(Note for Julia: Please use 3 photos of Warren Buffett, Mark Cuban and Oprah)
Successful people often prefer to work smart rather than hard. Working smart allows them to maintain a healthy work-life balance and enjoy their hobbies. And, some of the most successful people find a way to make a profit through their hobbies.
Whether you enjoy hiking, reading or knitting, it's important to pick up a hobby outside of work. If you need help choosing a hobby, check out the hobbies of these 15 successful people.
Related: 7 Pet Peeves of Highly Successful People
1. Warren Buffett: Playing Bridge
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Warren Buffett bridge
Warren Buffett loves to play bridge. He discussed his hobby on CNN Money and said that more than 95 percent of his bridge games have taken place online over the last 15 years. John P. Hussman of Hussman Funds said that though Benjamin Graham — Buffett's mentor — was not talking about Buffett at the time, he does explain perhaps why Buffett periodically plays bridge.
“I recall to those of you who are bridge players the emphasis that bridge experts place on playing a hand right rather than on playing it successfully," said Graham. "Because, as you know, if you play it right you are going to make money and if you play it wrong you lose money — in the long run.”
2. Meryl Streep: Knitting
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Meryl Streep Hobbies
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Knitting is Meryl Streep’s hobby. In the PBS series Blank on Blank, the Academy Award-winning actress discusses her career and mentions her knitting bag. Carrie Barron, an assistant clinical professor of psychiatry at Columbia University, told The Washington Post that "the rhythmic movements of knitting offer many of the same kinds of benefits as meditation.”
3. Iggy Azalea: Horse Riding
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Iggy Azalea horse
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Rapper Iggy Azalea revealed her hobby in a video she made exclusively for "On Air with Ryan Seacrest." She said that her hobby is horse riding, and she just bought a horse. “I like jumping horses,” said Azalea. Besides the physical and athletic benefits that come with horse riding, this hobby can boost confidence and be very relaxing.
4. Larry Ellison: Sailing
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Larry Ellison sailing
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Larry Ellison, the former CEO of Oracle with a fortune estimated by Forbes to be around $48 billion, said his hobby is sailing. In 2013, he and his team won the America’s Cup yacht race for the second time.
He said, "It's funny, because I realized after losing twice that my personality wouldn’t allow me to quit while losing. And then after winning the America’s Cup, I discovered my personality doesn’t allow me to quit while winning. I don’t smoke, but I do sail,” reports Business Insider.
5. Arianna Huffington: Sleeping
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Ariana Huffington hobbies
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Hobbies don't have to be complex or extreme, as proven by Arianna Huffington. In a 2011 interview with Rolling Stone, Huffington said, "My greatest hobby is sleep." The Huffington Post co-founder and editor-in-chief takes her sleep seriously. "Actually, one problem with our culture is that we are entirely sleep-deprived," she said.
Read: 12 Brag-Worthy Hobbies for Cheap People
6. Taylor Swift: Baking
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Taylor Swift Hobbies
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This 25-year-old multi-Grammy award-winning singer and songwriter has done more in her young life than most people could dream of doing in a lifetime. But surprisingly, she has a rather "normal" hobby: baking. On her Instagram, Swift likes to share pictures of her latest baked sweets, like her chai sugar cookies with cinnamon eggnog icing.
7. Richard Branson: Kitesurfing
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Richard Branson kitesurfing
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Richard Branson, founder of Virgin Group, talked to Business Insider about his love for kitesurfing when he's at home on Necker Island, his private island in the Caribbean. Branson's morning routine involves swimming around the island and going kitesurfing, his favorite sport. "If the wind's up, I might sneak off for another kitesurf during the day," he said.
8. Bill Wyman: Metal Detecting
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Bill Wyman metal detector
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Bill Wyman, former bassist of the Rolling Stones, must surely have one of the oddest hobbies out there: metal detecting. "Metal detecting is not just for anoraks or eccentrics; it's probably the best and most enjoyable way learning about our history," said Wyman in a press release announcing the Bill Wyman Signature Detector. He's the perfect example of someone who was able to turn their hobby into a money-making machine.
9. Simon Cowell: Tree Climbing
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Simon Cowell Hobbies
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The "X-Factor" judge and former "American Idol" judge hobbies mirror those of a 10-year-old boy. Simon Cowell told Nancy O'Dell from "Entertainment Tonight," "I climb trees, daily." As weird as it might sound, it might not be as weird as the fact that he also likes to watch cartoons, like "The Flintstones" and "The Jetsons," every morning.
10. Vin Diesel: Dungeons & Dragons
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Vin Diesel dungeons and dragons
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Vin Diesel, the actor known for the "Fast and Furious" franchise, likes to play the tabletop, role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons in his spare time. He even got to write the foreword of the book “30 of Adventure: A Celebration of Dungeons & Dragons.” And on his 48th birthday, Diesel celebrated with a cake designed as Dungeons & Dragons rule books.
11. Elon Musk: His Job
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Elon Musk Tesla
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Justine Musk, ex-wife of Elon Musk, told the New York Times that work is Elon's hobby. But take a minute to look at what he does, and then maybe it won't be so difficult to understand why: Elon was the co-founder of PayPal and founded SpaceX, which designs, manufactures and launches advanced rockets and spacecraft. One top of that, he is the current CEO of Tesla Motors. According to Forbes, Elon has an impressive net worth of $13 billion — it looks like his "hobby" is paying off big time.
12. Angelina Jolie: Collecting Daggers
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Angelina Jolie hobbies
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Angelina Jolie’s hobby is collecting daggers. She told W magazine in 2008 that her mom took her to buy her first daggers when she was 11 or 12. She introduced her eldest son, Maddox, to the art of dagger collection at a young age, but emphasized that the knife blades are dulled so they are not dangerous. Jolie also said that she accompanies knife purchases with discussions about violence, and “we also talk about samurais and about the idea of defending someone as good.”
13. Steve Wozniak: Segway Polo
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Steve Wozniak Segway Polo
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The Apple co-founder's unusual hobby is Segway polo, which is exactly as it sounds: polo on a Segway instead of horses with some hockey and soccer influences. "Segway polo is the one thing I will block off my calendar," Steve Wozniak told Quartz at the latest Woz Cup, the world championship of Segway polo.
14. Mark Cuban: Going to Basketball Games
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Mark Cuban Dallas Mavericks
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Here's another billionaire who turned his hobby into a job. Before buying the Dallas Mavericks NBA team, Mark Cuban was a dedicated basketball fan. "I was a season-ticket holder for probably six years before I finally sold broadcast.com to Yahoo!" he said. While sitting in the low-energy stadium, he thought to himself, "You know what? I can do a better job than this." Cuban has since become a huge voice in the sports world.
15. Oprah Winfrey: Taking a Bath
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Oprah Winfrey Hobbies
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Oprah Winfrey, billionaire media proprietor and talk show host, said that bathing is her hobby. "For years I've said I need a hobby, then I said, this is my hobby, I’m really good at it!” she said. Oprah's hobby shows us that a hobby needn't be challenging, complex or difficult to do. The most important thing is that it allows you to switch focus and enter a different state with the effect of relaxing and re-energizing you.
Keep reading: 21 Habits of Highly Successful Billionaires Like Warren Buffett and Mark Cuban
This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: 15 Favorite Hobbies of Successful People, Like Mark Cuban and Warren Buffett