Studying
the mistakes of others allows you to see many of the mistakes to
avoid in life in advance.
Charlie
Crowhurst/Getty Images for Ascot Racecourse
In my Rich Habits Study, I
identified 334 data points on the habits, thinking and traits of
361 people.
I found one set of data points very interesting: 68% of the 177
self-made millionaires in my study read biographies
of other successful people, while 91% of “poor” people —
those with less than $35,000 in annual gross income and less than
$5,000 in liquid assets — did not read biographies of other
successful people.
Why was this important, I wondered?
After some thought, the answer became
obvious: History is the study of other people’s
mistakes. What better way to avoid
mistakes than to read about the mistakes of other notable,
historical figures so you can see those mistakes in advance of
making them yourself?
When you read
biographies of other successful people, you become a student
of their mistakes.
Why does this matter?
Wealth and success are typically built upon a foundation of
mistakes. The
more mistakes you make, the more you learn what works and
what doesn’t work. This is growth.
The more you grow, the stronger your foundation. The stronger
your foundation, the greater your chance for wealth and success.
Making mistakes, however, is very costly. The costs are time
and money.
Those biography-reading, self-made millionaires were smart. They
decided it would be less costly to learn from the mistakes of
others, saving themselves time and money.
Studying other successful people is, therefore, one of the cost
efficient shortcuts to creating success and
building wealth. Studying the mistakes of others allows you
to see many of the mistakes to avoid in life in advance.
When you become a student of other successful people, you are
able to anticipate mistakes in advance of making them. Avoiding
mistakes is critical to success. Too many mistakes and you can
run out of money, resulting in failure. Individuals who make
the fewest mistakes, therefore, save time and money, which
keeps them in the game. Since success takes a long time — in
fact, my study found the
average time it took for a self-made millionaire to get rich
was 32 years — the key is to stay in the game
as long as you can.
Everyone who is serious about pursuing success should be reading
biographies of other successful people.
Source: Business Insider