, and
I read anything I can about his point of view on the market and how he
chooses stocks. And I read about Donald Trump, trying to find out how he
negotiates and puts deals together.
Just as I was not me when I was up to bat, when I’m in the market or
I’m negotiating a deal, I am subconsciously acting with the bravado of
Trump. Or when analyzing a trend, I look at it as though Warren Buffet

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were doing it. By having heroes, we tap into a tremendous source of raw
genius.
But heroes do more than simply inspire us. Heroes make things look
easy. Making it look easy convinces us to want to be just like them.
“If they can do it, so can I.”
When it comes to investing, too many people make it sound hard.
Instead, find heroes who make it look easy.