Brian Tracy says one hour daily of reading in your field puts you in the top 20% within three years and among the world's best in seven. He cites the math: roughly 50 books a year, 500 in a decade. The average adult reads less than one book yearly; top earners grow income at 11% annually versus 1% for the bottom cohort.
If you're like me and everybody else, you want to be as successful as you possibly can in life. But with all of the turbulence and change and competition today, what do you do to give your life an anchor or a keel? Well, one hour each day makes the difference. And that's what I want to talk about now. You see, you've gone as far as you can with what you now know. Any progress you make from this moment onward, any increase in your income or improvement in your life from this moment onward will require that you learn and practice something new and different. One quality of leaders and high achievers in every area seems to be a commitment to ongoing personal and professional development. When I discovered ongoing personal development and professional development in my 20s, I thought I'd died and gone to heaven. It was just the most wonderful thing. Everybody who stumbles into it truly transforms their lives. People committed to personal development look upon themselves as self made people as works in progress. They sometimes look upon themselves as a do it to yourself project. They never become complacent or satisfied. They're always striving toward ever greater heights of knowledge and understanding. They're hungry, they're ambitious, they're eager to learn new stuff. Earl Nightingale said many years ago that one hour per day of study in your chosen field was all that it really takes. One hour per day of study will put you at the top of your field within three years. Within five years, you'll be at national authority. In seven years, you can be one of the best people in the world at what you do with just one hour every single day. So read all you can about your field. Subscribe to the executive book clubs and book summaries. Build your own library of important books in your field. Never be cheap about your education. The best investment you ever make in your life is back into yourself. In fact, if you make a decision today to invest 3% of your annual income back into yourself, back into your own personal and professional development, within a year or two, you'll probably never have to worry about money again. This has been true for me and it's been true for thousands of people who've reported back to me after going through my seminars. The profound effect of investing 3% of your income in yourself. Here's the results. You'll get 10, 20, 30, $50 back to your income for every dollar you invest in yourself in becoming better and better at what you do. If you read one hour per day in your field, that will Translate into about one book per week. One book per week translates into about 50 books per year. 50 books per year will translate into about 500 books over the next 10 years. If you read only one book per month, that will put you into the top 1% of income earners in our society. Remember that famous top 1%? These people are continually learning new ideas that help them to be even better at what they're already doing well. But if you read one book per week, 50 books per year, that will make you one of the best educated, smartest, most capable and highest paid people in your field. Regular reading, which we call exercise for the mind, will transform your life completely. Now, here's the bad news. Good news is the average adult reads less than one book per year. 80% of adults have not read a book in the last five years and seldom ever go to a bookstore. If you ask them, where's the closest bookstore to your home, they have no idea. 80% of adults have flattened out in their income and their income is going up, according to the University of Chicago, at a rate of 1% a year, which means they never get ahead and they never get out of debt. But the top 20% of people, the ones who are continually reading and growing, their income is going up at about 11% per year on average, which means that they double their income every 6.7 years. Now, just think about that. You start off at the age of 20. By the time you're 27, you've doubled your income. By the time you're 34, you've doubled it again. By the time you're 41, you've doubled it again and doubled and doubled. By the time you're in your 40s or 50s, you're one of the highest paid people in society because you invested just one hour a day in getting better.
