Warren Buffett is one of history’s most successful investors. Buffett is a leader in the business and investing world with a net worth of approximately $155 billion and an investment track record that has produced average annual returns of roughly 20% since 1965 through Berkshire Hathaway.
Yet behind these impressive numbers lie habits and principles that extend far beyond stock picking and business acquisitions. While many focus on Buffett’s investment strategies, his most potent advantages may come from personal habits that rarely make headlines.
These practices have shaped his financial success and approach to life, relationships, and personal development. The beauty of these habits is that they require no exceptional talent or resources—just the discipline to implement them consistently over time.
Here are the ten rare habits of success you can learn from Warren Buffett’s life:
1. Habit 1: Read Voraciously for 5+ Hours Every Day
Few realize the extreme extent of Buffett’s reading regimen. Daily, he spends 5-6 hours on books, newspapers, annual reports, and financial statements.
“Read 500 pages every day. That’s how knowledge works. It builds up, like compound interest,” Buffett has advised. This isn’t casual skimming—it’s deep, focused information consumption.
He once estimated that 80% of his working day is dedicated to reading, a stark contrast to the meeting-heavy schedules of most executives.
Buffett credits much of his investment success to this habit, which has given him an encyclopedic knowledge of businesses and industries. For those seeking to adopt this habit, start smaller—perhaps with 25 pages daily—focusing on depth of understanding rather than just covering pages.
2. Habit 2: Make Decisions Based on Intrinsic Value, Not Market Sentiment
Buffett has built his fortune by focusing relentlessly on intrinsic value while ignoring market noise. “Price is what you pay. Value is what you get,” he famously stated.
This principle guided his investments in companies like Coca-Cola in the 1980s and Apple more recently. When markets plunged in 2008, Buffett was buying while others panicked because his decisions were anchored in calculating what businesses were worth rather than following trends.
This approach applies beyond investing—developing personal criteria for determining the value of opportunities, relationships, and commitments based on long-term fundamentals, not short-term appearances.
3. Habit 3: Know Your Circle of Competence and Stay Within It
Despite his success, Buffett maintains strict boundaries around what he will and won’t invest in. For decades, he avoided technology companies because they fell outside his “circle of competence.”
He has said, “The size of that circle is not very important; knowing its boundaries, however, is vital.” This self-awareness prevented potentially costly mistakes during the dot-com bubble.
Buffett’s partnership with the late Charlie Munger worked brilliantly partly because they recognized how their knowledge areas complemented each other.
This habit encourages honest mapping of one’s areas of expertise while acknowledging one’s blind spots. It also encourages either deliberately developing new competencies or partnering with others who possess them.
4. Habit 4: Practice Extreme Patience in Your Investments and Decisions
Buffett’s patience stands out dramatically in a financial world obsessed with quarterly results. He has famously stated that his favorite holding period is “forever.”
This patience extends to waiting for the right opportunities. Berkshire has sometimes held tens of billions in cash for years while awaiting attractive investments. After studying the railroad industry for decades, Buffett finally purchased BNSF Railway in February 2010.
This rare level of patience comes from deep confidence in waiting for the perfect pitch rather than swinging at everything. The practical application is developing clear decision criteria that prevent impulsive actions while allowing for decisive moves when genuine opportunities arise.
5. Habit 5: Embrace Intentional Simplicity in Your Lifestyle
Despite his immense wealth, Buffett lives in the same modest Omaha home he purchased for $31,500 in 1958. He drives practical cars rather than collecting luxury vehicles and maintains simple dietary habits (famously including Coca-Cola products).
This isn’t mere frugality—intentional simplicity eliminates distractions and decision fatigue. Buffett has observed that “I have everything I need. I have a house that I’ve lived in for 50 years. I have a car I’ve had for 10 years. I don’t need anything else to make me happy.”
This habit challenges the assumption that success requires continuous lifestyle inflation and suggests instead defining personal “enough” in material possessions, focusing resources on what truly creates fulfillment.
6. Habit 6: Invest in Deep, Long-Term Relationships with the Right People
Buffett’s 60+ year partnership with Charlie Munger demonstrated his belief in relationship depth over breadth. “It’s better to hang out with people better than you,” he advises.
His loyalty to business partners and selective social circle shows that he values relationship quality rather than constant networking. His most extended business relationships have spanned decades, like the one with his late vice chairman, Charlie Munger.
This approach to relationships suggests focusing energy on nurturing a smaller number of high-quality connections rather than constantly expanding your network and selecting those connections based on character and shared values rather than immediate utility.
7. Habit 7: Seek Knowledge from Younger Generations Through Reverse Mentoring
Even in his 90s, Buffett actively learns from younger generations, particularly about evolving industries and technologies. He has credited his understanding of Apple partly to conversations with his grandchildren.
His friendship with Bill Gates began as a way to understand the technology landscape better. In 2011-2012, he hired younger investment managers Todd Combs and Ted Weschler, partly to gain fresh perspectives on evolving industries.
This habit highlights the importance of intellectual humility regardless of success level. The practice suggests identifying personal knowledge gaps and deliberately seeking mentors who might be younger but have expertise in those areas.
8. Habit 8: Schedule Regular Periods of Uninterrupted Thinking Time
While many executives pride themselves on packed calendars, Buffett takes the opposite approach. He is known to keep his calendar surprisingly empty, creating space for deep thinking without constant interruption.
“I insist on spending a lot of time, almost every day, just sitting and thinking,” he has said. This deliberate solitude allows for deep analysis and reflection, leading to better decisions.
Buffett notably avoids filling this time with technological distractions. This habit suggests blocking specific calendar time dedicated solely to thinking deeply about important questions and problems, treating this time as sacrosanct as you would any critical meeting.
9. Habit 9: Practice Radical Honesty About Your Mistakes and Failures
Buffett’s annual shareholder letters stand out for their unusual transparency about mistakes and misjudgments. He has openly discussed expensive errors like his purchase of Dexter Shoes and the initial acquisition of Berkshire Hathaway itself.
“It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it,” Buffett notes, emphasizing how honesty builds long-term trust. Rather than spinning excuses for failures or hiding them, he analyzes them publicly as learning opportunities.
This habit invites creating a personal system for objectively reviewing mistakes, possibly through journaling or regular reflection periods, focusing on extracting lessons rather than assigning blame.
10. Habit 10: Think in Decades, Not Days
Buffett approaches decisions with an extraordinarily long time horizon, understanding that consistency over decades creates exponential results. “Someone’s sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago,” he observes.
This perspective shapes how he evaluates businesses, builds relationships, and accumulates knowledge. His longest-held investments, like his stake in American Express (first purchased in 1964), demonstrate this compounding perspective.
This habit encourages evaluating decisions based on their likely impact over the next decade rather than immediate results. It treats knowledge and relationship building as compounding assets that grow more valuable with time.
Conclusion
Warren Buffett’s rare habits form a collection of practices and a coherent system that reinforces itself over time. His reading feeds his decision-making, his patience enables his value focus, and his relationship approach strengthens his learning capabilities.
What makes these habits particularly powerful is their quiet nature—they don’t attract attention as flashy tactics might, but their consistent application over decades has produced extraordinary results.
The key isn’t trying to adopt all these habits simultaneously but rather identifying which ones best align with your personal goals and then committing to practicing them with the same consistency Buffett has demonstrated.
Buffett says that defining success goes beyond financial metrics: “The most important investment you can make is in yourself.” These habits offer a roadmap for that investment, whether your goals involve business, relationships, or personal development.