Your dad entered school at the age of 5. Because he had good grades, he stayed in school, eventually becoming the top man in the school system. Now at age 50, he is hitting the streets ... and the streets are a very tough teacher. In school, you're given the lesson first. On the street, you're given the mistake first and then it's up to you to find the les- son, if you ever find it. Since most people have not been taught how to make mistakes and learn from them, they ei- ther avoid mistakes altogether, which is a bigger mistake, or they make a mistake but fail to find the lesson from the mis- take. That is why you see so many people making the same mistake over and over again. They make the same mistake over and over again because they have never been taught how to learn from their mistakes. In school, you are consid- ered smart if you don't make mistakes. On the street, you're smart only if you make mistakes and learn from them." The Biggest Failure I Know Rich dad said to Mike and me, "I am so rich because I've made more financial mistakes' than most people. Each time I made a mistake, I learned something new. In the business world, that something new is often called 'experience.' But experience is not enough. Many people say they have a lot of experience because they keep making the same mistake over The Magic of Mistakes 195 and over again. If a person truly learns from a mistake, his or her life changes forever, and what that person gains instead of experience is 'wisdom.'" He went on to say, "People often avoid making financial mistakes, and that is a mistake. They keep saying to themselves, 'Play it safe. Don't take risks.' People may be struggling financially because they have al- ready made mistakes and have not learned from the mistakes. So they get up every day, go to work, and repeat the mistake and avoid new mistakes, but they never find the lesson. These people often say to themselves, 'I'm doing everything right, but for some reason, I'm not getting ahead financially'" Rich dad's comment to that statement was, "They may be doing all the right things but the problem is that they are avoiding the wrong things-wrong things such as taking more risks. They are avoiding their weaknesses instead of confronting them. They are not doing something they may be afraid of doing, and consciously choosing to avoid making a mistake rather than make one." He also said, "Some of the biggest failures I know are people who have never failed." The Art of Making a Mistake Instead of instructing his son and me to avoid mistakes, rich dad taught us the art of making a mistake and gaining wisdom from it. During one of those lessons, rich dad said, "The first thing that happens after you make a mistake is that you become upset. Everyone I know gets upset. That is the first indication of a mistake," said rich dad. 'At this point of upset, you find out who you really are." What do you mean, "Who you really are?" asked Mike.