If you want to get rich, start by studying the
people who have already done so.
“The only person who can teach you how to think
like a millionaire is a millionaire,” writes Steve Siebold in his book, “How Rich People Think.”
The same could be said about billionaires.
Below, we’ve rounded up 11 habits of self-made
billionaires. You may notice that none of them require dramatic life changes —
a few tweaks here and there to your daily routine could result in huge gains.
They meditate
Science says that
meditation has a number of mental and physical health
benefits, from improving memory to boosting the immune system.
Ray Dalio, founder of
Bridgewater Associates, told The
Huffington Post, “Meditation, more than anything in my life, was the
biggest ingredient of whatever success I’ve had.”
Dalio is not alone. Jack Dorsey, CEO of
both Twitter and Square, and media mogul Oprah Winfrey say that they practice meditation daily.
They’re charitable
“The world class set
their sights on impacting the world with their wealth,” Siebold writes. “Some
do it through philanthropy, others through business or various financial
vehicles.”
A handful of
billionaires have taken to philanthropy, including founder and CEO of Bloomberg
Media Michael Bloomberg, who has donated $3 billion over
his lifetime.
And then
there’s the Giving Pledge, which Warren Buffett and Bill and
Melinda Gates created in order to invite the world’s wealthiest people
to pledge more than half of their wealth to charitable causes either
during their lives or in their wills. Some have even pledged to give away more than 99% of
their fortunes.
They wake up early
There may be some truth
behind the age-old adage, the early bird get the worm.
The wealthiest people tend to
be early risers. Take Jack Dorsey, who wakes up at 5:00 a.m. to
meditate and work out. Or Richard Branson, founder of the Virgin
Group, who wakes up at 5:45 a.m. to exercise before starting his work day.
Branson and Dorsey
aren’t the only successful people who wake up
before the sun. In his five-year study of rich people, author Thomas C. Corley found that nearly 50% of them woke up at least
three hours before their workday actually began.
They stick to routines
Take John Paul DeJoria,
cofounder of Patron tequila and Paul Mitchell hair products, who starts every day with five
minutes of quiet reflection.
“Doesn’t matter where
I’m at, which home I’m in, or what hotel room I’m visiting,” he says. “The very
second I wake up, I stay in bed for about five minutes and just be.”
They live below their means
Just because they have
billions in the bank doesn’t mean they have to indulge in overspending — in
fact, some of the world’s wealthiest people choose to live frugally.
As Murray Newlands wrote
at Entrepreneur, “Sam Walton, the founder of Wal-Mart, famously
drove around in a 1979 Ford F150 pickup truck … Mark Zuckerberg owns a modest
$30,000 Acura TSX entry-level sedan … Bill Gates was known to fly commercial
for years.”
Then there’s legendary
investor Warren Buffett, who is notably down to earth — he still lives in the same $31,500 home, and
chooses a flip phone over a smart phone.
They pursue their passion
“You’ve got to find what
you love,” Apple cofounder Steve Jobs said during his 2005 commencement address to the graduates of Stanford University. “The
only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet,
keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when
you find it.”
Jobs isn’t the first to
emphasize the importance of pursuing your passion. Author Napoleon Hill, who
studied over 500 incredibly rich people in the early 20th century, wrote in his
bestseller, “Think and Grow Rich“: “No
man can succeed in a line of endeavor which he does not like.”
They read
Investing legend Warren Buffett reportedly
spends about 80% of his day reading, and continues to include book
recommendations in his annual shareholder letters.
In 2015, Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg resolved to read a book every two weeks
… Media mogul Oprah Winfrey selects a book every month for readers to
discuss online as part of “Oprah’s Book Club 2.0,”
and when tech billionaire Elon Musk is
asked how he learned to build rockets, he reportedly answers, “I read books.”
They develop multiple streams of income
The richest people focus on
earning — so it comes as no
surprise that they develop additional streams of income.
Richard Branson, the
billionaire chair of the Virgin Group, epitomizes this habit, Corley
explains in “Change Your Habits, Change Your
Life.” Branson has overseen about 500 companies and his
brand is on somewhere between 200 and 300 of them.
Branson “puts the rich
habit of having multiple streams of income on steroids,” Corley
writes. “His desire to expand the Virgin brand is really a desire to
expand his streams of income. Branson learned very early on that this rich
habit creates the most wealth.”
They’re self-employed
Along the same lines,
billionaires tend to be their own bosses. They’re typically self-employed and determine the size of their own
paycheck.
Mark Zuckerberg has been
working for himself since age 19, when he first launched Facebook
as a Harvard sophomore in 2004. Snapchat CEO Evan Spiegel, who is the youngest billionaire in the
world, had a similar path — he created the popular
photo-sharing app with two of his former Stanford classmates and has been
his own boss ever since.
“It’s not that there
aren’t world-class performers who punch a time clock for a paycheck, but for
most this is the slowest path to prosperity, promoted as the safest,” says self-made millionaire Steve Siebold, who has
also studied over 1,200 wealthy individuals. “The great ones know
self-employment is the fastest road to wealth.”
They exercise
Highly successful people
don’t just push themselves in the office — they push themselves physically,
outside of the office.
Mark Cuban, “Shark Tank”
investor and owner of the Dallas Mavericks, does cardio for at least an hour,
six to seven days a week, he told The Dallas Morning News.
Branson credits exercise for giving him at least four additional hours of
productivity each day. Science concurs: Working out can boost your memory,
concentration, and mental sharpness.
They hang out with other successful people
The wealthiest people
like to stand next to the smartest person in the room, notes author and podcast host
James Altucher: “Harold Ramis did it (Bill Murray). Steve Jobs did
it (Steve Wozniak). Craig Silverstein did it (Who? Larry Page). Kanye West did
it (Jay-Z).”
After all, “In most
cases, your net worth mirrors the level of your closest friends,” Siebold explains.
