The MVP of all of the Rich Habits – Reading to Learn

According to a study conducted by economists from the University of Padova, Italy, individuals who read for self-education earned 21% more as adults, than those who did have this growth habit.

In another study conducted by Daniel Belsky (Duke University), who studied 918 New Zealanders, he found that individuals who developed the reading to learn habit, earned more income, had more assets and had better finances by age 38 then their peers.

In my five-year study on the daily habits of the rich:

• 86% of the rich loved reading vs. 26% of the poor.
• 63% of the rich listened to audio books during their commute to work vs. 5% of the poor.
• 85% of the rich read two or more self-improvement books every month vs. 15% of the poor.
• 88% of the rich read 30 minutes or more each day vs. 2% of the poor.

Parents who instill in their children the habit of daily educational reading, set their children up to earn more during their lifetime. This habit, it turns out, follows them into their adult years.

A recent study by Brown University, in which nearly 50,000 families were surveyed, concluded that habits in children are unlikely to vary after age 9. Since most of those early years for kids are spent at home, the bulk of the habits children adopt, such as reading to learn, come primarily from their parents.

As infants and toddlers, our brains are hard-wired by nature for “monkey see, monkey do” behavior, thanks to something called “Mirror Neurons”.  As a result, children pick up the vast majority of their habits from their parents. Good or bad.