Warren Buffett’s 5/25 rule is a three-step method to identify & focus on your goals and priorities in life. Because you get what you focus on.

And if you think you don’t have to prioritize and put a singular focus on your career goals, you need to keep reading.

The 5-25 Rule is one of the secrets of success used by Billionaire Warren Buffett which he famously explained to his pilot Mike Flint. 

If you want to be successful, you need the 5/25 rule to get clear about your top-priorities in life.
Focus is how you can accomplish your long term goals.

Too many goals only lead to failure

Most of us have too many interests on our to-do list to still be efficient.
Thanks to the internet, any information, tutorials, or blogs on any given topic are just one click away.

This can even get exhausting, so make sure you listen when your body tells you you need a break.

Having on-demand access is awesome, but it’s also distracting. And our attention span got much shorter in the process.

So clearly, we need to prioritize and lay off secondary goals.
It’s overwhelming to stay on top of all the things you have to, should, and want to do.

Too much to do sets you up for failure. The result is procrastination, a guilty conscience, frustration, and stress.

So what is the secret to success? People who succeed set goals they commit to and that are actionable.

The 5/25 rule helps you avoid goal overwhelm

It’s getting clear that you have to choose your goals and tasks wisely.

So we’ll skip to-do lists and other time management tools here because they don’t reduce your workload.

You need to be drastic and get rid of all the activities that don’t serve your most important goals. You have to focus on your top goals and priorities..

This can be especially hard when you are interested in many different things. 

But you have to prioritize if you want to be successful. You need to plan and stick to your goals which will take a lot of dedicated effort.

And this is where Buffett’s 5/25 rule comes in. It helps you clean up your secondary priorities and put your primary focus on the most important tasks.

Spoiler alert: it can be a heartwrenching exercise because you’ll have to give up a few “projects”, at least for now.

Multitasking is a myth. The key to achieving your goals is quality over quantity.
Too many tasks lead to too little progress. They are just distractions.

Use selective focus to set your goals and priorities

The 5/25 rule will help you discover which goals truly matter to you, so you can finally make real progress.

So, here is a simple 3-step exercise you need to do.

5/25 Rule Step 1: Write down your top 25 goals

Ask yourself what you want to accomplish in the future. List the most important things you’d like to achieve in your life.

It doesn’t have to be exactly 25, but try to get all your dreams on paper. They can be specific career goals, but also life goals.
Like:

• Be a singer
• Run a marathon
• Build a network
• Get a degree
• Be a manager
• Volunteer
• Become a lecturer
• Learn an instrument
• Become an IT expert
• Publish papers
• Build an empire
• …

5/25 Rule Step 2: Find your Top 5 priorities on this list

From this looong list of goals, pick the top 5 goals you want to achieve more than anything.

Decide what matters most to you and circle it. And no cheating, it can’t be more than 5 goals. You don’t get a “close second” 6th goal. This goal-setting technique relies on your discipline.

Make sure your 5 circled goals are your absolute priorities and that you can’t live without them.

5/25 Rule Step 3: Everything that’s not your Top 5 priorities in life gets the ax

Now it’s time to forget about all the goals you didn’t circle. They just became your avoid at all cost list.
It may cause you some sweat and tears, but the 5/25 rule’s secret to success is ruthlessness.

You get what you focus on, so if you try too many things at once, you’ll get distracted. No focus = no success.

You can’t dedicate any time to these less important goals. Don’t think you can squeeze them in.

You’d waste precious time you should invest in one of your Top 5 goals.

If you want to achieve your top goals, you need to be laser-focused.
You can’t be distracted by the other “stuff” you’d also like to do.

This means an ironclad commitment to your Top 5 goals that may take years to reach.

So you have to review your goals regularly to make sure you manage your time correctly.

Until your top 5 goals are achieved, avoid other activities at all costs.
Is 5 an arbitrary number? Maybe.

But Warren Buffett probably knows his stuff. So why not give the 5/25 rule a try? The right focus will help you achieve your goals.

The 5-25 rule is not the only tool to help you prioritize

Warren Buffett’s 5/25 rule isn’t the only trick to help you with your business goals. There’s another rule you can use to prioritize your goals and objectives.

Let’s talk about Pareto’s 80/20 rule

According to Pareto’s principle, also known as the 80/20 rule, 20% of your actions produce 80% of your results.

The remaining 80% of your actions take up most of your time but actually have little impact on your life.
So that’s another important reason why you should focus on your priorities in life.

Free time and willpower are finite resources.

If you concentrate on your most important goals (and eliminate all the other things you’d love to do) you significantly improve your chances of success.

Work smarter, not harder.

You get what you focus on

If you’re distracted, you can’t get what you really want. 

Would you rather make real progress and succeed?
Or muddle through, working a bit on this and a bit on that?

Your organizational skills probably don’t suck. You’re splitting your energy between too many tasks.
For true success you have to concentrate on a small number of things.

Maybe it’s time to go on an activity diet and practice some serious selective focus. 

The secret to success is not only to know what to do but to identify what not to do.
Say “no” to unessential things and do more of what matters.

Every “maybe” should automatically become a “no”. If it’s not a “hell yes” for you, it is a “no”.

Warren Buffett’s 5/25 rule leads to effective goal setting by making (tough) choices and eliminating overwhelm.

Do you agree that you get what you focus on? Do you think the 5:25 rule can help you get what you want?

Regards,

PS: Here  Buffett explains the 5-25 rule to his airplane pilot Mike Flint 

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