Each Success is the Beginning of The Next One

by Donald J. Trump, Chairman, Trump University

What lies behind us
and what lies before us
are tiny matters compared
to what lies within us.

– Emerson

That thought by Ralph Waldo Emerson has always been an inspiration to me. It gives me energy to keep going full force because I know I still have a lot to accomplish. No matter what I may have achieved, or plan to achieve, I know it’s ‘a tiny matter’ compared to what I am capable of doing. Think about it. How can we be complacent with that kind of thought pattern going on? It would be impossible!

When I hear people say things like “It’s impossible to do more!” I always smile to myself and think, “I’ve just started!” It’s just a great way to feel. I’d like you to have that feeling, too, because it’s like having stepping stones in all the right places just waiting for you to see them.

Sometimes it helps to minimize your achievements to yourself so that you will be eager to do more. You might say, “Yeah, that was good, but I’m just getting warmed up” as a way to keep yourself challenged. The best achievers are those who are self-motivated and naturally curious, people who don’t need to be told what to do next. Strive to be that kind of person. Entrepreneurs are driven by inner forces. That’s a great way to live as well as a great approach to life.

What lies within us? Hopefully, there are a lot of great ideas and plans for the future coupled with confidence in our ability to achieve them. I think Emerson was alluding to this idea of hope in his statement. It’s important for survival, and it’s important for success. Sometimes it is what keeps us going when the odds may not be on our side. Don’t underestimate the power of some of the unseen or intangible forces in your life. Just because you can’t see something doesn’t mean it’s not there. The first person to give you a chance should be yourself.

So give yourself a chance every single day! Some people really are their own worst enemies. Don’t fall into that abyss, because that’s really what it is. Have you ever watched children when they are trying something new? They are excited, they are eager, and they welcome the challenge. That’s an attitude to recapture or to emulate. The enthusiasm that discovery provides is a reliable way to make sure that everything you are doing is paving the way towards your current as well as future successes. I recently received a letter from my kindergarten teacher. She wrote that what she remembered most clearly about me was that I never stopped asking questions. I wrote back to tell her that some things never change—that I still ask a lot of questions. I said that it had obviously served me well, and I thanked her, belatedly, for her patience many years ago. Every one of my questions was the beginning of the next one.

So here’s one question for you. If you had nothing at all to do, what would you do? And after you did that, what would you do? And after you did that, what would be next on your list? I call that multi-thinking versus multi-tasking. Most people have at least a few things they want to do. Sometimes one thing leads to another—that’s a form of discovery. Discovery breeds discovery, as in success breeds success. Quest ions are thoughts with a quest.

Can you guess what the quest is? Knowledge. Knowledge is power. That’s one reason you’re reading this essay. No one is born a know-it-all. Wouldn’t that be a little boring? I think it might be. Fortunately, at this time in history, things are moving so quickly that no one has the right to boredom. Just keeping up is the challenge we all have today. I like that challenge because a challenge equals a success just waiting to happen.

Let’s end this with a few good questions.

• What lies behind you? What are your life experiences and education up to this point?
• What lies before you? What are your goals, your plans, your aspirations?
• What lies within you? Do you have what it takes to succeed? Do you know the full extent of your abilities yet?
  Do you know what the future holds for you? Do you know how your dreams will evolve?

All of life is full of mystery, including your life, which is no tiny matter. So don’t sell yourself short on something that important. Today is just the beginning.

Go Beyond Money: Donald Trump

by Donald J. Trump

The first sentence in my first book, The Art of the Deal , goes like this: “I don’t do it for the money. I’ve got enough, much more than I’ll ever need. I do it to do it. Deals are my art form. Other people paint beautifully on canvas or write wonderful poetry. I like making deals, preferably big deals. That’s how I get my kicks.”

Trump

Donald J. Trump. Ballantine Books 2004, Mass Market Paperback, 384 pages, $4.21

At the end of that book, I also mention that there are two things I have found myself to be very good at: overcoming obstacles and motivating good people to do their best work. I’ve had some major challenges since then, which I’ve met, and I’ve made a hit television show out of motivating smart people to do and be their best. I certainly didn’t see that one coming, nor did I see Trump University surfacing either. But here we are, with The Apprentice entering yet another season and Trump University expanding in many ways.

I didn’t get involved in either one of these ventures to make money. I had something to offer and the opportunities presented themselves to me. I was simply in the midst of doing my daily deals when these things found their way to me. It’s funny how that can work. Notice that I said I was working, doing my daily deals. I wasn’t sitting around waiting for people to come up with great ideas for me. I was focused on my business and moving forward daily when they were presented to me. There’s something about keeping your momentum going that can work like a generator in producing and attracting good energy and great ideas.

If I was in it just for the money, I would never have ended up doing a lot of the things I’ve done. Take Wollman Rink, for example. My decision to renovate it didn’t come from any profit motive. I did it to save the city time and money. I knew I had the ability to get it done in less time and for less money. I loved doing that job because I love New York City and Central Park, and the citizens of New York deserve the best.

Ask yourself what you love doing first, then think about the money. If you think about the money first, you’ve got it all wrong. That’s a backwards approach to success, and it won’t be very rewarding for very long. Sure, money is a scorecard and it is certainly useful, but it shouldn’t be the be all and end all. See it as the means to an end, but not the total reason for your efforts or endeavors. As Benjamin Franklin put it: “He that is of the opinion money will do everything may well be suspected of doing everything for money. ”

You might be thinking that it’s easy for me to say what I’m saying because I’m already a billionaire. It probably helps, but even when I was a millionaire, I was interested above all in the end product. I had to care about what I was doing, while keeping the big picture in mind. I wanted to transform the Commodore Hotel into a beautiful Hyatt Hotel not just because it would be a great success, but because it would help the surrounding, increasingly dilapidated area of Grand Central on 42nd Street. That’s a major thoroughfare, and it was becoming an eyesore and an undesirable location in midtown Manhattan. My success there began a renewal that has continued to this day. Yes, I made money, but there was more to it than just that.

Give your goals substance. Imbue them with a value that exceeds the monetary. Make them count on as many levels as you can. Give them a subtext that will provide them with a dimension that will not only benefit you but other people as well. In other words, get the big picture. That’s an important aspect of thinking big—and a big step towards greater success.

Real World Art: The Canvass that is Business

by Donald J. Trump
Chairman, Trump University

Art is a lie that makes us see the truth. –Picasso

Picasso was not only a great artist, he was a good businessman. He knew the value of his work, and he didn’t make excuses for it. He once told a story about someone who visited his studio, stood in front of a painting, and asked him “What does it represent?” Picasso’s response was “Two hundred thousand dollars.” He was telling the truth and in no uncertain terms. Picasso obviously viewed his art as a business, which it was. I view my business as an art, which it is. You should view your work that way too.

Here’s why. Artists are known for their dedication, to their ideals, to their muse—whatever that might be—and for their perseverance in getting things just right. Those are admirable traits to possess. They will go to great lengths to achieve the desired result. Just recently a Beethoven manuscript was discovered in a library. He had made so many changes and scratches on it that he had punctured holes in the pages in some places. This work was done towards the end of his life, so he wasn’t a novice at writing music at that point. That was just how he worked. Beethoven was a perfectionist, who wouldn’t settle for less than his best. He didn’t need to impress anyone except himself. That’s a good way to be, whether you’re a businessperson or a musician.

Try to best yourself. Compete with yourself to be the best you can be. That’s the mindset of entrepreneurs. They know that competing with others could lower their own standards. That may sound tough but it’s the truth. You have to have your own vision and stick with it. Picasso definitely had his own way of seeing things, which certainly worked to his advantage artistically and financially. Don’t be afraid of being unique. It’s like being afraid of your best self.

When I was building Trump Tower, I spent a great deal of time finding and getting the exact color of marble I wanted for the lobby. I looked at hundreds of marble samples until I found something called Breccia Perniche, a rare marble and, therefore, very expensive. The color was a blend of rose, peach and pink that was absolutely perfect. When we went to the quarry, however, I noticed there were white spots and veins in a lot of the marble. Nevertheless, I was determined to use this marble. So we marked off the slabs that were the best and scrapped the rest—about 60% of the total. It wasn’t cost effective, but it was worth it. The lobby in Trump Tower is truly a work of art, and the marble made the difference. It’s gorgeous.

Back to Picasso’s statement about art being a lie. One take on that is that artists often make the difficult look effortless. How hard is it to put paint on a canvas? Easy if you don’t know what you’re doing. A little more complex if you do know what you’re doing.In my first book, The Art of the Deal, I chose the title for those very reasons. Anyone in business knows that negotiating and making deals requires a lot of background work. People don’t see me doing that part, but that doesn’t mean I don’t do it. When people see the beautiful marble in Trump Tower, they usually have no idea what I went through personally to achieve the end result. No one cares about the blood, sweat, and tears that art or beauty require. It’s the end result that matters.

Art is also representational. In other words, it’s not life, but it’s about life. It can point to truths that we might not notice in our busy daily lives. It gives us a reflection. When I do a deal, it’s a reflection of my astuteness as a businessman. I strive for a comprehensive approach, much as an artist would. No matter what your field is, you can learn a lot by emulating that approach as much as possible. I didn’t have to use Breccia Perniche marble, but I knew it would make a difference. My work as a builder combines both craftsmanship and art. I refuse to settle for less. So when I say I view my work as an art form, you can bet that I’m as meticulous as any artist would be about the materials and the desired result. If you do the same, I think you’ll surprise yourself at how high your standards will become.

What is Genius?

by Dr. Tony Alessandra

Paul MacCready is a writer and inventor who has carefully studied genius and the ways people understand that concept. MacCready has evolved several categories of what genius seems to mean, and these can be useful starting point for defining what genius really is.

In the first category is what Paul MacCready calls the “everyone agrees” geniuses. These people are the great icons of civilization, including Einstein, Leonardo daVinci, Shakespeare, and Michelangelo.

Is there anybody who believes Einstein wasn’t a genius? I don’t think so — so this category is for the geniuses who are elected by unanimous consent. These are many of the same people who were mentioned in my own informal research. We’ll have much more to say about them in this session and throughout the program. In fact, most of our models for the various genius categories will be drawn from this group.

MacReady’s second category is the officially designated geniuses. These are the people who have won Nobel Prizes or other highly respected awards. Whether or not we understand what they’ve accomplished, we think of them as geniuses based on their recognition by people who are supposed to know one when they see one.

A third category includes people who haven’t yet gained national or international prominence, but who have done something so remarkable that they seem to be in a different realm from ordinary mortals. Some of these are the prodigy young people I mentioned earlier in this session — students who have won national science contests or gotten perfect scores on standardized tests.

Often they’re not the best in the day to day conduct of school or business, but they have some special gift that eventually reveals itself. Quite often, these people are underachievers who struggle with Shyness and low self-esteem. Their surprising success is surprising only because they’ve deliberately tried to stay in the background.

I think you can see how each of these three categories seems quite Legitimate — but it’s the fourth one that’s really most important for this program. And you may be surprised to learn that the fourth category questions or even completely refutes the other three. Because the fourth category includes everybody.

It’s based on the idea that we all have the potential for achievements that are wrongly considered possible for only a few. And there’s plenty of evidence for this. After all, the physical and mental challenges of learning to walk and talk are more difficult than anything we face later in life — yet the vast majority of human beings meet these challenges successfully. True, it’s been argued that these primary skills are hardwired into our genetic makeup. But there are many things that the genetic argument can’t account for.

In the 17th and 18th centuries, for example, it was simply expected that every member of the educated class would be able to read and speak several different languages, write poetry, play a musical instrument, and know much of the Bible by heart. Furthermore, all these skills were performed at a very high level and at very early ages. In other words, thousands of people routinely displayed abilities that today would be considered truly amazing — and perhaps even evidence of genius.

But in those days what we call genius was just the fulfillment of society’s expectations. When we speak of everybody being a genius in this sense, it doesn’t mean everyone has to get 800s on their SATs or have an IQ of 150 or above. It doesn’t mean everybody can play the violin or create beautiful oil paintings. Those are other ways of looking at the concept of genius. But right now, let’s go back to the origin of the word itself.

A researcher by the name of Thomas Armstrong has done some excellent work on this. He points out that the word genius is closely related to the word genesis. It comes from Greek and Latin words meaning “beget,” “be born,” or ” come into being.” It’s also related to the word genial, meaning “festive” or “jovial.”

In the Middle East, the term has been linked to the word jinni, or genie, the magical power that lay dormant and hidden in Aladdin’s lamp until a secret method released it. Combining all these roots leads to a very powerful and beautiful definition of genius. It means “giving birth to your joy.” In this sense, genius is a word for an individual’s hidden potential. It also includes the process of discovering that potential and transforming it into action.

But the first step is belief. The first step is certainty that you have greater capabilities than you thought. Not only do you have those capabilities — you also have a responsibility to develop them and put them to use.

Dr. Tony Alessandra has authored 13 books, recorded over 50 audio and video programs, and delivered over 2,000 keynote speeches since 1976. The ideas in this article, and many others, are adapted from Dr. Alessandra’s book, The Sales Professional’s Idea-A-Day Guide (Dartnell). If you would like more information about Dr. Alessandra’s books, audio tapesets and video programs, or about Dr. Alessandra as a keynote speaker for your group, call (800) 222-4383 or visit his website at http://www.alessandra.com.

The Saboteur Within
Why You Don’t Have What You Really Want

by Dr. Robert Anthony

Lets face it – most of us from time to time feel that life is just one big struggle with a series of never ending problems.

Yet the truth is that life does not have to be this way. In fact, it can be just the opposite. Life is not about struggle and overcoming problems. Life is about pursuing and creating what we truly desire in an easy, stress-free manner.

Is there something in your life that you want, but it seems to elude you?

In short, if you don’t have what you want (you name it) your subconscious holds some contradictory intentions for you.

To put it simply, you want something and it doesn’t.

For example you may say, “I want more money”, but your dominant subconscious belief may be, “Earning the amount of money I want is very difficult”.

Notice anything different about these two statements?

They are going in different directions.

What is really happening is that your conscious and subconscious are almost always in conflict. You consciously say, “I want more money” and then after listening, your subconscious says, “No matter what you do, it is too difficult to create that amount of money”.

As a result there is no agreement between your conscious and subconscious. When this happens they cancel each other out and give up on assisting you to create what you would like to have in your life.

What is critical to understand is the competition, conflicting agendas, and disharmony between your conscious and subconscious is keeping you from having what you desire.

Why?

Because when your conscious and subconscious are not in agreement, they produce negative emotion. And it is that very negative emotion or energy that attracts the things you don’t want. (You may have to re-read that.)

Let me explain to you what is really happening.

Every thought is received by the brain, which is the organ of the conscious mind. It is there that it is subjected to our power of reasoning. When the conscious or objective mind has been satisfied that the thought is true, it is sent to the subconscious mind to be brought into the world of reality through quantum physics or the law of attraction.

It is no longer susceptible to any argument whatsoever. The subconscious mind cannot argue. It only acts. It accepts the conclusions of the conscious mind as final. This is the point at which the uncreated becomes the created, the universal becomes individualized, and the invisible becomes visible.

Put simply, every thought that you think has its own energetic vibrational frequency. That thought is impressed into your subconscious mind. Then, through the Law of Attraction, it will energetically attract another person, place, thing or circumstance that has a vibrational match or is vibrating at the same frequency.

Your subconscious mind cooperates completely with your conscious mind when it understands and agrees with what you consciously want. In other words, when your conscious and subconscious are not in conflict.

When you feel negative emotions, they are signals from your subconscious that you are not in harmony with what you desire and this creates emotional energy blocks within your electromagnetic system.

You are not alone. Conflict, manifested as an emotional energy block, is common in almost everyone.

Have you ever wondered why…

Athletes get into slumps?

This defies normal logic. There is no physical reason for an athlete to perform below par. He or she is the same highly trained athlete before, after and during the slump. Yet, no matter how highly skilled, all athletes go through this consistently throughout their careers. Why?

Addictions are so hard to overcome?

Most addicts want to be free of their destructive patterns. They know, and will often admit, that their addiction is costing them their health, their relationships, their money and even their life! Yet they continue with it. Why?

Depression is so hard to overcome?

Depression is one of the most difficult psychological issues to handle. It is not unusual for an individual who suffers from depression to go through years of expensive therapy and not make much progress. Why?

Healing sometimes takes so long?

We have a lingering cold that just won’t go away, a headache or pain that keep coming back again and again or a sprain or broken bone that takes forever to heal. Why?

We self-sabotage ourselves?

Regardless of what you have read or heard, you cannot correct this through positive thinking. You must go BEYOND POSITIVE THINKING to get rid of the “Saboteur Within”. I call this “Right Thinking”. It is right because it is based on truth, not illusion.

Here is something you can do right now.

We try to change our behaviours or become more successful in our business or career yet we often manage to fall back into our previous “comfort zones” with little or no real progress. Why?

The reason we have these experiences is that we do not correct the negative emotion IN THE MOMENT.

Notice when you are feeling any negative emotion or conflict. That is you “inner guidance system” telling you that you are not in harmony with your desire. This is your first clue.

IN THAT MOMENT you MUST self-correct. Change your FEELING right then and there because how you FEEL as a result of a thought is what causes the negative emotion. The negative emotion then causes the conflict. And the conflict attracts more of the things you DON’T WANT.

So, if you do nothing else, remember that you MUST correct and STOP the negative attraction in the MOMENT if you are serious about getting rid of the “Saboteur Within.” That will clear the way for you conscious and subconscious to work in harmony to bring your desire.

This may be difficult to accept or to at first understand. Remember, we are talking about going beyond what you typically understand, so you can get to the results you want.

The effort can help make all your dreams come true.

Believe me, it’s worth it.

$75000 Time Management Secret

by Dr Donald Schnell

Are you drowning in email? Is your mind filled with anxiety over an increasing number of tasks?

Beginning tomorrow, tackle number one and stay on it until it is finished before you move on to number two. Work on down the list. When the day is through, prepare a new list, again assigning top priority to the most important task still undone and so on down the list. Do this everyday.” (University of Success, Og Mandino, pg. 219)

Og Mandino’s University of Success

Og Mandino. Bantam 1983, Paperback, 544 pages, $6.85

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Email: Donald@spiritualjava.com