It was the habit of reading and the ability to isolate himself as a child that contributed to Bill Gates' later success.
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| Bill Gates often meditates for hours in his room when he feels restless or bored. (Source: Bloomberg) |
By co-founding Microsoft, billionaire Bill Gates helped popularize computers and the Internet to the whole world . However, in the journey of building his career and making Microsoft one of the leading technology companies, he did not miss the time to have fun with friends, explore the world , read books and meditate in his room for hours.
In his latest blog, Bill Gates shared: “When I felt restless or bored—or in trouble for behaving badly—I would disappear into my room and immerse myself in books or ideas, often for hours on end. The ability to turn idle time into deep thought and learning became a fundamental part of who I was,” the billionaire said. These traits were crucial to his later success.
He also recommends the book The Anxious Generation by social psychologist Jonathan Haidt of New York University, which explores how smartphones and social media have “rewritten” children’s brains.
The book also argues that these technologies have helped create what he calls an urgent mental health crisis, reflected in rising levels of loneliness and depression among Gen Z.
According to research, constant use of smartphones and social media can also negatively affect young people's memory, concentration and attention span.
According to Gates, the “phone-based childhood” that many children are experiencing today will make it extremely difficult for children's attention spans to develop.
Throughout his career, Bill Gates has often attributed his success to his reading habits and ability to self-isolate.
In the 1990s, the then-Microsoft CEO even retreated to an isolated cabin in the wilderness “with nothing but a big bag of books and paper” for what he called his “annual Thinking Week.”
During those times, Gates "commits to uninterrupted focus" — he won't even check email — so he can "read, think, and write about the future."
Gates' weeks of intense focus helped fuel big ideas, including the development of the Internet Explorer browser.
Without the ability to focus intensely and pursue an idea wherever it leads, the world could miss out on the breakthroughs that come from setting your mind to something and keeping it there, the billionaire said.
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