Looking at self-made millionaires, many people wonder: how can I become like them?
Steve Siebold (professional athlete, speaker, sales/business consultant) interviewed over 1,200 of the world’s wealthiest people, and in his results, he noticed somethings that might get you closer to an answer.
After this extensive interviewing, Siebold found that practically all the rich people he interviewed had one pastime in common: self-education through reading.
Speaking on the reading habits of the rich and successful, Siebold stated, “Walk into a wealthy person’s home and one of the first things you’ll see is an extensive library of books they’ve used to educate themselves on how to become more successful,” Comparing these habits to what most people of a middle-class background read, Siebold claimed, “The middle class reads novels, tabloids, and entertainment magazines.”
What Siebold has discovered is that successful people are more concerned with education than they are with entertainment. While taking a break to kick back and enjoy yourself is important from time to time, the truly successful know the value of a constantly expanding mind.
Take a concrete example of this phenomenon for instance. Warren Buffet estimates that a full 80% of his day is dedicated to reading.
Thomas Corley, author of the book, “Rich Habits: The Daily Success Habits of Wealthy Individuals,” also presents some interesting stats on the habit of successful individuals. For example, did you know that 67% of rich people watch no more than one hour of television per day, while only 23% of not-so-wealthy people do the same? Television can be useful, but rich people limit watching TV and prefer to read instead.
Siebold also mentions that formal education is not as important as dedicated self-teaching when it comes to success and riches. In fact, many uber successful people have little to no formal education.
Speaking on this, Siebold said, “The masses are convinced that master’s degrees and doctorates are the way to wealth, mostly because they are trapped in the linear line of thought that holds them back from higher levels of consciousness, the wealthy aren’t interested in the means, only the end.”
You can read more about this and 20 other ways rich people think differently here.