Billionaire Behaviours & Habits You Can Copy to be 10x More Successful
Common billionaire habits you can easily mimic in order to improve your life.
The simple truth is, we all want to be rich and successful, and yet few of us know how to do it.
Some of us want the money, others want the fame, but we all want the freedom. The freedom to do what we want, when we want.
Another way to look at is, we want to be rich because we want to use our time how we want. Whether that time is spent partying, with our families, helping others or reading, that’s really up to us!
So the question is… How can we get rich and successful?
I believe a good place to start would be to look at those at the top, the billionaires, and pay attention to what their behaviours and habits are.
Lucky for you, I’ve been studying the behaviours and habits of billionaires for years.
So, read carefully.
Take risks
You’re probably sick of hearing this, but… you will never become very rich if you don’t take risks. Simple as that.
Nearly all billionaires (some inherited their wealth) took a risk so large, that most people told them they would fail. They took risks that could have led them to lose everything.
It’s scary, but unfortunately, you need to take great risks to get great rewards.
Think of the risks Elon Musk took with Tesla, they were so close to going under.
Another great example is Richard Branson with Virgin Airways. He took a massive risk starting the airline and almost lost it all before it even started because a bird flew into the engine of his first plane.
The right risks seem crazy to some, but make sense to you.
That’s why it’s so important to be self-aware of your strengths and improve your ability to make decisions, so you know which risks to take.
Focus on important decisions
In a recent article, I talked about the power of making good decisions. Your life is a series of decisions, and if you can improve the quality of your decisions, you will improve your life.
Billionaires are faced with extremely important decisions where the outcome will not only affect them but also their employees.
Jeff Bezos takes decision-making very seriously. When he was CEO of Amazon, his goal was to make only 3 good decisions per day. Jeff would also block out a specific hour each day when he felt his ability to make decisions was the best, and make those 3 decisions in that time span.
Billionaires like Mark Zuckerberg and Steve Jobs would go as far as wearing the same colour shirt (Steve with his famous black turtle neck) every day so they wouldn’t need to use their brainpower on less important decisions.
You make 35,000 decisions every day. Just imagine where your life would be if you became 5% better at making decisions.
Compound interest applies to decisions too.
Don’t make excuses
Things go wrong in life no matter what we do, that is just a fact. What you do when things go wrong is what matters most.
Billionaires accept their mistakes, learn from them, and move on.
They don’t sit around making excuses (Trump is an exception) as to why they screwed up or blame others for their mistakes. That’s not how you progress.
To progress in life, you have to learn from your mistakes.
So, stop making excuses, own your mistakes, and keep moving.
Move quickly, and execute effectively
How often have you looked at an app that just came out, or some hot new product and said, “I had that idea first”.
Ideas don’t mean anything unless you do something with them.
Billionaires move quickly.
If you want to make serious money, you have to be the first to an idea, and if you’re not first, you better execute the idea better than the one who is first.
Elon Musk wasn’t the first guy to come up with an electric car, but he was the first to execute successfully to ensure Tesla could excel and be the first American car company to go public since Ford in 1956.
His execution of Tesla created the electric car market as we know it today.
When you come up with an idea or find a new opportunity, act quickly and execute effectively.
Let your creativity flourish
Most billionaires earned their fortune because they came up with a creative idea or a creative way to grow an existing idea that people around the world loved.
Mark Zuckerberg built the world’s largest social network.
Jack Ma created an online marketplace for exporters.
Jeff Bezos created the online “everything store”.
You could find a way in which every billionaire has shown exceptional creativity at one point or another.
So, find ways to work on your “creativity muscle”.
There are so many ways, but for me personally, I like playing guitar, writing, and coming up with random marketing ideas.
Wake up early
You’re probably going to hate this one, but waking up early is an extremely common habit among billionaires.
Jeff Bezos - 5 a.m.
Warren Buffett - 6:45 a.m.
Tim Cook (Apple CEO) - 3:45 a.m.
I could go on, however, I don’t want to bore you with a big list showing you that nearly every billionaire wakes up before 7 a.m.
It should be noted that they all go to bed at drastically different times. Some of them go to sleep at 2 a.m., whereas others go to sleep at 8 p.m.
Most health experts would recommend getting a 7-8 hour sleep… That’s for a different article though.
Billionaires wake up early because they are more productive in the early hours. On top of that, they can get the day started before everyone else.
So, wake up early!
Have a clear vision
It’s very common among billionaires to have a clear vision of where they are headed. While the vision is clear, their journey often takes them in a different direction.
That doesn’t matter though.
What matters is that you want to pick up momentum in any direction. You can always pivot later when you learn more, receive new information or have a change of heart.
Without a clear vision, you won’t know what to do, and you will quite likely lack the motivation to start in the first place.
Along the way, people will tell you you’re wrong, they will tell you you’re going to fail, and they’re going to give you 100 reasons why you should quit.
If you don’t have that vision, you will likely listen to them.
Billionaire founder of Bridgewater Associates, Ray Dalio, listed having a vision as the #1 most common trait amongst successful people.
Never stop learning
One of the most important behaviours of billionaires is that they are consistently learning. You must remain a student of the world or you will fall behind quickly.
Elon Musk credits learning how to build rockets with reading books
Warren Buffett spends 80% of his day reading
Mark Zuckerberg aims to read a book a week
Mark Cuban spends 3 hours a day reading
Bill Gates reads a book a week
“One of the most damaging and widespread social beliefs is the idea that most adults are incapable of learning new skills.” - Naval Ravikant
Many people believe that after you graduate school, you can stop learning and that there is no longer a point. They could not be more wrong.
Bonus: hallucinogens
This one is just for the fun of it because I don’t want to encourage anyone to do anything illegal, but read this quote by Tim Ferriss:
“The billionaires I know almost without exception use hallucinogens on a regular basis,"
To give you more context, he said this in a podcast and was referring to magic mushrooms.
Although there are still many studies being done, and nothing can be said conclusively yet, especially since they are illegal… magic mushrooms are often said to open your mind, enhance your creativity, and even give you life-changing realizations.
If you read the above behaviours and habits of billionaires, it’s easy to see why if they do indeed have those effects, why billionaires would take them regularly.
Perhaps we could look at it as the mushrooms enhancing the already positive behaviours that billionaires possess.
Closing Remarks
Not everyone wants to be a billionaire, but everyone wants to be successful in their own way.
For some people that means money, and for others that means having a comfortable, happy life, with their family.
Regardless of what success is to you, it is safe to say that billionaires have excelled at their craft and that we can learn from them.
By adopting these behaviours and habits into your life, you are sure to have a better chance of achieving your version of success.
Thanks for reading
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