Sheryl Sandberg, Bill Gates and the best CEOs in the world swear by the same daily habit – this career trainer says that Gen Z can easily steal it to succeed

Bill Hoogterp spent decades advise celebrities, CEOs and rising stars in some of the most powerful conference rooms in America. Thanks to his coach cabinet, Lifehikes, he helped more than 700,000 professionals increase their skills in communication and leadership-and have personally worked head-on with “thousands” of managers, many of whom appear on FortuneThe most powerful lists.
And there is a habit that the former META operations chief, Sheryl Sandberg, and his best customers of powerful players share.
“I had this conversation with Sheryl Sandberg, and we are joking that we must all be the CEO of our own potential,” explains Hoogterp Fortune.
The problem? “Almost none of us seem to want work. We are constantly in a way in a little for what the world wants and react to everyone.”
But what the highest 1% do well, says Hoogterp is that they invest in themselves – and that is something he says that everyone should do if they want to raise their careers. In particular the Zers generation, which are at the start of their career and which are to make the most of the constant supporting their own growth.
“So think about it like this: you have a money pot, some $ 1,000, and you start your career. You could sit down, put it under the mattress and look for it, 30 to 60 years later,” he explains. “Or you can invest it in the bank and interest yourself every year. Which one do you prefer to do? ”
HOOGTERP says you imagine the performance you expect from an investment – according to 10% – and to commit this percentage of your time to improve each week.
“So, if you do 40 to 50 hours a week, it will last about five hours,” said Hoogterp. “Each week, you will spend four or five hours on you. Now that it goes to training, getting coaching, reading books, looking at Ted Talks, that doesn’t matter. But taking it seriously.”
“If you do this every week, your thousands of dollars will be worth tens of millions of dollars, while someone else will wake up – they are just as intelligent, they are people as good as we are – but 20 years old, and they are more or less in the same position, the same mentalities, the same place.”
“This aggravated interest is based on you, investing in you.”
Books: the way of investing him by Bill Gates himself in himself
If you don’t know where or how to start investing in yourself, Hoogterp suggests resuming reading.
“The best leaders in the world spend an hour a day reading,” he said, adding that they often start their day in the early hours of the morning with a book in their hands. But that should not be a daily chore.
“I spent a little time with Bill Gates, and he discovered that there were a lot of books and articles, things he wanted to read and simply had no time,” he adds. “We all have this battery on our night table of books that we want to read but that we did not have time.”
So, what does the billionaire co-founder Microsoft do? “He took a whole week, blocked everything, went to a cabin and just read books. He said he was a transformer of his life … In fact, Bill is now two weeks a year to read.”
“More and more leaders are doing the same,” adds Hoogterp. “So, find the time to really, really really of the grid, give yourself time to think, but for a purpose – browse this pile of books that you wanted to go, or Ted Talks or Articles, or a little of both.”
“And this is another way of thinking about the severity of the most prosperous people who succeed in their own learning and their growth, while we are less successful, we simply put in place the movements. We try to catch up.”
But I’m not a reader, what can I do?
Unfortunately for those who prefer to watch videos rather than collect a book, Hoogterp says that reading is really the key here.
“You have to give yourself a disparate diet for your mind,” he explains. “So you want a reading mixture, be it a long shape, books or articles. The podcasts are great, but try to mix it.”
“Reading is different because you keep almost 31% more when you read something than when you listen to it on audio books, because you actively treat against treatment passively.”
“And take out the pen, like when you were back in school writing notes on the sidelines of the book because you think it could be to the test. Oh, it makes me think,” adds Hoogterp. “Your brain remembers writing the words to you, which means that you are actively treating much more deeply, much faster, much more powerful.”
Finally, if you still cannot make the Mojo park a little time and Lise, Hoogterp suggests joining a reading club. Not only will this keep you responsible, but it will force you to dig more deeply, to ask better questions and to leave with ideas that you can really use.
“You don’t only read a book with other people, but you attribute yourself together,” he said. “What do you think of this chapter?” Oh, it made me think of that. I agree with that. I didn’t agree with that. ”
https://fortune.com/img-assets/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/GettyImages-2151909132-e1754056612603.jpg?resize=1200,600