The 3 Things Legends Spend 5 Hours a Week Doing...

By James Mills, Associate Partner, Lighthouse International

Many of us are busy coping with the pressures of day-to-day life; working hard to pay the bills, maintain our relationships whilst also trying to enjoy the free time we have.

It can seem like there is never enough time in the day to get everything done. Legends like Elon Musk, Oprah Winfrey and Bill Gates prioritise something that many of us may struggle to do... they invest in themselves for at least an hour per day to ensure they stay at the top of their game. But what do they do in this time? If we want to learn from them, here are 3 things that we can do in order to accelerate our progress.

1. Legends Love To Read

"Books were my pass to personal freedom." - Oprah Winfrey

Legends not only want to keep up with what's going on around them, they also want to learn from other legends and pioneers. The people who are out there pioneering in their industries and society are those who have invested in learning from other people who've succeeded before them. Oprah Winfrey shares her love of reading with the rest of the world through her book club, and fellow billionaire Mark Cuban invests more than three hours per day in reading.

"Not all readers are leaders, but all leaders are readers."

- Harry Truman (Former US President)

2. Legends Take Time To Reflect

"I schedule between 90 minutes and two hours of these buffers every day (broken down into 30- to 90-minute blocks)... if you don't take the time to think proactively you will increasingly find yourself reacting to your environment rather than influencing it."

- Jeff Weiner, CEO at LinkedIn

With increasingly demanding schedules, we may not always prioritise the time to take stock of where we are. This reflection time doesn't have to be isolating yourself in a room, it can also mean taking the time to discuss important and non-urgent situations, that may prevent problematic situations arising later.

It's also a great way of learning from mistakes - the billionaire investor Ray Dalio will log all of his mistakes on a system that can be accessed by all of his staff.

Bill Gates would also take a couple of so-called 'Think Weeks' to step out of the day-to-day operations of Microsoft to focus purely on the future and the direction of the business.

3. Legends Try New Things

"Although he [Thomas Edison] understood the theories of his day, he found them useless in solving unknown problems."

- Thomas Edison Biography

Legends are consistently pushing boundaries, and through experimentation often stepping into unknown territory. Trying new approaches means mistakes may well be made, and vital lessons will be learnt. Investing a bit of time on a day-to-day basis to test, explore and discover is something we can all do to expand our thinking. This pioneering spirit is summed up by Telsa Motors CEO Elon Musk...

"I'm interested in things that change the world or that affect the future and wondrous, new technology where you see it, and you're like, 'Wow, how did that even happen? How is that possible?'" 

Continual Self-Improvement Is At The Heart of Progress

You may have heard the expression 'work smarter, not harder.' It's a saying that seems to make sense, but can be hard to apply practically. Legends are committed to the practice of life-long learning and continuous improvement as a means of making progress towards their goals. If we feel like we're stuck in a rut and not making the progress we want, then taking the time to invest in ourselves each and every day - is a great way for us to get back on track.

You can read more about this in this Inc. magazine article.

Struggling to find the time to invest in yourself each day? Here's a way that Twitter's billionaire CEO Jack Dorsey takes time for himself.

How To Apply This

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