Did you know that Warren Buffet, one of the richest men on the planet, reads for 8 hours a day?
When he first started in his career, he read 600-1,000 pages a day (seriously).
He’s 84 years old now and he says he’s still trying to strip away his ignorance one page at a time.<===What a badass attitude…I wonder if it’s helped him become wealthy…
[Click here for a list of business/wealth books Warren Buffet Recommends].
You can apply his method of getting a little smarter every day to any area of your life that you care about.
There’s an infinite amount of ignorance we can strip away, and reading great books as practice might be the best way to do it.
If you think you don’t have time to read, I can guarantee there are people MUCH busier than you who make time to read because it’s so important.
A mentor of mine told me that the only real difference he sees between his rich and poor friends is that the rich ones read A LOT more (truth).
Reading is important, and reading strategically from the best possible sources is even better.
If I was dying and had to choose just 5 books to pass along to my (hypothetical) children, I would give them the following (click on any of the book titles to watch a YouTube video I made for you with some quick, actionable takeaways from that book):
1. Psycho-Cybernetics – Dr. Maxwell Maltz
Self-image is the most important lever for personal growth, so I would ask my kids to read this one once a year.
2. The Richest Man in Babylon – Samuel Clason
This is a great book about real wealth creation. It’s written in story form, so the lessons are easily absorbed, even for people who don’t enjoy numbers.
Everyone should read this book at least once. My children should read it once a year because I love them. 🙂
3. The Birth and Death of Meaning – Ernest Becker
As Tony Robbins says, “Nothing has any meaning except the meaning we give it.”
We each create the meaning of our own lives. It’s an active, creative process, not something we find “out there.”
This book helps explain man’s search for meaning. I would want my kids to know why people do what they do on small and large scales; this book is a great start.
4. The Passion Test – Janet and Chris Attwood
While this book isn’t “targeted” to men in the way it’s written, the PROCESS in this book is amazing and really works.
I would want my kids to live meaningful, passionate lives of purpose, so this book is a must.
5. The Genius in All of Us – David Shenk
I would want my children to have a growth mindset and to know that almost everything we think of as “innate talent” can actually be learned.
This book will show them how to become great at any endeavor they choose.
If you liked Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell, you’ll love this one.
Another thing I’d ask my children to do is to read biographies of their heroes.
It’s ONE OF MY MOST IMPORTANT HABITS.
Reading biographies has tons of benefits:
1. It’s a way to “spend time” around high-level people and let them influence you. You become more badass by “osmosis.” You download better beliefs and thoughts.
2. You see that success is ALWAYS a process.
3. You see that ALL of your heroes are human and have flaws, which means you can be great too.
4. You adopt a LONG-TERM view, which benefits everything you do and your mental health.
5. You learn so much about history, politics, human behavior, success, culture, etc. in STORY form, so you retain what you learn more easily than when you read “how-to” books (and I write “how-to” books haha).
You will ALWAYS find me reading a biography in addition to anything else I’m reading. It’s that important to me.
For example, right now I’m reading Napoleon: A Life by Andrew Roberts.
It’s an excellent book and I can’t even tell you how much awesome stuff I’m learning.
Here are some of my absolute favorite biographies so far:
Losing My Virginity by Richard Branson
Benjamin Franklin: An American Life by Walter Isaacson
Julius Caesar by Philip Freeman (great writer)
Alexander the Great by Philip Freeman
Catherine the Great: Portrait of a Woman by Robert K. Massie
Peter the Great: His Life and World also by Robert K. Massie
Washington: A Life by Ron Chernow
Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow
Michael Jordan: The Life by Roland Lazenby
…Speaking of reading, Catherine the Great (before she was Catherine the Great) was so eager to learn everything she could as a young woman that she once spent so much time reading barefoot in a cold room that she actually got really sick and almost died <===my kind of woman! =)
She was fairly progressive for her time at the beginning of her reign, but maybe not so great toward the end. I’ll let you be the judge…
Here are 12 more books I would strongly recommend:
The Charisma Myth by Olivia Fox Cabane
Social by Matthew D. Lieberman
Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell
Blink by Malcolm Gladwell
Brain Rules by John Medina
The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins
The Third Chimpanzee by Jared Diamond
Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond
How Pleasure Works by Paul Bloom
A Billion Wicked Thoughts by Ogi Ogas and Sai Gaddam
War of Art by Steven Pressfield
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll <===Almost all of life’s lessons can be learned from this book and The Wizard of Oz…
That should get you started.
When you finish all of these by the end of the month, let me know and I’ll recommend some more. =)
Whatever your reading habits are right now, I challenge you to add just 5 more pages a day starting now.
It will have a HUGE effect on you over time.
I’m going to go enjoy my Napoleon biography for a bit now…
