The two-list strategy (the "Buffett 25/5 rule"): story and method

Write down 25 goals, circle the five that matter most, and treat the other twenty as things to stay away from. That's the whole two-list strategy. It's usually sold as Warren Buffett's secret, on the strength of one secondhand story. It still works, and it takes ten minutes and a pen.

The story, as it's usually told

In the popular telling, Mike Flint, said to have been Buffett's personal pilot for ten years, asked him for career advice. Buffett had him list his top 25 career goals, then circle five. Flint said he'd focus on the five and chip away at the other twenty in his spare time. Buffett told him the twenty were the real danger: goals he half-wanted, which would soak up his time and keep him from the five. Avoid them at all costs.

How solid the Buffett link is

Not very. Almost every version traces back to a 2014 blog post by James Clear, who said the story reached him through a friend, Scott Dinsmore, who heard it from Flint. That's a secondhand account. Buffett doesn't describe the exercise in his shareholder letters, and we couldn't find him confirming it anywhere. Read it as a parable with a famous name attached. The advice works the same either way.

How to do it

1. List 25 things you want: career goals, projects, skills, places. Don't edit as you go. The last eight or so are the hardest to come up with, and often the most honest.
2. Circle five. This should hurt a little.
3. Write "avoid" over the other twenty. That means not now, and not by accident.
4. Write the first small action for each of the five. "Learn Spanish" becomes "Sign up for the Tuesday evening class".
5. Redo the lists every few months, or whenever they stop feeling true.

Why it works

Bad ideas are easy to turn down. The goals that spread you thin are the good ones you half-want, and the avoid list names them in advance. When a tempting side project shows up in March, you can check the list. If it's one of the twenty, you already decided.

Five is also a number you can keep in your head on a busy day.

Where it falls short

• Some of the twenty might be duties, like your health or your family. The list is for ambitions; use common sense with the rest.
• Five big goals can still be too many. If they're all large, pick one to lead for the next month.
• It sets direction and says nothing about Tuesday. You still need a daily list.

After Plan it, tap the task and choose Edit to replace the note's title with the actual next step.

Keeping the avoid list in view

The list only helps if you see it when temptation does. Reread the note on the first of each month. When you save a video about one of your twenty, keep it if you like, but don't plan it. And when tomorrow's list has a task that serves none of the five, ask whether it's a real duty or one of the twenty sneaking back in.

For an outcome-first version of the same idea, try the rapid planning method. The Eisenhower matrix and the rest are compared in daily planning methods.