If you been around this community long enough and read enough posts/articles, you get a bunch of tips on how you can work, hack, earn, side-hustle, or invest your way to Financial Independence. I’ve read a good number of these articles, and can tell you, most are telling you the absolute truth. This is not rocket science, people. But there is a knack to it, and if you are reading this stuff, you are on your way to doing it right. Not just because I write some of this stuff (which should be enough, right?), but because one of the best documented habits of the rich is that they read, a lot.
To Be Like Warren, Elon, Jack or Mark – You’ve Got to Read More Stuff
I read this article the other day in one of the financial magazines I read, which outlines the reading habits of people who are, for the most part, already where you ultimately want to be. Not surprisingly, they read more than the average person. Warren Buffett reads 5-6 hours per day of newspapers, company reports as well as biographies and some fiction as well (which is on the extreme end of the spectrum). The author says that the average millionaire reads two books per month. The key for most of these very successful people is that they want to keep learning new things, keep engaging their brains in ways that might stimulate a new idea or allow them to see the world in a way they did not do before. Thinking differently than the masses is the key to pretty much everything that is good.
If you are like most folks you are asking yourself how you could be expected to add more reading on top of all of the other things clamoring for your attention. Well, there is no easy answer to that. I know you probably already work hard and that family time is at a premium, and there is the lawn to mow and the dog to walk, but trust me, it can be done. It has to be done, if all of the data is to be believed. One of the most common things the wealthy have in common is their voracious reading appetite. And you want to be among their ranks, right?
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Develop a System to Read More Books, Magazines, Newspapers, and Blogs
As I’ve mentioned before, I’m a lawyer, and so I sell myself an hour at a time. When that is your business model, it changes the way you think. I’ve been a big reader all my life, and so when I noticed I was reading less for pleasure than I used to, I had to develop a system to help me overcome that.
Related Post: Create a System, Not a Goal
Here’s what I do: I spend about 30 minutes a day commuting to and from work. Driving to and from work each day, I listen to a book from Audible. Most of the books I listen to run about 10 hours (from 8-12) so, over the 22 days per month I am driving to work and back, I listen to about one book. I also listen to a book or podcast or read during my lunch hour and when I need a break from renting myself out (I saw that smirk on your face). I keep a book at work that I’m always reading, and one on my kindle app that I’m always reading. So I keep 3 different books going at all times (usually in different genres, or it gets confusing). I average about 20 recorded books per year (either from Audible, where I have a subscription, or the public library which has a remarkably good collection they will lend out for free for 2 weeks at a time). I add about 6 read books per year on top of that between work and before bed.
This system has allowed me to recover some of the pleasure I had in reading before reading for work became such a huge part of my life and has really added to my knowledge base and understanding of the world around me.
It Really Doesn’t Matter What You Read, Just Read More of it
But it is not all about reading books. Any reading is good reading if it holds your interest and enlightens you. In addition to books, I try to read the Wall Street Journal every day and also keep up with a number of bloggers in the FIRE community. The key is to keep your mind sharp and to keep learning new things.
What do you like to read? What stimulates your mind?
