Some of the world’s highest achievers and most successful people tend to have one thing in common: they read. In fact, they are avid readers. In this post, we’ve gathered the reading habits of some of the most successful people we know. So here we go!
Warren Buffet
Warren Buffet, American Business Magnate, Investor, Philanthropist, and Chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, spends about 5 to 6 hours a day reading five different newspapers. When asked about the key to success he said: “Read 500 pages…every day. That’s how knowledge works. It builds up, like compound interest. All of you can do it, but I guarantee not many of you will do it.” He still spends about 80% of his day reading.
Warren Buffet believes the key to success is the willingness to continuously learn something new. In his own words “I constantly see people rise in life who are not the smartest, sometimes not even the most diligent, but they are learning machines. They go to bed every night a little wiser than they were when they got up and boy does that help, particularly when you have a long run ahead of you.” What better way to learn something new every day than reading?
Bill Gates
Bill Gates, American business magnate, investor, author, philanthropist, humanitarian, and principal founder of the Microsoft Corporation, reads about 50 books a year! That’s one book per week! When asked during an interview if reading had been essential to his success, he responded: “Absolutely. You don’t really start getting old until you stop learning. Every book teaches me something new or helps me see things differently. I was lucky to have parents who encouraged me to read. Reading fuels a sense of curiosity about the world, which I think helped drive me forward in my career and in the work that I do now with my foundation.”
Elon Musk
Tech Entrepreneur and Chairman and CEO of Tesla, Elon Musk, also credit a great deal of his success to reading. Growing up, he read science fiction novels for up to 10 hours each day. He also credit his extensive knowledge about rockets to his love for books. He once said “I was raised by Books”.
Oprah Winfrey
Oprah Winfrey, American media proprietor, talk show host, actress, producer, and philanthropist is also an avid reader! In her acceptance speech for the 2004 United Nations Humanitarian Awards, she said that books allowed her to see a world beyond the front porch of her grandmother’s shotgun house. She also added that books gave her the power to see possibilities beyond what was allowed at the time. She even has a book club (Oprah’s book club); and for many years, has been advising her viewers’ reading habits.
Mark Zuckerberg
And last but not least, Mark Zuckerberg, Chairman and CEO of Facebook. In 2015, he invited the world to join him in his reading adventure! His goal was to read a book every 2 weeks. He stated: “Books allow you to fully explore a topic and immerse yourself in a deeper way than most media today“.
The list goes on, but we wanted to highlight these 5. Whether they are people who inspire us or not, we all agree on one thing: they are some of the most successful people in this world. They all recognize that reading contributed to some extent to making them who they are today. Hopes this gives us all a little more motivation in our reading journey!
Until next time…