“Know everything you can about what you’re doing.”
—Donald Trump's Father, FRED TRUMP
One way to think like a billionaire is to question your surroundings: Don’t assume you have to accept the hand you were dealt.
His faith gave me unshakable confidence. Even when I was at my lowest, in the early 1990s, when the real estate market tanked and I was billions in debt and Ivana and her lawyers and a hundred banks were ready to sue my ass off, my father told me he had absolutely no doubt that my business would be fine. He’d say, “You are a killer. You are a king.”
Don’t take vacations. What’s the point? If you’re not enjoying your work, you’re in the wrong job.
Don’t sleep any more than you have to. I usually sleep about four hours per night. I’m in bed by 1 A.M. and up to read the newspapers at 5 A.M. That’s all I need, and it gives me a competitive edge. I have friends who are successful and sleep ten hours a night, and I ask them, “How can you compete against people like me if I sleep only four hours?” It rarely can be done. No matter how brilliant you are, there’s not enough time in the day.
You have to create success to impress people in the world of business. If you’re young and you haven’t had any successes yet, then you have to create the impression of success. It doesn’t matter whether the success is a small one or a big one—you have to start with something and build on it.
The worst thing you can do is be timid and let your money just sit in your savings account. It’s pure waste. Your money should be at work at all times. You should think of your money as your staff; you wouldn’t let your staff sit around, so don’t let your money sit around, either. Even in the worst economy, there is no excuse for putting money under the bed.
Here’s another trick: Always pretend that you’re working for yourself. You’ll do a wonderful job in that case. It’s simple, but it works. If you’re finding that you don’t love your job or that you’re not doing a good job, demand a meeting with your boss immediately. If the situation doesn’t improve, fire yourself (and your boss) and go do something else.