1. "If It Ain't Fun, We Don't Do It" His philosophy from day one. He applied it to everything – from company culture to billion-dollar deals. It’s the only way to play the long game.

This man could predict the future. He sold his company for $39 billion right before the 2008 crash. And by the time he died, he owned nearly 80,000 apartments across America. 6 lessons from the greatest investor of our lifetime (The Grave Dancer):

Sam Zell is not your typical billionaire. He's a self-made son of immigrants. In college, he managed a 15-unit student apartment for a free room. By graduation, that management biz netted him $150k in '60s dollars and gave him a taste for real estate...

Over the years, he earned himself the nickname "Grave Dancer." Why? He'd buy up properties nobody would touch, with owners desperate to sell... And eventually make billions from them.

His greatest achievement was selling an EGI subsidiary for $39 billion months before the financial crisis hit. Years later, when asked what the key to his success was? “Being a professional opportunist.”

He's the OG Contrarian. 6 lessons from Zell that'll make you rethink how to build wealth:

2. Always Leave Money On The Table Zell once overpaid $1 million on a deal… on purpose. Why? He valued long-term relationships over short-term gains. He soon became known for it. Most squeeze every penny. I guess that's why most aren't billionaires.

3. Nobody Wins If They Don’t Play 90% of success is accidental. But here’s what you need to remember: It can only happen if you're in the game. When you become the best at what you do, opportunity finds you. So does luck.

4. Control Downside and You Control Risk It’s an important lesson in preparing for the worst rather than hoping for the best. You can't control the market. But you can control exposure. Zell once lost $50M and was happy about it. Here's why:

5. When Everyone Goes Right, Look Left Look at the self-made billionaires of the world. How did they get rich? It wasn’t from playing it safe or doing what everyone else was doing. I love how Zell puts it:

6. Listen To Your Own Song I live by this principle, too. Someone will always have an opinion. But yours is the only one that matters. You'd be better off if you cared less about the noise.

Some say Zell could predict the future. He started from 0. Made billions doing the impossible. And is arguably the greatest real estate investor of our lifetime. Check this clip from 2 years ago on the USD. He called it.

Everyone always talks about Munger, Buffett, Lynch. All greats. But Zell is my favorite investor of all time. I try to go by his investing principles, but I'm not sure I'll ever be this cool. Here he is smoking a heater and riding a motorcycle with his group “Zell’s angels.”

Sadly, he passed away in May of last year. But I hope you can learn a thing or two from Mr. Zell. I sure have. If contrarian investing is your thing, follow me @Codie_Sanchez. Feel free to share:

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My biggest regret to this day is, not driving to downtown Chicago where his office was (live 35 min away) and walking in and asking if a young businessman like me could pick his brain. I thought about it so many times but just thought it be weird. Now I regret never even trying.