自律的重要性
Years ago, when I was 26, I took a weekend class called How to Buy Real Estate Foreclosures.
多年以前，我26岁，参加了一个周末研讨班，内容是“如何购买破产的房地产”。
I learned a formula. The next trick was to have the discipline to actually put into action what I had learned.
在那里我学到了一个模式，接下来我就试着付诸实践。
That is where most people stop.
而这一步正是许多人没能做到的。
For three years, while working for Xerox,
在为施乐公司工作的3年中，
I spent my spare time learning to master the art of buying foreclosures.
我用业余时间学习并掌握了购买破产的财产的技巧。
I've made several million dollars using that formula.
运用这个模式，我赚取了数百万美元。
So after I mastered that formula, I went in search of other formulas.
因此，我又开始寻找其他的模式。
For many of the classes, I did not use the information I learned directly, but I always learned something new.
我参加过很多短期的研讨班，或许我并没有使用过学到的知识，但我还是开阔了视野。
Step 5. Pay yourself first: the power of self-discipline.
5．首先支付自己——自律的力量。
If you cannot get control of yourself, do not try to get rich.
如果你控制不了自己，就别想着致富。
It makes no sense to invest, make money, and blow it.
这样做对于投资、挣钱和花钱来说毫无意义。
It is the lack of self-discipline that causes most lottery winners to go broke soon after winning millions.
正是因为缺乏自律，大部分中彩票大奖的人在获得数百万美元后很快就破产了。
It is the lack of self-discipline that causes people who get a raise to immediately go out and buy a new car or take a cruise.
也正是由于缺乏自律，人们才会在加薪后立即去买新车或乘游轮旅行。
It is difficult to say which of the 10 steps is the most important.
很难说这10个步骤中哪一个最重要。
But of all the steps, this step is probably the most difficult to master if it is not already a part of your makeup.
不过对于所有这些步骤来说，这个步骤最难掌握，如果它不是你习惯去做的事情就更是如此。
I would venture to say that the lack of personal self-discipline is the number-one delineating factor between the rich, the poor, and the middle class.
我要冒昧说一句：能否自律是将富人、穷人和中产阶级区分开来的首要因素。