Here’s What Most Financially Successful People Have in Common—And it’s Not Money

What do many of the world’s millionaires have in common? Apart from money, it turns out it’s a love for reading. But it’s not just any novels, financially successful people read nonfiction books to learn.

For his best-selling book, Change Your Habits, Change Your Life, Tom Corley surveyed 233 financially successful people, 177 of whom were self-made millionaires, to see what they do differently. Corley found that among other daily habits, like exercise and goal setting, many of them said that they read every single day. In fact, 88% of those surveyed said they read for 30 minutes or more each day.

The people in Corley’s survey aren’t alone, either. From Bill Gates to Oprah Winfrey, Elon Musk to Arianna Huffington, many successful people credit reading as part of their success. Billionaire investor Warren Buffett said he read 500 pages every day to build his knowledge. His business partner and another billionaire top investor, Charlie Munger, once said:

“I constantly see people rise in life who are not the smartest, sometimes not even the most diligent, but they are learning machines. They go to bed every night a little wiser than they were when they got up.”

But, finding time to read isn’t always easy. That’s where Blinkist comes in.

LtoR: The Blinkist founders: Niklas Jansen, Tobi Balling and Holger Seim. Not pictured: Sebastian Klein

Blinkist is an app that shares the key insights of nonfiction books in 15-minute reads and listens. There are 4,500 titles to choose from across 27 categories including personal development, entrepreneurship, and management and leadership.

The app was created in 2012 by four friends who love to read and learn, but they struggled to find time for it in their busy schedules. They discovered there was a faster way to access the knowledge in nonfiction books by sharing the core messages in 15-minute explainers. The friends created the Blinkist app to do just that.

Fast forward to 2021, and 16 million people now use the app to fit learning into their daily life. Here’s how it works.

A Book Explained in 15 Minutes

Instead of the days or sometimes weeks it can take to read a book cover to cover, the Blinkist team gathers the most important points and shares these in a bite-sized explainer. In just 15 minutes, you can get the key takeaways and upgrade your knowledge in almost any subject.

What’s more, each explainer includes anecdotes and real-life examples to make the content as memorable as possible. This means that even just 15 minutes on the app can add up to huge gains in knowledge and personal development can be a part of even the busiest of days.

Learn from the world’s best nonfiction books in 15 minutes

Learning on the Go

Corley’s survey found that 63% of the wealthy people he researched listened to educational audiobooks during their commute to work. You can even take advantage of pockets of downtime like this with the Blinkist’s audio content.

Every explainer on the app is available to listen to, as well as read, so you can do your daily reading while working out, doing chores or traveling from A to B.

“Time is everything. It’s all we really have. Blinkist is useful because reading is powerful. It helps me to learn every day.” — Ian Warner, Olympic Athlete and FIXT Founder

Endless Learning Opportunities

Whether they’re brushing up on skills for work or learning something new about the world, the wealthy people in Corley’s survey dedicated their reading time to a range of nonfiction books. In fact, 58% read biographies of famous successful people, 51% read history books and 55% read self-help books.

You can do this too by diving into Blinkist’s library of 4,500 books. There are books for work with topics such as leadership, entrepreneurship and productivity, and books for your personal life, such as those about relationships, nutrition and mindfulness. Plus, 70 new titles are added to the app each month, including the latest bestsellers and trending titles, so there’s always something new to learn day after day.

Explore 4,500 titles across 27 categories

One of the World’s Best Apps

Blinkist has a loyal fanbase of 16 million users from around the world, all of whom love to learn. Beyond its users, the app is loved by big names like The Guardian, Forbes and the New York Times. Apple even named it one of the top 20 apps for lifelong learning, and it’s won awards from the likes of Google and the UN. Even Apple CEO, Tim Cook, is a fan.

“With Blinkist you can boost your knowledge and gain new perspectives so that you can be a better professional, a better partner, or a better you.” – The United Nations

Want to join the millionaires in making learning a daily habit? Download the Blinkist app to get started.