--- title: How the Five Hour Rule Can Make You Successful description: Benjamin Franklin's five-hour rule shows that the smartest and most successful people are the ones who are constant and deliberate learners. canonical: https://time.com/4401683/five-hour-rule-success/ author: TIME article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-07-27T16:16:15.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T04:39:15.924Z og:title: How the 'Five Hour Rule' Can Make You More Successful og:description: It can change your approach to work og:url: https://time.com/4401683/five-hour-rule-success/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt99c9e560ec134ecf/69889907bc6cfc2afd3dd847/career-path-to-success1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2560 og:image:height: 1440 og:image:alt: Motto stock og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: How the 'Five Hour Rule' Can Make You More Successful twitter:description: It can change your approach to work twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt99c9e560ec134ecf/69889907bc6cfc2afd3dd847/career-path-to-success1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # How the 'Five Hour Rule' Can Make You More Successful > Sponsored content. 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Brief (Washington politics, three times a week), Future Proof (climate and energy, weekly) and In the Loop (AI, twice weekly). All are free at time.com/newsletters and together reach more than 1.1 million engaged readers. #### Which TIME newsletter should I subscribe to? It depends on what you follow. For a daily briefing, The Brief. For health, Health Matters. For Washington politics, D.C. Brief. For AI and technology, In the Loop. For climate and energy as a business story, Future Proof. For culture recommendations, Worth Your Time. For how TIME's journalism gets made, Inside TIME. Readers can select any combination at time.com/newsletters. #### Are TIME's newsletters free? Yes. All seven TIME newsletters are free to join at time.com/newsletters. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes TIME's newsletters? TIME journalists write them. Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. by [Michael Simmons and Ian Chew / Inc.](https://time.com/author/inc/) ## Michael Simmons and Ian Chew / Inc. Jul 27, 2016 4:16 PM UTC  Martin Gee for TIME by [Michael Simmons and Ian Chew / Inc.](https://time.com/author/inc/) ## Michael Simmons and Ian Chew / Inc. Jul 27, 2016 4:16 PM UTC  At the age of 10, Benjamin Franklin left formal schooling to become an apprentice to his father. As a teenager, he showed no particular talent or aptitude aside from his love of books. When he died a little over half a century later, he was America’s most respected statesman, its most famous inventor, a prolific author, and a successful entrepreneur. What happened between these two points to cause such a meteoric rise? Underlying the answer to this question is a success strategy for life that we can all use, and increasingly _must_ use. **The five-hour rule** Throughout Ben Franklin’s adult life, he consistently invested [roughly an hour a day](http://9nl.at/bkf2) in deliberate learning. I call this Franklin’s five-hour rule: one hour a day on every weekday. Franklin’s learning time consisted of: * Waking up early to read and write * [Setting personal-growth goals](http://9nl.at/4u4h) (i.e., virtues list) and tracking the results * Creating a club for “like-minded aspiring artisans and tradesmen who hoped to improve themselves while they improved their community” * Turning his ideas into experiments * Having morning and evening reflection questions Every time that Franklin took time out of his busy day to follow his five-hour rule and spend at least an hour learning, he accomplished less on that day. However, in the long run, it was arguably the best investment of his time he could have made. Franklin’s five-hour rule reflects the very simple idea that, over time, [the smartest and most successful people are the ones who are constant and deliberate learners](http://9nl.at/7txw). Warren Buffett spends [five to six hours per day](http://9nl.at/9pe2) reading [five newspapers](http://9nl.at/hcpd) and [500 pages of corporate reports](http://9nl.at/mv2d). Bill Gates reads [50 books per year](http://9nl.at/yysv). Mark Zuckerberg [reads at least one book every two weeks](http://9nl.at/elag). Elon Musk grew up reading two books a day, [according to his brother](http://9nl.at/k3yy). Oprah Winfrey credits books with much of her success: “Books were my pass to personal freedom.” Arthur Blank, co-founder of Home Depot, reads [two hours day](http://9nl.at/bnng). Dan Gilbert, self-made billionaire and owner of the Cleveland Cavaliers, reads [one to two hours a day](http://9nl.at/5li0). So what would it look like to make the five-hour rule part of our lifestyle? **_Read more:_** [_5 Motivational TED Talks That Can Make 2016 Your Best Year Ever_](http://www.inc.com/minda-zetlin/the-most-motivational-ted-talks-of-2016.html?cid=sy304time) **The core concept of the five-hour rule: empty space** To find out, we need look no further than chess grandmaster and world-champion martial artist Josh Waitzkin. Instead of squeezing his days for the maximum productivity, he’s actually done the opposite. Waitzkin, who also authored [_The Art of Learning_](http://9nl.at/fkb4), purposely creates slack in his day so he has “empty space” for learning, creativity, and doing things at a higher quality. Here’s his explanation of this approach from a recent [Tim Ferriss podcast episode](http://9nl.at/03vf): “I have built a life around having empty space for the development of my ideas for the creative process. And for the cultivation of a physiological state which is receptive enough to tune in very, very deeply to people I work with … In the creative process, it’s so easy to drive for efficiency and take for granted the really subtle internal work that it takes to play on that razor’s edge.” Adding slack to our day allows us to: **1\. Plan out the learning.** This allows us to think carefully about what we want to learn. We shouldn’t just have goals for what we want to accomplish. We should also have goals for what we want to learn. **2\. Deliberately practice.**[Rather than doing things automatically and not improving](http://9nl.at/4nvd), we can apply the proven principles of [deliberate practice](http://9nl.at/58ua) so we keep improving. This means doing things like taking time to get honest feedback on our work and practicing specific skills we want to improve. **3\. Ruminate.** This helps us get more perspective on our lessons learned and assimilate new ideas. It can also help us develop [slow hunches](http://9nl.at/zqvy) in order to have creative breakthroughs. Walking is a great way to process these insights, as shown by many greats who were or are walking fanatics, from [Beethoven](http://9nl.at/qah6) and [Charles Darwin](http://9nl.at/gn8t) to[Steve Jobs](http://9nl.at/skx3) and [Jack Dorsey](http://9nl.at/yk9h). Another powerful way is through conversation partners. **4\. Set aside time just for learning.**This includes activities like reading, having conversations, participating in a mastermind, taking classes, observing others, etc. **5\. Solve problems as they arise.**When most people experience problems during the day, they sweep them under the rug so that they can continue their to-do list. Having slack creates the space to address small problems before they turn into big problems. **6\. Do small experiments with big potential payoffs.** Whether or not an experiment works, it’s an opportunity to learn and test your ideas. **_Read more:_** [_27 Most Common Job Interview Questions and Answers_](http://www.inc.com/jeff-haden/27-most-common-job-interview-questions-and-answers.html?cid=sy304time) **The difference the five-hour rule makes** For many people, their professional day is measured by how much they get done. As a result, they speed through the day and slow down their improvement rate. The five-hour rule flips the equation by focusing on learning first. To see the implication of this, let’s look at a sales call (note: replace “sales call” with any activity you do repeatedly). Most professionals do a little research before the call, have the call, and then save their notes and move on. Somebody with a learning focus would think through which skill to practice on the call, practice it on the call, and then reflect on the lessons learned. If that person really wanted an extra level of learning, he or she would invite a colleague on the call and have the colleague provide honest feedback afterward. Embracing a learning lifestyle means that every time we make a sales call, we get better at doing sales calls. [Focusing on learning un-automates our behaviors so we can keep improving them](http://9nl.at/estu) rather than plateauing. Every event is an opportunity to improve. By focusing on learning as a lifestyle, we get so much more done over the long term. **_Read more:_** [_The 5 Essential Qualities of a Great Leader_](http://www.inc.com/peter-economy/the-5-essential-qualities-of-a-great-leader.html?cid=sy304time) **So, are you ready to embrace the five-hour rule?** How about reading a book a week to get started? Even though he’s the richest man in the world and could afford to hire an army of teachers and consultants, Bill Gates still reads a book a week. In a [2016 _New York Times_ interview](http://9nl.at/s30d), he said, “Reading is still the main way that I both learn new things and test my understanding.” Want to read the most-recommended books by top leaders like Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, Sheryl Sandberg, and Elon Musk? Here’s [our report on the six highly recommended books you should read](http://9nl.at/hfwp), along with 460-plus of their other book recommendations. _This post is in partnership with Inc., which offers useful advice, resources and insights to entrepreneurs and business owners. The_ [_article_](http://www.inc.com/empact/why-constant-learners-all-embrace-the-5-hour-rule.html) _above was originally published at_ [Inc.com](http://www.inc.com)_._ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4401683/five-hour-rule-success/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4401683/five-hour-rule-success/"},"headline":"How the 'Five Hour Rule' Can Make You More Successful","datePublished":"2016-07-27T16:16:15.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T04:39:15.924Z","description":"It can change your approach to work","url":"https://time.com/4401683/five-hour-rule-success/","keywords":["motto"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt99c9e560ec134ecf/69889907bc6cfc2afd3dd847/career-path-to-success1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Michael Simmons and Ian Chew / Inc."}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt99c9e560ec134ecf/69889907bc6cfc2afd3dd847/career-path-to-success1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Motto stock","caption":"career success Motto stock","creditText":"Martin Gee for TIME","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/motto/","name":"motto"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4401683/five-hour-rule-success/","name":"How the 'Five Hour Rule' Can Make You More Successful"}}]}] ```