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Reading a lot - is this really the #1 trait of rich people?

Nice_home

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I came across this article and various other similar articles that claim "reading" is the most important habit for people who have become wealthy. If you have found success in business, do you find this to be true? Is there a habit that's been more important to you than reading? Here is the article:


Thanks in advance!
 
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Dan_Cardone

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I would say the number one most important habit that all successful people have in common is that they take massive action.

But yes, they tend to read a lot too.
 

Sander

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I would say the number one most important habit that all successful people have in common is that they take massive action.

But yes, they tend to read a lot too.

And provide massive value
 

RazorCut

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I would say the most important habit is consistent progress towards a set goal.

You can have all the knowledge in the world but if you don’t do anything with it then that knowledge is pointless.
 
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aminmo

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Just because a lot of rich people read doesn't necessarily mean reading will make you rich.

Does reading help? It can, but it really depends on WHAT you read. There's a lot of crap information out there, so it's possible reading may actually have a NEGATIVE effect.

That said, if you can find the right books and information that's been written by the right people, then reading can help MASSIVELY. Heck, this whole forum is basically based off one of the greatest business books I've personally ever read, and it literally changed my life for the better (it got me off my a$$ and made me take action towards my goals/dreams).
 

Ismail941

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@ChrisV - It reminds me the link you posted a couple of weeks
That was awesome!
 
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MoneyHacker

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Not necessarily it has to be reading, but any sources of information. Just take action and learn along the way. Don't learn or read too much, it's an action faker.
 
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GPM

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Those who can read but choose not to have no advantage over those who cannot read.

Reading will not make you successful in itself, but imagine how much more knowledgeable on any possible subject you can become by simply reading on a regular basis.
 

mdmetelus

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Those who can read but choose not to have no advantage over those who cannot read.

Reading will not make you successful in itself, but imagine how much more knowledgeable on any possible subject you can become by simply reading on a regular basis.

I agree with your sentiments, reading allows you to benefit from years of wisdom, knowledge, and experience that other accomplished people have to offer, but if you take no action what value could reading have for you...?
 

Dan_Fastlane

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the key difference is also that they don't read for entertainment and more for knowledge, don't forget that. I think they don't indulge much harry potter or twilight lol.

At all a good habit. Good for your Brain.
 

ChrisV

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I came across this article and various other similar articles that claim "reading" is the most important habit for people who have become wealthy. If you have found success in business, do you find this to be true? Is there a habit that's been more important to you than reading? Here is the article:


Thanks in advance!
I'm not sure about the #1 trait of the wealthy, but yes, according to data and polls, wealthy people do read more.

More traits of the wealthy:

 
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MythOfSisyphus

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I get the correlation... reading shows a willingness or, more importantly, a desire to learn. That's a massive part of being successful when it comes to accumulating wealth in my opinion.

Obviously taking action, is just as, if not more important than reading/learning, but that's a little more difficult to boil down into one particular trait.

I never used to read at all until I was in my late 20s (in my late 30s now) and since then I go through about a book a week. It's helped me massively in every area of my life and the only other thing that's helped me just as much, if not more, is another habit commonly attributed to successful people... meditation.
 

babyballer

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I came across this article and various other similar articles that claim "reading" is the most important habit for people who have become wealthy. If you have found success in business, do you find this to be true? Is there a habit that's been more important to you than reading? Here is the article:


Thanks in advance!

No it isnt. It is the speed of implementation. Look it up.
 
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Ocean Man

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Read a book that you think will benefit or improve an area of your or someone’s life and then take what you learned from that book and implement it immediately.

Reading for the sake of reason is good, but it’s not as effective as reading and then acting.

Don’t just read TMFL. Read it and take action.
 

mdmetelus

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No it isnt. It is the speed of implementation. Look it up.
Excellent point!
"You're either first of you're last," Like Ricky Bobby said. If you're not first, you loose the premium value associated with the first mover advantage, and the opportunity to take all of the market share in a need industry or niche.

But to get back to the main topic; Upon further reflection I don't think there can ever be only "one best/ most important habit." I've always looked at success as stacking a (large) group of high end habits over time to achieve a goal or improve at any specific endeavor. That's the only way I was able to achieved success at school, sports or anything else that takes time, skill, and consistent action to improve. There are far to many variables for any one thing to be the reason for financial success, and building wealth. I think the more high end habits one cultivates the higher ones probability of getting to any set goal.

One person could genuinely attribute the majority of their wealth/success to a habit that another equally successful person does not have. Who would be right in that case? Would it even matter? I also don't think any 2 stories can't be identical so the habits necessary for one person to build with may be at variance with what another person, in another time frame, or another industry needs to do to great enough value to receive a fortune in return.
 

Dan_Cardone

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In my experience, successful people spend more time THINKING than unsuccessful people.

Most of the best business people I know will spend a lot of time secluding themselves, thinking critically about their business. They spend time clearly defining their goals and creating a roadmap to achieve them.

Less successful people seem to spend a lot of time taking random actions that haven't been well conceived or thought out.

Action is good, but without thought or planning, it's more likely to push you away from your goals than towards them.
This!

One of the first things I have people do who seek my help is to write out a one year plan. Then break that plan down into four quarterly plans. Then come up with monthly plans. Then weekly plans. Then the weekly task transfer to your daily to do list.

Everyone complains of how much work it is until they get it finsihed and have a set roadmap right in front of them every morning. Makes it super simple (not to be confused with easy) to stay on track to accomplishing your goals.
 
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maverick

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Be curious about the world. How do things work? How can I improve this? Why do we do it this way?

By being curious, you'll want to learn more, understand more and thus you read.
 

babyballer

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This!

One of the first things I have people do who seek my help is to write out a one year plan. Then break that plan down into four quarterly plans. Then come up with monthly plans. Then weekly plans. Then the weekly task transfer to your daily to do list.

Everyone complains of how much work it is until they get it finsihed and have a set roadmap right in front of them every morning. Makes it super simple (not to be confused with easy) to stay on track to accomplishing your goals.

That's interesting. It is different from Scott Adam's "systems not goals" concept.
 

babyballer

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How do you create systems to achieve goals if you don't start with well defined goals?

 
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100ToOne

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Targeted reading imo. Reading to get from A to B.

Try reading and learning Python books and implementing what they teach. It's trash. Because you don't have a point B you want to get to - such as creating a mobile app that connects two people together via chatroom for example. Or simply: "I want to understand more about how the economy works so I can simplify it to myself and my friend".

You should have an end goal before starting, otherwise whatever you read will just be forgotten or won't matter anyway.
 

Rawseed

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I like this thread. Everybody has great points.

To summarize the posts so far:
  1. Read and understand a great book
  2. Think about and process the ideas from that book
  3. Turn those ideas into a goal to provide massive value
  4. Create a broad plan to achieve that goal
  5. Create daily action steps to execute the plan
  6. Take massive action daily to execute those steps
  7. Do this everyday until you're successful or you're dead
 

MoneyHacker

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I don't see why we need to use either only systems or only goals. They are not opposite to each other. Instead we could use both.
 
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MoneyHacker

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I think the real question here is what and how we should do first: Reading vs taking action. If we read too much at first and then take action later, chance will be it's too late, we wasted a lot of time, and we might forget the information we got from the books. If we hurry to take action, chances are we will mess it up and have to read the books and then do it again. It's all about balance, but it's hard to say when it's enough switch between the two, we have to rely on our own experience.
 

Rawseed

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@JScott

Scott Adams' Goal vs Systems is the same concept as Demarco's Event vs. Process.

James Clear discusses this in Atomic Habits
Andy Frisella's Power List is based on this
Hardy's Compound Effect
Maltz's Pyscho-Cybernetics
Many others say the same thing

They're all the same thing.
  1. Set a goal
  2. Create a plan to achieve that goal
  3. Break that plan down into daily action steps
  4. Use the goal for inspiration, but don't focus on it
  5. Put your focus on executing the daily action steps
  6. Fall in love with accomplishing the daily action steps
  7. Accomplish the goal
Love the process, not the destination.
 

JAJT

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It's worth considering that wealthy people have gotten to where they are by consciously making positive and better decisions about what they do and how they do it in many areas of their life.

Reading for the wealthy may very well simply be yet another one of many small choices they made along the way to replace a useless or negative action with a useful and positive one.

Maybe they were watching tv for an hour a day and flipped that to reading. Still using the same time in the day but replacing a useless activity with a useful one.

If an athlete said they eat a pound of veggies a day - would you say that the veggies are how they became an athlete? Or is it more likely that one day they cut out a lot of bullshit that was hurting them and picked up a carrot and went "yeah, this is better"?
 

DustinH

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I would say the number one most important habit that all successful people have in common is that they take massive action.

But yes, they tend to read a lot too.

My vote goes to taking action.

I've read where CEO's read an average of 50 books/year. I think that is a made up stat to sell more business/self-development books. Find 5-7 good books and re-read those every year. Then, write your own book. The best way to learn a topic is to write a book on it or teach a course about it.
 

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