At an age when most people have retired or slowed down, Donald Trump was just elected president of the United States. Whether or not you agree with his politics or respect his methods, there’s no arguing that he is someone who sets goals, accomplishes many of them, and bounces back from defeats. Back in 2009, Bottom Line spoke with Trump and asked him how he stays productive and keeps challenging himself. Here is some of what he told us…

RELENTLESSLY CONFRONT YOUR FEARS

You can’t let fear — fear of the new, fear of growing old, fear of failure — settle into place in any part of your life. Fear has a way of making problems bigger than they are. The trick is to recognize your fears and then zap them with a problem-solving attitude, faith in yourself and hard work.

Example: I owed billions of dollars in the early 1990s, and many people thought I was finished. Major newspapers were announcing my demise. The difference is that I didn’t believe that I was finished for one second, no matter what people thought. I simply refused to give in to the negative circumstances and kept working to overcome my challenges.

Useful exercise: Rename your fears. Call them “concerns.” Just using a different word can affect your approach and reactions. “Fears” create blocks that will only hinder your creative thinking. “Concerns” can be broken down into units of thought and dealt with in an orderly and persistent manner.

MAKE YOUR COMMUNICATIONS SHORT, FAST AND DIRECT

As someone on the receiving end of conversations with people who do not know how to edit themselves, I know what agony means. I think to myself, How long is it going to take for this person to get to his/her point?

People are very, very busy today. They are overloaded with information. Don’t drone on and on. Don’t force people to sort through it all to get to the important stuff, the good stuff. More often than not, your listeners — whether it’s your family, business associates or those in a social setting — will be grateful for your ability to get to the essence quickly for them.

In any conversation, I give myself an internal deadline. I say as much as I can in as few words as possible. If you practice this technique every day, whether it’s relaying a message to someone, writing a letter or ordering lunch, it will become natural for you — and you will accomplish more.

PUT BAD NEWS INTO PERSPECTIVE

The way you handle difficult situations in life says a lot about who you are. The same event can wipe out one person but make another more tenacious. Whenever I am in the midst of difficult times, I ask myself, Is this a blip or a catastrophe?

This question reminds me that most problems are temporary if you keep your equilibrium and maintain your momentum. Realize that there will always be blips in your daily life but that you never know when the tide is going to turn in your favor, provided you are paying attention and still working toward something worthwhile.

DON’T TAKE YOURSELF SO SERIOUSLY

Over the years, I have been offered a lot of TV commercials and turned most of them down. But my favorite one allowed me to display a self-deprecating attitude that I think took people by surprise. It’s a commercial for Visa. I’m shown on the top of Trump Tower in Manhattan holding my credit card when a gust of wind blows it out of my hand, down many scores of floors to the street below. Next, I am seen rummaging in a dumpster in search of my lost card. A well-dressed passerby remarks, “And I thought he was doing so well.”

I do take my work seriously — but the ability to laugh at myself keeps my perspective intact, adds an element of fun to my endeavors and makes people realize that I’m a complex person, concerned about more than just ambition.

TURN YOUR PASSIONS INTO PRODUCTIVE ACTIVITIES

One thing that I’ve learned about life is that it should be a series of discoveries. Remember how exciting it was to learn to ride a bike? If you can capture that kind of excitement as you age, you will never “stop” — you will always be on your way to finding where you are meant to be in life. Remember, whatever you do at this point in your life, it’s better to love it. Enthusiasm on a big scale equals passion, and passion is what gives you the resiliency to take yourself to amazing places.