If you want to succeed further, you must read more books. The world’s most successful CEOs have a least the following habit in common: reading. And they read a lot!

They all seem to make time for it in their busy schedule as they believe reading is a key factor to their success. They read to seek knowledge because they consider that knowledge can easily be transformed into ready-to-use power.

Warren Buffet, one of the wealthiest men in the world, spends 80% of his time reading. He is known to read 600 to 1,000 pages each day and believes this habit provides him with a distinct advantage. The average number of books read by a CEO is 60 books per year, or five books each month. So, what is it exactly that makes great achievers spend so much time reading?

#1: Reading a new book gives you access to new perspectives

First of all, human beings have a tendency to forget and need to be reminded of the important business concepts that should always remain in the forefront of their thoughts. So, when they reread the same book or article, it’s not because they didn’t understand them the first time, but it’s because finding words for what they already know help them reassess their priorities in life.

Moreover, leaders give such a great importance to reading because it also gives them the opportunity to understand someone else’s perspective, no matter how much they disagree with it. They have more tools to think out-of-the-box because as they get exposed to new thoughts and ideas. Elon Musk taught himself to build rockets by reading. By having access to new experiences, the well-known leaders get to learn how to solve business problems with a new approach.

#2: Invest in knowledge and get competitive advantage

OK, so you want to become a leader of this world and live a great life full of joy, success, satisfaction, and fulfillment. You want your job to be meaningful, and you want to achieve financial independence and be free to do what you want, when you want, with who you want. You defined your targets but you’re still not so sure how to realize them. And then, you get frustrated because you’re making a lot of efforts, but you don’t see the right results. It feels like you are running on a treadmill – you sweat a lot, but you are going nowhere. What usually happens with enthusiastic people is that they have a lot of energy to give, but they deploy it in the wrong direction if they don’t invest enough in knowledge. See success is putting knowledge in motion. So read, learn, and then act.

“The man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who can’t read them.”

— Mark Twain

There are millions of books dealing with so many different aspects of life. If you want to become an expert in any area of interest, you can easily find the relevant books and learn from the experiences of their authors. For example, if you want to learn about how to optimize your taxes and balance sheet, read a book about accounting. If you want to start investing your money yourself, you can read about portfolio management. You can read and access knowledge about whatever subject that can be of help in your business – it could be leadership, education, human resources, or even marketing. when you set a goal, it’s important to determine which skills you must develop to achieve it and go read about them.

#3: Say No to the usual busyness excuse

Most people read about one book every single year. That’s clearly not enough as failing to read more puts them at a great competitive disadvantage compared to the frequent readers. But when you ask people why they don’t read more, they typically come up with the usual ‘busyness’ excuse. Is their life really busier than the well-known leaders of this world? It’s clearly not a valid excuse. We all have time to read – just take the habit prioritize a good book over Facebook. Rich people would rather be educated than entertained.

#4: How to read 18 books a year without losing a drop of sweat?

And it really doesn’t take much of your time to become incredibly knowledgeable. If you read 15 minutes a day for 30 days, that’s 1.5 book a month, and that’s 18 books a year! Michael Simmons is the founder of Empact – he introduced the concept about the five-hour rule: No matter how successful people are, they should always spend five hours a week learning and practicing. They could use audiobooks or podcasts if they want but they must stick to one hour a day sharpening their skills. The outliers and top performers like Bill Gates, Oprah Winfrey, or Jack Ma swear by this rule. If you want to become successful, just embrace the habits of those who show the way and join the movement.