Sometimes the best insights don’t show up until you’re already years into the journey. That’s exactly what happened to Bill Gates when he began spending time with Warren Buffett. What struck him wasn’t complex strategies but simple truths about how to approach life and work. These are the kind of takeaways that feel obvious only after you hear them, so keep reading.
Intentional Empty Days
Many leaders believe a packed calendar demonstrates commitment. Yet Warren Buffett, one of the world’s most successful investors, deliberately leaves entire days unscheduled. This unconventional approach even shifted Bill Gates’s perspective, who once believed nonstop busyness meant success but later embraced the wisdom of leaving space for unstructured time.
Calendar “White Space”
Warren Buffett has long credited his success to quiet hours spent reading and reflecting rather than chasing endless appointments. Bill Gates eventually followed suit. Inspired by Buffett’s deliberate calendar “white space,” he now sets aside time for books and music, too.
Deep Work Over Meetings
You might think endless meetings prove you’re getting things done. Gates thought so, too, until Buffett showed him the cost of that approach. Cutting meetings created room for reflection. Gates realized meaningful progress comes from space to concentrate, not nonstop discussions.
Bucketed Time Method
Behind Bill Gates’s business success was a systematic approach to time management. His “bucketed time” method divided each workday into four equal segments, each representing 25% of his schedule for key priorities. This balance lets him quickly spot and fix imbalances to ensure urgent tasks never overtake strategic focus.
Delegation For Calendar Decluttering
Gates’s bucketed time method created balance, but structure alone didn’t solve everything. His turning point came with delegation. Handing routine tasks to others prevented priority dilution and freed him to direct energy toward the strategic choices that ultimately drove Microsoft’s growth and long-term success.
Time As A Non-Renewable Asset
Warren Buffett once remarked, “I can buy anything I want, basically, but I can’t buy time.” The candid observation left a strong impression on the Microsoft founder. Both men came to see time as an irreplaceable asset, a lesson Gates later amplified in a reflective Threads post.
Periodic Calendar Review
Bill Gates once admired Buffett’s ability to keep his calendar nearly empty, but he knew he needed another approach. Gates designed regular schedule check-ins and a system to realign priorities. It complements Buffett’s philosophy, which shows that protecting time can take more than one form.
The Value Of Saying No
To Buffett, real success meant choosing carefully what not to do. Gates struggled with this at first, often overcommitting. But once he embraced Buffett’s principle of no, his schedule became clearer, freeing him to devote energy to priorities that truly required his leadership.
Long-Term Thinking
While many leaders chase quarterly outcomes, Buffett became known for patience and a long view. Gates found value in that approach. It shifted his perspective from short-term achievements to sustained change and taught him that meaningful results unfold when you measure progress over decades instead of moments.
Choosing The Right Company
Success, Buffett said, isn’t only about strategy but about the company you keep. Gates learned this firsthand. Surrounded by capable and ambitious colleagues, he found his standards pushed higher, proving that the right relationships can shape both the quality of your work and the outcomes you achieve.
