What do the ultra-successful billionaire’s have in common? Billions of dollars? Motivation? Accomplishments? Influence? Sure. But, they also have weekend habits that have not only made them wealthy, but have maintained that wealth.
Want to know what these habits are? Then keep on reading. This will inspire you to start getting the most out of your downtime.
1. Wake-up early.
Even though it’s a Saturday or Sunday morning, billionaires don’t sleep-in. In fact, they still get-up incredibly early so that they can be productive.
“I get up at 4:30 in the morning, seven days a week, no matter where I am in the world,” Disney CEO Bob Iger told Fortune. “It’s a time of day when I can be very productive without too much interruption.”
Apple CEO Tim Cook does the same. According to a Time profile, Cook wakes up at 3:45 every morning. Yes — even on the weekends. During this time he does emailing and goes to the gym.
2. Pursue a passion.
During his free time Warren Buffett plays the ukulele. For Sandy Lerner, CEO of Cisco it’s jousting. Anil Ambani, one of India’s top billionaires — it’s running marathons.
Others prefer to partake in social activities, like golfing or volunteering.
Regardless — if they do these activities on their own or with others, billionaires pursue their passions during their spare time as a way to relieve stress, spark creativity, and even do a little networking.
3. Take time to reflect.
“I never go into the office on weekends,” says Spencer Rascoff, co-founder of Hotwire.com and CEO of Zillow, “but I do check e-mail at night. My weekends are an important time to unplug from the day-to-day and get a chance to think more deeply about my company and my industry.
Weekends are a great chance to reflect and be more introspective about bigger issues.” Rasoff is in good company. Billionaires like Bill Gates also use the weeked to relefect.
“It’s fine to celebrate success but it is more important to heed the lessons of failure,” Gates once said.
4. Unplug.
It’s just not possible to be plugged-in 24/7 — and you shouldn’t. We all need time to disconnect and unplug from email, text messages, and social media in order to recharge our batteries.
That’s why successful individuals like Arianna Huffington have made it a point for them, and their employees, to disconnect on the weekends. That’s why she implemented opt-in vacation email policy at the Huffington Post.
“At HuffPost we’ve always made it very clear that no one is expected to check work email and respond after hours, over the weekend, or while they’re on vacation,” Huffington told Business Insider.
5. Give back.
The successful and wealthy have long-realized the importance of giving back. That’s why they always find time to volunteer for a cause that they believe. After all, it’s one of the best ways to not only strengthen the community, it puts things in perspective and reduces stress.
In fact, more than 156 billionaires and their families have committed to the Giving Pledge.
As Richard Branson, the founder of the Virgin Group says, “It is amazing how focusing your mind on issues like health, poverty, conservation and climate change can help to re-energize your thinking in other areas.”
6. Spend time with friends and family.
Even though he’s running both Tesla and SpaceX, and apparently works an insane 80 plus hours per week, Elon Musk hangs out with his fives sons on the weekend.
“On the weekends we have someone in the morning so Tiff and I go workout Saturday mornings. Then the rest of the weekend it’s just us. It’s us putting them to bed. It’s us at dinner. We try to be as normal as possible. The whole idea of someone serving you, this and that, that’s not us.”
7. Prepare for the upcoming week.
When you’re running Twitter and Square, you’re obviously going to be working long days. But on the weekends, Jack Dorsey takes it recharges and preps for the upcoming week.
“Saturday I take off. I hike. And then Sunday is reflections, feedback, strategy and getting ready for the rest of the week.”
Laura Vanderkam, author of “What the Most Successful People Do on the Weekend,” says that successful people realize that weekends are their secret weapon to success: “You need to hit Monday ready to go.”
8. Take a nap.
Researchers have found that napping for even just one hour in the day can “increase the brain’s ability to learn new facts in the hours that follow.” No wonder successful people like Winston Churchill, Albert Einstein and Margaret Thatcher.
“Sleep not only rights the wrong of prolonged wakefulness but, at a neuro-cognitive level, it moves you beyond where you were before you took a nap,” says Dr Matthew Walker, a psychologist at the University of California, who led the study.
Unfortunately, not all of us can enjoy a power nap Monday through Friday. However, the weekends are an ideal time to catch a nap on Saturday or Sunday.
9. Go on a little adventure.
Studies have found that a portion of human happiness is based on anticipation. This means you’re in a better mood leading up to your weekend outing. What’s more, going on a micro adventure, whether if it’s skydiving or trying out a new restaurant, opens you to new experiences.
As a result, you learn more about yourself, become more inspired, and overcome fear.
No wonder Richard Branson jet sets around the world, Google co-founder Sergey Brin pushes his body to the limit any way he can, or Jeff Bezos spends his free time searching the oceans for NASA’s spaceship.
10. Connect with the arts.
Science has found that enjoying art is beneficial to both your mind and body. For example, experiencing art can decrease stress levels and spark creativity. Perhaps that’s why billionaires regularly support the arts.
Billionaire Steven Cohen and his wife Alexandra, for instance, donated $50 million dollars to the Museum of Modern Art in New York. “Alex and I have always believed that the arts can, and should, enrich all people’s lives,” Cohen, the founder of Point72 Asset Management, said in a statement from MoMA.
Oracle founder Larry Ellison. The Koch Brothers, Walmart heiress Alice Walton, and Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen have all made generous donations to the arts over the years.
11. Read.
No surprise here. Billionaires ranging from Bill Gates to Elon Musk to Mark Zuckerberg have all credited their success to reading. That’s because reading stirs the imagination, offers new perspectives, and enhances their communication skills — just to name a few of the benefits.
While successful productive read daily, they make sure to keep flipping through the pages during their days off.
12. Learn something new.
Like reading, billionaires learn something new everyday. As Bernard Marr writes for CNBC, “Many billionaires never stop learning and certainly don’t require a formal setting to build their skills. They are students of trends, current events and personal development.”
Even on the weekends, they still, “seek to understand the problems they see around them and are constantly curious.”
13. Exercise or meditate.
Like reading and learning something new, successful people exercise or meditate every day. After all, both can improve your mood, strengthen your immune system, reduce system, and improve productivity.
However, that doesn’t mean they spend their entire weekend in a gym. Most successful people, like Steve Jobs, Jack Dorsey, and Starbucks’ Howard Schultz, simply go for a walk.
14. Enjoy the great outdoors.
I love being outside. And, for good reason. It’s been found to put you in a better mood, makes you more creative, reduces anxiety, improves concentration, and increases focus. Also, you’re getting Vitamin D from the sun.
Billionaires try to enjoy enjoy nature as much as possible. If they don’t go for a walk, they escape to the countryside. For example, Shark Tank’s Daymond John spends his weekends in his upstate New York cabin where spends much of his time outside with activities like fishing.
15. Chase their dreams.
Just because it’s the weekend doesn’t mean that your dreams are put on hold. In fact, during their free time, billionaires pursue their wildest dreams.
Take Jeff Bezos an an example. He devotes his free time time exploring space travel and exploration. He’s even hoping that his Blue Origin company will be putting paying customers into short space trips by the end of 2018.
16. Occasionally let loose.
“I know I shouldn’t, but I still like to party on Friday nights,” writes Richard Branson “I live half the year on Necker, a tiny island in the Caribbean and it’s always full of people in party mode. Everyone comes up to the big house and we’ll be dancing until the early hours to the island’s band, the Front Line.”
Obviously, successful people don’t go on weekend binders. But, they occasionally let loose on the weekend. For example, dancing like Branson does. It turns out that this can be healthy activity.
After all, it’s a great cardio workout, can be a social activity, and it’s just fun — which also means you’re those feel good hormones like serotonin and endorphins.
17. Create traditions.
Growing up we had the family tradition of eating a huge dinner on Sundays. Even if I spent the entire weekend at a friend’s house, I was home for Sunday dinner.
That may not sound like a big deal. But, having a weekly ritual is a guaranteed way to build strong family relationships. These traditions can then be passed down to the next generation.
Considering that your family plays such a major role in your success, it just makes sense why successful individuals establish traditions.
18. Have alone time.
“People have an idea and a fear about what the weekend means,” Nicole Martinez, Psy.D., LCPC, told Bustle. “They either fear they are going to miss out on something, or that the weekends are supposed to be about going out and doing something significant.”
That’s not the case with billnaries. They actually cherish some alone time during the weekend — preferably in the morning — because it revitalizes your mind and body, improves your memory, makes your better at solving problems, and enhances your emotional intelligence.
19. Wash the dishes.
Believe it or not, not all billionaires have someone else, or a really cool robot, do all of their chores. For instance, Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos still wash the dishes every day.
Even though this is a mundane task, washing dishes can relieve stress while giving your brain a chance to wander. As a result, new ideas are developed.
20. Leave their calendars open.
As you know, successful people are masters of time management. Perhaps the simplest approach is what Warren Buffett does; just say “no.” In fact, he famously once said, “The difference between successful people and very successful people is that very successful people say no to almost everything.”
Billionaires take this concept and apply it their weekend schedule. Instead of overcommitting, they leave their calendars open on the weekends. This way they have a chance to catch their breath and recharge, instead of running all over the place.
That’s not to say that they don’t scheduled events. It just means that they don’t accept each and every invite.
21. Get plenty of sleep.
Jeff Bezos, Arianna Huffington, and most billionaires are known for getting plenty of quality sleep each night. It’s tempting to stay-up all night on a Friday or Saturday, but they know without enough sleep during the weekend, they won’t be at 100 percent.
22. Spend time with other success-minded individuals.
“Self-made millionaires are very particular about who they associate with,” Corley writes in his book, “Change Your Habits, Change Your Life.”
“You are only as successful as those you frequently associate with. The rich are always on the lookout for individuals who are goal-oriented, optimistic, enthusiastic, and who have an overall positive mental outlook.”
In fact, Corley found that eighty-six percent of the rich people he studied made a habit out of associating with other success-minded individuals. He also found that, “they also make a point to limit their exposure to toxic, negative people.”
23. Don’t binge-watch TV.
Speaking of Corley, he also found that sixty-seven percent of rich people watch one hour or less of TV a day. I know it’s tempting to binge-watch an entire season of a show on Netflix this weekend, but successful and wealthy people prefer to remain productive.
“The wealthy are not avoiding watching TV because they have some superior human discipline or willpower,” explains Corley. “They just don’t think about watching much TV because they are engaged in some other habitual daily behavior — reading.”
24. Always on the lookout for innovation.
Sure. There a moments when billionaires disconnect for a period of time during the weekend. But what has made them so successful is that they never stop looking for ways to maintain their wealth.
“Success is never guaranteed,” Amancio Ortega, the founder of Zara, told a group of business professors in 2007.
“Complacency is the worst,” he added. “I never allow myself to be content with what I have done — and I have always tried to instill this in everyone around me.”
“Grow or die,” he bluntly said in Spanish. “If you want to innovate, don’t focus on the results.”
25. Take advantage of those last 15 hours.
When I was in high school I dreaded Sunday nights. To be honest, when I worked full-time for someone else, the feeling still lingered. Those feelings of anxiety or stress are normal when you have to wake-up to a job you can’t stand.
Do work that you love and adopt these weekend habits.
This isn’t the case for most billionaires. They’ve been fortunate enough to be doing work that they love. Still, they find ways to make the most of their Sundays. This way they’re calm, cool, and collected on Monday morning.
Some choose to have quality time with their loved one. Others catch-up on their emails, reflect, plan their week ahead, or just watch a show on HBO.
