Discover Your Life Priorities in 3 Easy Steps: A Fulfillment Guide
Warren Buffett’s 25/5 Advice Could Change Your Life [Free Infographic Included]
The world is on a slippery slope. It is changing fast. And if you don’t know how to deal with it, it may eat you alive.
Social networks are more tempting than ever. Social marketing can create needs you didn’t even know you had. And if you don’t know your life priorities, everybody will try to suck the attention out of your eyes.
You will be lost forever if you forget your life priorities in this social and attention game. Therefore, discovering them in time and keeping them under control is fundamental.
A few months ago, I was reading a list of advice from the most successful people on Earth. And I found one from Warren Buffett that immediately caught my attention.
It was fast, simple, and effective. I applied it in a few minutes, and it changed my perspective on goals. And I wish to give you the same tools. But first, let me introduce you to the man himself.
Today’s newsletter is about discording your life priorities thanks to the Pilot Story. But first, I wanted to thank all the paid subscribers of this week. You guys are making my dreams come true, and I hope I can deliver some exclusive content for you soon. Thank you.
Why should you listen to Warren Buffett’s life advice?
Warren Buffett is one of the greatest investors of our time. His investment choices made him a rich man. And nobody seems to match him in terms of financial outcomes.
Over the past years, he released many interviews about his discipline and strategies. Besides all the financial advice, he also shared self-improvement and personal growth suggestions.
One, in particular, caught my attention – a piece shared by his pilot (then named The Pilot Story). Buffet used it to show people how to find their purpose. And although his advice is not rocket science, he succeeded in life. So, he must have understood something most people ignore.
Therefore, I will rephrase his advice, hoping to provide a few tools to find your life priorities in such an attention-addictive world.
The 25/5 Advice from Warren Buffett
Mike Flint was Warren Buffett’s pilot for ten years. During their many flights, Flint shared his life priorities once. And Buffett asked him to test his priorities with a 3-step exercise. Only in this way could Flint be sure of the importance of his goals.
Buffett’s advice is nothing special. Its simplicity is its main strength. But his 3-step plan can help you spot your life priorities right away.
So, let’s jump right into it.
1 – Write 25 life goals.
Writing 25 goals is the first step of the exercise. And even if it seems simple, you will notice it will become challenging after the first few.
Twenty-five goals are a lot. You will need to dig deep to find a way to fill all the spaces. So here are a few suggestions from me:
Consider career, family, passions, self-care, personal growth, finance, love, and friends goals. All these categories could hide some life goals you want to achieve.
Start with one life purpose and try to understand if many goals hide inside it. If they do, split them.
You can include materialistic goals like the house and car of your dreams.
Be as specific as possible. Even if you don’t want to write the reasons, dig deep to understand the motivations of your choice.
2 – Circle the five highest-priority goals.
Now that you have found your 25 life goals, you must pick only five of them you value above everything else.
If finding 25 goals was challenging, figuring out the most important ones would be even worse. The first two or three will be simple. You won’t struggle to find them because they are your life purpose, and you often think about them. But then, you must pick the remaining ones between more than 20 goals.
Here is my advice.
Start by excluding the last goals you added to the list. Usually, those are the goals that matter less to you.
Understand if there are mutually exclusive goals. For example, if you have a successful career, you can afford a big house. Reaching the first goal, you may also accomplish the second.
And if you still haven’t reduced the list to only five goals, cut goals without second thoughts. Any second you spend thinking about what you will renounce will make removing goals from the list harder.
3 – Avoid the other 20 goals at all costs.
The third step is the key to Buffett’s advice – the swing that changes everything.
Your life is full of things you want to achieve. You may have understood that by now. But your time and focus are limited. And you can only accomplish that much.
But how can I make this easy for you?
I don’t think I can.
The 20 goals you left out are the distractions that will fight for your focus. Here, I said it.
The 20 remaining goals you didn’t pick will try to distract you. So avoid them at all costs. Otherwise, you will never achieve your five life priorities.
Here is some advice from me.
Make two lists with your five life goals and their 20 potential distractions, and keep them somewhere you can see them.
You can make adjustments, but you can only do it twice: now and when you reach one of the five goals. Switching too much transforms life goals into other failures.
The Challenge of the Week
Follow Buffett’s advice to find your 5 life priorities and their 20 distractions.
1 - Write 25 life goals.
2 - Circle the five highest-priority goals.
3 - Avoid the other 20 goals at all costs.
Use this infographic to track your progress.
Before You Go
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Stay consistent and stay strong.
Cosmin.