When I opened my email today and saw this, I thought it might be a come-on for a self-improvement course. But the source is “The Brief” daily news summary from Time magazine for July 29, 2016 and it sounds worth repeating.
The Five-Hour Rule is credited to Benjamin Franklin’s practice of investing about an hour a day each weekday, or five hours a week, to learning. Specifically, Franklin would wake up early to read and write (which would never work for me), set personal-growth goals and track results, use his ideas as the basis for experimentation, create clubs for like-minded people, and spend time both mornings and evenings for reflection.
It’s really a good idea. Warren Buffett reportedly spends five to six hours a day reading newspapers and corporate reports, Bill Gates reads 50 books a year, and Oprah Winfrey credits books with much of her success, among others. Not that I’m in this category, but I usually spend about an hour a day reading newspapers and magazines, and fit in an occasional book (America’s Bank: The Epic Struggle to Create the Federal Reserve by Roger Lowenstein was pretty instructive). The bottom line is the smartest and most successful people usually are life-long and consistent learners.
If this sounds like a good idea to you, tips to get started and recommended books are in the complete article at http://motto.time.com/4401683/five-hour-rule-success/?xid=newsletter-brief .
“The Brief” posting was in partnership with Inc., which offers advice and insights to entrepreneurs and business owners. The article was originally published at Inc.com.