It's hard to ignore the success that Microsoft Founder Bill Gates has had in the last 25 years. If you really want to become rich like Bill Gates, who is worth an estimated $58 billion, be prepared to dedicate your life to something about which you are so passionate that you live it, breathe it and dream about it every day. Only then will you have the discipline and the focus to commit your life to changing the way the world sees a particular problem or industry. In the case of Bill Gates, his mission was to improve the average family's access to technology. Now he focuses on using his wealth to improve the quality of life for families around the world through his foundation.

Discover your passion at a very early age. Bill Gates discovered programming and software at age 13. In his 1996 memoir, "The Road Ahead," Gates talks about creating his first computer program at this age, a tic-tac-toe game coded in BASIC programming language. At that time, computer use was rented, and Gates was so passionate about computing that he created a hack to bypass the operating system at the Computer Center Corporation (CCC) to gain free computing time.

Study and read as much as you can. While Bill Gates is often referenced as a "college drop-out" for leaving Harvard to pursue his entrepreneurial dreams, he was still a top academic performer. He credits his success with reading and engaging in academia. In high school, Gates scored 1590 out of 1600 on the Standardized Achievement Test (SAT).

Start your own company and believe that it has the opportunity to change the world. Bill Gates started Microsoft with the belief that the company would not stop until every home and office desk had a personal computer. Given that lofty goal, Gates and partner Paul Allen had to work tirelessly to make it happen.

Share your knowledge to become an eminent leader in your industry. In 1999, Bill Gates wrote "Business @ the Speed of Thought," which illustrated his ideas about computing and how it could shape business and the world. The book went on to be translated into 25 languages and made available in 60 countries.

Diversify to grow your wealth. In addition to creating one of the world's most successful companies, Bill Gates founded Corbis, an archive of digital art and photography that sells the rights to use its catalog. He is also involved in a private investment firm and a nuclear reactor design company, as well as sitting on the Board of Directors for Berkshire Hathaway Inc., which invests in a wide range of businesses.