Key takeaways
- The saying “less is more” is really about focus.
- People lose focus on getting ahead in life because they have FOMO or TOMS. In other words, they try to do too much at once.
- Warren Buffett’s 5/25 rule can help you focus on what’s important right now and ignore the rest.
- Write down your top 25 goals. Circle the top five and avoid the other 20 at all costs.
- By focusing on those top five, you can achieve the powerful focus you need to successfully move forward and achieve your goals.
Have you ever heard the saying “less is more”? You may have and it’s actually true, but maybe not in the way you think. It’s really about focus. What causes people to lose focus of getting ahead in life? Sometimes it’s FOMO—Fear Of Missing Out. Some people call it TOMS, which is a more colorful acronym—Terrified Of Missing S**t. Either way, when we lose focus, it’s because we tend to try to do too much.
This tendency to do too much brings up a story from years ago about Warren Buffett and his signature 5/25 rule. In the story, Buffett sat down with his pilot, Mike Flint, who had worked for him for a full 10 years at the time. During the conversation, Buffett eventually said, “Tell me how you operate. What’s your way of getting ahead?” The pilot replied, “Hey, I don’t know. Can you help me out?”
In response, Buffett gave his pilot a simple exercise to do. In this exercise, you write a list of your top 25 goals. Then you circle the top five and proceed to specifically avoid the other 20 at all costs. In other words, don’t pay any attention or give any energy to those other 20, just focus on the top five.
That narrowing of focus is very important. To know this, all I have to do is look at my own life. Many years ago, I had numerous goals, and now I’m down to just a handful. It just doesn’t make sense to try to focus on so many things at once. It saps your energy and splits up your resources, so you don’t achieve that powerful focus. Without that powerful focus, you can’t really dive deep into an area and actually achieve something that’s important to you.
I didn’t know this about Warren Buffett and only recently came across this story, but it’s very good advice. So if you’re out there saying, “I really want to get ahead in life and I really want to work to achieve my goals,” this 5/25 exercise is a good place to start. Write down the top 25, circle the top five, and completely avoid the rest until all top five are achieved. Doing this will help you avoid FOMO or TOMS and will greatly increase the likelihood that you’ll move forward and achieve meaningful success. Until next time, enjoy.
Gary
