What Warren Buffett Taught Me About Setting Goals (And Achieving Them)
Warren Buffett is famous for his wit and wisdom on all things business, investing, and personal success. One of his most powerful insights is also one of his simplest. It‘s a lesson he taught his pilot, Mike Flint, about the importance of focus and prioritization when it comes to setting and achieving goals.
As the story goes, Buffett asked Flint to go through a 3-step exercise:
- Write down your top 25 career goals
- Circle the 5 most important ones
- Put the other 20 on a "not to-do list" and avoid them at all costs until you‘ve succeeded at your top 5
Flint was surprised by the last step. Avoid the other 20 goals entirely? Buffett‘s rationale was that the only way to truly excel is to focus relentlessly on your highest priorities and say no to everything else. He knew that execution and excellence depend on elimination.
The Perils of Too Many Goals
This advice flies in the face of how most of us approach our goals. We want to do more, achieve more, and improve everything that matters to us. So we make long lists of all the ways we want to enhance our careers, finances, health, relationships, and more.
The problem? Trying to focus on too many goals at once significantly reduces our chances of success. Research has shown that spreading your efforts across multiple goals leads to the achievement of fewer goals overall.
For example, a study by the University of Pennsylvania found that MBA students who set specific, challenging goals for their job search received more job offers and earned higher starting salaries compared to their classmates. However, these positive effects went away for students who set multiple goals. The more goals they set, the fewer offers they received.
Similarly, research on New Year‘s Resolutions has found that people who make multiple resolutions are less likely to succeed compared to those who focus on changing a single behavior. According to one study, only around 12% of people who make resolutions are successful even though over half were confident they would succeed at the outset.
There are several psychological reasons why pursuing too many goals backfires:
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Cognitive overload: The more goals we pursue, the more we have to shift our focus and energy. This constant context switching taxes our mental resources and diminishes our performance.
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Decision fatigue: When we set too many goals, we have to make more choices throughout the day about what to prioritize. This leads to decision fatigue, which drains our willpower and discipline over time.
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Lack of momentum: Seeing clear progress is one of the biggest motivators to keep working towards a goal. But when we spread ourselves too thin, it takes longer to make tangible progress on any one goal. This makes it harder to stay engaged and committed.
In short, the more we try to do, the less we end up actually doing. Choosing a small number of essential goals is far more effective than overwhelming ourselves with a laundry list of ambitions.
The Power of a "Not To-Do List"
This is where Buffett‘s advice to create a "not to-do list" comes in. By purposefully identifying the goals and activities you will avoid, you free up massive time and energy to go all-in on what matters most.
One way to think about this is through the lens of the Pareto Principle, also known as the 80/20 rule. In any domain, roughly 80% of outcomes come from 20% of inputs. Some examples:
- 80% of a company‘s profits come from 20% of its customers
- 80% of a team‘s results come from 20% of its activities
- 80% of your success and fulfillment comes from 20% of your relationships and experiences
The key is to identify the 20% that drives the bulk of your results and double down on those vital few inputs. At the same time, proactively eliminate or minimize the 80% of things that deliver minimal value. This is the essence of a not to-do list.
Creating your own not to-do list involves 3 steps:
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Brainstorm: Write down all the goals you‘re considering pursuing in the next year or two. Don‘t filter or judge at this stage, just get everything out of your head.
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Prioritize: Review your list and highlight the 20% of goals that will deliver 80% of the results and fulfillment you desire. These are your vital few goals that deserve disproportionate focus.
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Eliminate: Take the remaining 80% of your goals and put them on your "not to-do list" — the things you commit to avoiding for now so you can focus on your highest leverage activities.
Of course, this is simple to write out but incredibly hard to execute. It takes tremendous discipline and focus to say no to lots of good goals so you can say a resounding yes to a few exceptional ones.
But this focused approach is how the world‘s most fulfilled achievers operate. Consider:
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Warren Buffett: Personally reviews the 1000‘s of investment opportunities Berkshire Hathaway receives each year but says no to nearly all of them. Makes only a few big bets on his very best ideas.
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Steve Jobs: When he returned to Apple in 1997, he took the company‘s complex product lineup of dozens of computers and slashed it down to just 4. This allowed Apple to focus its efforts on developing category-defining products like the iMac and iPhone.
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Avinash Kaushik: Digital marketing evangelist at Google who popularized the concept of a "Stop Doing List" — 3-5 things you consciously choose not to do so you can focus on your most impactful work and achieve "massive productivity gains."
The art of achieving more is doing less. Do less to do your best.
How to Stay Focused and Say No
While creating a not to-do list is a crucial step, the real magic happens in the execution. You have to fiercely protect your time and focus to avoid getting derailed by distractions and other people‘s priorities.
Some tips for staying focused on your vital few goals:
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Schedule deep work: Block off several hours each week for uninterrupted work on your top goals. Turn off notifications, find a quiet space, and focus single-mindedly on your most important tasks.
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Set clear boundaries: Be transparent with colleagues, friends and family about your goals and your need to say no more often. Ask for their support and understanding.
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Audit your time: Track how you‘re spending your time for a week. Notice how much of it goes towards your 80% goals versus your 20% goals. Use this data to reallocate your time and energy.
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Review frequently: Check in with your goals and not to-do list weekly. Celebrate your progress, troubleshoot obstacles, and course correct as needed. The more you review them, the more focused and motivated you‘ll stay.
Remember, your not to-do list is a compass that points you in the direction of your true north. Use it to guide your daily decisions and actions. Whenever you‘re tempted to veer off course, consult your not to-do list and ask if this activity supports your most critical goals. If not, have the courage to say no.
Putting It Into Practice
Ultimately, achieving exceptional results in any area of life requires exceptional focus. Trying to do too many things leads to overwhelm, dilution of effort, and minimal progress. The antidote is radical elimination and relentless prioritization.
Buffett‘s not to-do list strategy is a simple yet powerful way to clarify what‘s truly important and channel your finite energy into a small number of goals that really move the needle. By being purposeful about what you choose to ignore, you give yourself the bandwidth to pursue what you value most.
Of course, simple doesn‘t mean easy. Focused execution is hard. Saying no is hard. But hard is what makes it valuable. The ability to zero in on the essential few is a hallmark of high achievers across every domain.
So get crystal clear on your vital few goals. Put everything else on your not to-do list. Stay committed in the face of distraction and temptation. Your reward will be outsized results and personal fulfillment. In the wise words of Warren Buffett:
"The difference between successful people and really successful people is that really successful people say no to almost everything."
What will you say no to today so you can pursue your biggest yes?
