22 Habits of Elon Musk, Warren Buffet and Other Successful Leaders
Do you share any of the morning, noon or night routines of the most innovative people in the world?
By Bill Schulz • Originally published
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
Mark Zuckerberg wears the same outfit every day.
The Facebook founder and CEO's doesn't wear his daily uniform of a gray hoodie, T-shirt, and jeans out of style. He does it, he has explained, because he doesn't want to waste any brainpower thinking about power suits. "I'm in this really lucky position, where I get to wake up every day and help serve more than a billion people," he said in one interview. "And I feel like I'm not doing my job if I spend any of my energy on things that are silly or frivolous about my life."
Sheryl Sandberg unplugs at night.
The Facebook COO told USA Today that she turns off her phone every night before bed, admitting that is "painful". Her simple goal? A good night's sleep. She does check her email right before turning it off, and as soon as she wakes up.
Jack Dorsey works out his mind and body -- quickly.
The Twitter CEO deals with 18-hour workdays by meditating every day, after rising at 5 am. He follows this by running through the 7-Minute Workout. "I look to build a lot of consistent routines," said a man who puts the “character” in 140 characters. "Same thing every day."
Richard Branson kite surfs in the morning -- sometimes with a naked model on his back.
“Once, a delightful photographer [ Stephane Gautronneau] turned up on the island [of Anagarda] with an even more delightful girlfriend [Denni Parkinson] and asked if I would take her kitesurfing on my back,” explained the Virgin founder of the infamous series of photos that went viral several years ago. “I said I would, and then he asked if I minded if she didn’t have any clothes on. Silly question.” Look we’re not saying this is what made him a billionaire, but we are saying it’s one of the many perks of being a billionaire.
Anna Wintour turns being shy on and off.
The legendary editor of Vogue might be interview-shy but behind closed doors, she's more than comfortable speaking her mind. Said the shades-wearing, fashionista of not being a wallflower: “You can’t be some difficult shy person who is not able to look someone in the face. You have to know how to about your vision, your focus, and what you believe in.”
Benjamin Franklin liked to let it all hang out.
Our oddest founding father was a big believer in what he dubbed “air baths”. Indeed the Philadelphia-based freethinker would open the windows of wherever he was residing at the moment, get naked and then take in what be he believed to be the restorative nature of the resulting airflow.
Jeff Bezos doesn’t skimp on sleep.
This Lex Luthor look-alike has found that fatigue is his personal kryptonite. Said the Amazon admiral in a recent Wall Street Journal interview of his sleep schedule: "I just feel so much better all day long if I've had eight hours.”
Al Capone believed in safety first.
The Chicago gangster’s custom-made Cadillac was completely bulletproof. The tank-on-wheels was eventually seized by the US Treasury Department and later repurposed as Franklin Roosevelt’s personal limousine.
Jack Ma knows the power of doing favors for the right people.
Sure living under a communist flag can be a total drag, but the richest man in China found a way around it when government officials approached his company, Alibaba, to help fix it’s ticket vending system during the country’s annual spring festival. Ma’s crew solved the complicated conundrum, for free, in exchange for the government thugs leaving him alone.
Oprah Winfrey believes modesty is overrated.
The Queen of America gave a commencement speech to Georgia’s Agnes Scott College and addressed the idea of being full of herself: "I used to be afraid of that, [but now]? Yesss, I am. So full."
Steve Jobs sweated the small stuff.
The Apple icon -- and notorious crank -- was so indignant over the fact that the board of directors listed him second to co-founder Steve Wozniak, on their employee badges system, that he bitched and moaned until they finally made him “0” because it came before “one”. PS Zuckerberg stole the gruff genius’s approach to limited wardrobes.
Steve Case surrounds himself with thinkers.
"There's an African proverb I cite in my book [The Third Wave]," the AOL co-founder referenced in a recent interview. "'If you want to go quickly you can go alone; if you want to go far, you must go together.'"
Mark Twain let it go.
The author formerly known as Samuel Clemens was never a big believer in big feuds. Said the humorist: “Anger is an acid that can do more harm to the vessel in which it is stored than to anything on which it is poured.”
Elon Musk gets up on the right side of the bed.
Musk's non-stop work ethic is powered by a combination of curiosity and positivity. He told one interviewer, “If you wake up in the morning and think the future is going to be better, it is a bright day. Otherwise, it’s not.”
Warren Buffet eats whatever the heck he wants.
The Berkshire Hathaway chairman has said of his dietary staples: “I eat like a six-year-old," adding that his chemical makeup is “one-quarter Coca-Cola”. The 86-year-old Oracle Of Omaha often starts his mornings with a bowl of ice cream, followed by large amounts of Utz Potato Stix throughout the day.
P.T. Barnum used big words for big effect.
The 19th-century entertainer believed that loitering visitors to his museum were cutting into his profits, so he put up signs throughout his Manhattan-based collection of oddities that stated, "This Way to The Egress". Visitors followed the arrows straight into the streets unaware of the fact that, rather than some strange new exhibit, “egress” was just a fancy word for “exit”.
Mark Cuban consumes words like Warren Buffet eats ice cream.
This Shark Tanker reads for three hours, every day, whether it’s relevant to his industry or not. The Dallas Mavericks owner once said of what he calls the “knowledge advantage”: “Everything I read was public. Anyone could buy the same books and magazines. The same information was available to anyone who wanted it. Turns out most people didn’t want it.”
Martha Stewart doesn't use can openers.
The lifestyle maven believes eating healthy is “a good thing”. (Being pals with Snoop Dogg, notwithstanding). Martha Stewart has explained, "I don't eat a lot of artificial foods and never have; I don't open a lot of cans and bottles -- I just refuse to imbibe or eat things that I think are dangerous."
Pablo Escobar bought gifts for people when he wasn't murdering them.
The notorious Columbian kingpin was as good at giving back to the people as he was at taking the heads of his rivals. The former blow billionaire saw himself as a modern day Robin Hood and spent his ill-gotten wealth on health/education services, soccer fields and an entire neighborhood for the poor called The Barrio Pablo Escobar.
Michael Jordan remembers the misses.
The NBA's GOAT (sorry LeBron, it ain't happening) is not one to shy away from self-praise, but he also knows his success has been built on the back of bricks. In one interview, he explained the power of failure: "I've missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I've lost almost 300 games. Twenty-six times, I've been trusted to take the game-winning shot and missed. I've failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed."
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