Warren Buffett’s ‘2 List Rule’ Will Change The Way You Look At Your Goals
Setting goals is crucial to success, but millions of people struggle with writing down a specific list of goals for 3 months, 6 months, or a year.
The biggest problem usually involves the actual goals that should go on the list and the specific order.
Warren Buffett’s brilliant “2 List Rule” eliminates that problem and many more issues that may spring up along the way.
Buffett’s “2 List Rule” was inspired by a discussion with his longtime pilot, a man named Mike Flint.
The story goes that Flint was talking to his boss about his career priorities when Buffett told the aviator to sit down and use this 3-step exercise for setting goals.
Step 1: Buffett told Flint to sit down and write his 25 career goals. This exercise will work with any goals – life, career, education, money, fitness, or anything you feel need specific focus.
Step 2: Study the list and circle the five most important goals on the list.
Step 3: Make a new list of the top five goals and a second list of the 20 other goals.
Flint assumed this exercise was to figure out the five most important goals and work on those first and work on the other 20 goals when he had the extra time.
When the pilot told this to Buffett, he found out he was wrong about the second list.
“No. You’ve got it wrong, Mike. Everything you didn’t circle just became your Avoid-At-All-Cost list. No matter what, these things get no attention from you until you’ve succeeded with your top 5.”
Why Does Buffett’s “2 List Rule” Work?
Warren Buffett’s rule is brilliant for many reasons.
First, it forces a person to get everything out on paper. Putting pen to paper always makes things seem more real and concrete.
Second, the process of circling the five most important forces a person to decide which objectives truly need focus and attention and which goals can be set aside for a little while.
Buffett’s “2 List Rule” quickly brings people to the realization that it’s impossible for humans to juggle too many projects at one time and creates a detailed list of goals to avoid, at least for the time being.
And finally, the “2 List Rule” works because once the first five goals at reached, a person already has a list of 20 more goals from which to choose the next five goals.
Pretty damn smart.