Bill Gates shares the planning tip he learned from Warren Buffet

• Bill Gates said he learned an important lesson about planning from fellow billionaire Warren Buffett.
• The founder of Microsoft used to plan his day down to the minute.
• But Buffett’s intentionally light schedule has helped him ditch his overbooked schedule.

Microsoft founder Bill Gates says you should stop overbooking your calendar.

The billionaire shared a planning tip in a Friday Threads article, quoting fellow billionaire Warren Buffett.

“It took me far too long to realize that you don’t have to fill every second of your schedule to be successful,” Gates wrote. “(Looking back, this is a lesson I could have learned much sooner if I had taken a closer look at Warren Buffett’s intentionally light schedule.)”

While working at Microsoft, Gates was known for his meticulous schedules, literally planning his day down to the minute — an approach that Tesla CEO Elon Musk is also said to have adopted.

Last year, Gates admitted that he previously thought sleep was “lazy” and that he competed with his colleagues to see who could get the least rest.

“I thought it was the only way to do things,” Gates said of his busy schedule during a 2017 interview alongside Buffett.

Gates said things changed for him when he saw Buffett’s intentionally sparse schedule.

“You control your time,” Gates said. “The fact that you fill every minute of your schedule is not proof of your seriousness.”

Buffett, CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, has long advocated increasing productivity by reducing busy work – an approach supported by science.

People who have the freedom to spend their time on creative work rather than performative work are happier, more productive, and more engaged at work, Business Insider previously reported.

After seeing Buffett’s schedule, Gates relaxed his own schedule. In 2020, BI documented a day in the life of the Microsoft billionaire, which included ample time to play tennis, read, blog, and spend time with his family.