Tapping into exponential productivity isn’t a trade secret kept under wraps by the world’s most successful people, but it takes a degree of focus, writes Scott Langley.
Let me ask you a question.
How long is your to-do list? What I mean is, how many projects are you currently working on?
If you are like most people, your list of active projects is longer than you’d like to admit. I’d bet this isn’t because you’re unproductive or not hard-working. If you’re reading this, the opposite is probably true.
So why do most of us wind up with a long list of projects, opportunities and things we’d like to get done? And if we’re honest, the list is often longer than we can get done in the time we really have available.
I believe two things drive it. On the one hand, we live in a time characterised by the ‘chaos of abundance’. We have never had more choices than we do today. Opportunities are more abundant than at any other time in history, and it’s unlikely we’ll be constrained anytime soon. In fact, our options are only likely to increase as we advance in our careers, and more opportunities will present themselves along with those options. And on the other hand, we lack the disciplines of simplicity and focus.
The net effect is that most people have nothing more than an impressive collection of ideas that they’re not making any real progress on achieving. A list like that only weighs on our minds and adds to our guilt, stress and can overwhelm us.
So, what can we do about it? How do we move the needle on our project list and experience exponential productivity?
Warren Buffet’s 5/25 rule
Warren Buffett is famously the most successful investor in the world. With a reported net worth of US$115.5 billion, he has achieved record-high returns and remained successful in a career spanning over six decades.
But Buffett isn’t just about investments either; he is famous for giving sage advice as well. The story below is told by one of Buffett’s employees – his personal pilot, Mike Flint.
Apparently, Buffett approached him after realising that Flint had been working for him for 10 years. Buffett joked, “The fact that you’re still working for me tells me I’m not doing my job.”
Wanting to discuss his pilot’s career goals and how he could help him achieve them, the billionaire asked Flint to conduct a simple exercise – one that would change the way he viewed his priorities forever.
The first step in the exercise was to list down 25 things that Flint wanted to accomplish in the foreseeable future.
Second, he asked to rank these goals in order of importance and circle the top five. Prioritising his goals was undoubtedly more challenging than listing them, but Flint managed it.
Having identified his top five goals, Flint was asked a seemingly simple question by his employer, “What are you going to do with the remaining 20 items?”
“Well, the top five are my primary focus, but the other 20 come a close second,” Flint explained. He said, “They are still important, so I’ll commit some time and energy to those intermittently as I see fit or when I can’t get to my top five. They are not as urgent, but I still plan to give them dedicated effort.”
Immediately, Buffett’s expression changed, and he responded sternly, “No. You’ve got it wrong, Mike. Everything you didn’t circle just became your avoid-at-all-costs list. No matter what, these things get no attention from you until you’ve succeeded with your top five.”
While the story may be apocryphal, the truth of the anecdote is undeniable. A ruthless commitment to a narrow set of priorities produces more significant results than spreading yourself too thin. Buffet says, “The difference between successful people and really successful people is that really successful people say no to almost everything.”
Conclusion
Your time and attention are your two most precious and finite resources. Rather than adding to your project list, take the time to eliminate items from it. Think deeply about what truly matters to you.
The 5/25 rule is an exercise in simplicity and focus that could leave your life better, easier and more prosperous.
We shouldn’t be quick to open every door of opportunity because not all will be right for us.
There will always be more good opportunities than we realistically have time for and, as Stephen Covey reminds us, “The good is the enemy of the best.”
This post is a truncated version of an original article that ran in the May/June edition of Meetings magazine, which you can access here. Scott Langley is a regular contributor to both Meetings and theplanner.guru. If you would like to learn more or get in touch with Scott, click here.
