President Donald J. Trump may be considered a polarizing figure in some circles. Quite frankly, every POTUS is. He is the most powerful leader of the free world who was born to a recent immigrant family that became phenomenally successful in just three generations. Mr. Trump is living proof that the American dream works for recent immigrant families like his own. Living the American dream certainly takes a dream or vision, prudence, great sacrifices, and the avoidance of distractions such as Earthly vices.

Many great leaders get an early start to the day. Mr. Trump wakes up at 5:30 am and absorbs relevant news articles according to Haberman, Thrush, and Baker in their New York Times article, “Inside Trump’s Hour-By-Hour Battle for Self-Preservation.” Benjamin Franklin is credited as saying, “Early to bed and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.” I personally find that getting up early and reading my emails or reading the news helps me to knock out more goals each day that would not be possible if I slept more which would indeed leave less time for daily accomplishments. Perhaps this level of acute awareness is part of what won Mr. Trump the presidency.

An essential strategy both in war and business is to stay ahead of the competition by preparing for the battle while the competition is sleeping and strategizing while they are at the party. To be successful as an entrepreneur or as a full-time worker burning the candle at both ends with earning an education we must adhere to the 9th commandment of the “Ten Commandments of True Independence” found on Emancipationfrompoverty.com. We must have strength and stamina. Stamina is needed for working the long hours needed for burning the candle at both ends. How can we obtain the needed stamina for this level of success?

The one thing that has made me stronger over the years is abstaining from Earthly vices. Vices such as drinking alcohol, smoking cigarettes, and overeating will only slow us down when we ought to be planning our next great battle for success. All Earthly vices and addictions are distractions from success. Vices are for individuals who prefer experiences and living in the moment but who have no aspirations for achieving any level of success. Rising early, increasing discipline, adhering to a very strict diet, avoidance of vices, avoidance of laziness, and adding regular exercise to our daily routine will only help us to accomplish much more with each passing day.

Often when doing menial or repetitive tasks I would think about my 5, 10, 15, and 20-year career plan. Quite often I think more about what I will be doing in 10 to 20 years than anything else because I have already planned the years prior to that in great detail. Early in my career, I would create “projected resumes” and I would file them away until the time came for all of the goals on the projected resumes to have been implemented. I would be amazed at how accurate these projected resumes were when I would find them years later. I believe that having a clear vision, dreaming about our future, along with implementing very detailed planning of both our training and job goals will help us to very easily hit the target in living our lives exactly how we have envisioned them to be.