Writer: Donald J. Trump with Meredith Mclver
Trump:
Think Like a Billionaire covers real estate, which is the core of many
businesses, money, the Business of life, slices of the billionaire’s life, and inside
The Apprentice; it’s quite comprehensive. It’s also very special, as Donald
even includes a 42-page schedule of a typical week of his life. I mean how
often you can get to see a schedule of a billionaire, or a celebrity. Overall,
I think it’s a very great book. I enjoyed the first three chapters very much.
As for the last two chapters, which are Slices of the Billionaire’s Life, and Inside
The Apprentice, although they’re quite dry I think, I’ve learnt quite a lot
from them. And they’re very inspiring. The other reason I love this book is that
Donald is very motivational; I always feel like applying myself when I see him
work so hard, and hear him talk about the benefit of fame. Although fame and
big money can also be big problem, I do think it’s good to taste them.
As
usual, I like to pick up about three points from the book I read to give them
some special attention. If you’ve read my book review of Rich Dad Poor Dad, and
Rich Dad’s Guide to Becoming Rich without Cutting up Your Credit Cards, you
might have discovered that I concern about what we should learn very much.
Here’re two paragraphs I take from the book.
“I
spend hours each day reading the financial media (The Wall Street Journal,
Forbes, Business Week, Fortune, The New York Times, Financial Times). I also
read a lot of books and other magazines; you never know where you next great
idea is going to come from. You should be on top of all the news within your industry
and, beyond that, all local, national, and global news as well. Ignorance in
current affairs can go a long way toward destroying your credibility – and your
account.
People
always ask what I like to watch on television. Typically, I only watch
television that I know will improve my financial IQ. My one indulgence when it
comes to television is sports. For news and financial advice, of course, I
watch The Apprentice, but I also watch the CNBC business report, Larry King,
Bill O’Reilly, the Today show, and Fox cable. Whatever you watch or read, study
something every day. It’s essential that you keep your mind open and alert.”
Quite often, I hear people mention that it’s very good
to read newspaper. At first I didn’t know why. I was thinking there’s no point
to know about the new government policy, or the accidents, and other things.
And we only had to mind our own business, and work hard on improving it. It’s
until recently I realize that reading news can be very important even for small
player (a big player in the future) like me. We need to know the rule of the
market, and the market in order to play well in the society, for example, I
want to be an English teacher in the future. By reading newspaper recently, I saw
that the new national educational blueprint states that only the top 30%
students will be employed as a teacher, which is an important message for
me. Other than that, I also learn about the
English Essentials Programme provided by the corporate social responsibility of
Carlsberg and also the English standard of our country. Knowing this, which is
the market, will be of vital importance for me when I’m designing English
courses or want to start up my business in English teaching industry. I think that’s
just part of it. We can also get some great business ideas, business
opportunity, and news of recent seminar by reading papers regularly.
In
the introduction of the book, Donald mentions that it’s not necessary take
vacation, “Don’t
take vacations. What’s the point? If you’re not enjoying your work, you’re in
the wrong job. Even when I’m playing golf, I’m doing business. I never stop,
and I’m usually having fun.” Except
from not taking vacation, Donald actually works seven days a week, and he usually
sleep about four hours per night. He’s in bed by 1A.m. and up to read the
newspapers at 5 A.M. From here, we can see that it takes tremendous effort to
stay on the top. It also inspires me of a new reading method, which is to wake
up at 5, or 4 to read about 3 hours, before going to school or work to ensure
that I do spend about 3 hours a day reading books, newspaper, and listen to
financial news each day. Because if I do my studying job at the other time, I
might not be able to spend about 3 hours on it, as things might come up.
Since
I’ll have to work for others sooner or later, a good tip of working is very
important for me.
“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 do something else”
I still remember one of the problems I faced when I
was working in a hotel in 2010, and I could only work there back then, was that
I really hated the tremendous paperwork which I thought was not necessary. I
was very angry about it. Now I realize that there’s a better way to face that
problem. If I have known this tip at that time, and have pretended that I was
working for myself, I would’ve asked boss the function of each of the
paperwork, and thought about how I could cut down the work. If I’d done that,
the job would’ve been more interesting, and I also could’ve learnt something,
even though I might now be able to cut down the paperwork at the end. I think
this tip will be very useful for me when I start my career.
At first, I actually decided to pick
up three points, but I realize that there’s one more point which is too good
that I can’t afford to forget that, so I decided to add one more.
“… if
you can’t dream about new products, they will never happen. I also pointed out
how important it is to set their own standards. That will ensure that they remain
innovators in their field.”
This is one of the things he said in a speech. I think
this is the core of the huge success of Apple and many other products. And it’s
a very important point for me to keep in mind, when I develop my own product.
No matter, it’s a book, or an English course.
Overall, I think
this is quite a good book. And I feel so blessed to read this book. I’ve learnt
so much from it. And I’ll read it again and again from time to time.
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