Here's why Warren Buffett, Oprah Winfrey, and Bill Gates love to read

In a recent LinkedIn post, Andrew Collins, CEO of Mailman Group, explored the commonality between Warren Buffett, Oprah Winfrey, Bill Gates, and other successful people: they all read, a lot.

Collins highlights what three powerful billionaires have said about reading:

Investor Warren Buffett estimates that 80 per cent of his working day is dedicated to reading and reflecting. He is famously quoted as saying, “I just sit in my office and read all day.”

Media giant Oprah Winfrey began reading as a toddler and never stopped: “Books were my pass to personal freedom. I learned to read at age three, and soon discovered there was a whole world to conquer that went beyond our farm in Mississippi.”

Co-founder of Microsoft, Bill Gates, credits his success to books: “I really had a lot of dreams when I was a kid, and I think a great deal of that grew out of the fact that I had a chance to read a lot.”

Here are Collins’s three key benefits of reading:

1. It drives you to emulate other successful people. “By reading a lot about someone you admire you’re exposed to their experiences, influences, and success,” Collins says.

2. It sparks ideas.“The more you read, the more your mind is mapping, connecting and solving problems.”

3. It helps you relax. “Reading is a great way to relax the mind, dive deep into a subject and really learn,” says Collins.