With more than $ 50 billion in the bank account, Warren Buffett continues to rank among the richest people in the world. Of all investors in the 20th century, for now it is the most successful.
One of the reasons for these results is Buffett's excellent assessment of what to pay attention to during the day. From a financial point of view, we can say that he invests his time better than anyone else.
The philosophy behind the story below shared by his employee clearly illustrates the essence of his time management approach.
What exactly is it about?
For the three-step productivity strategy that Warren Buffett uses to help herself and her employees prioritize and act without delay.
The story of Mike Flint
Mike Flint was a personal pilot of Warren Buffett for ten years. (Flint also served four US presidents, so let's say he is good at his job.) Flint says that during a conversation about his professional priorities with Buffett, the billionaire asked the pilot to go through an exercise of three easy steps .
Here's how it works:
STEP 1:
Buffett made Flint write his 25 goals in life and career. The pilot took some time to do so.
STEP 2 :
Buffett then asked Flint to review his list and to fence five of these targets as more significant . Flint again took some time to review the list and finally decided what the five most important goals were.
Note : If you are sitting at home, pause right now and take the first two steps before going to step 3 of this article.
STEP 3 :
At this point, Flint already had two lists. The five elements that had been enclosed were List A, and the 20 elements that were not enclosed were List B.
The pilot confirmed that he would start working on the five top goals immediately.
Then Buffett asked him about the second list:
"" What about those who did not surround yourself? "
Flint replied:
"- Well, the top 5 are my main focus and the other 20 are second. They are also important, so I will work on them periodically as I see fit. They are not so urgent, but I still intend to devote a lot of effort to them. "
Which Buffett replied:
" - No. You're wrong, Mike. Everything you did not enclose turns into a list of "Avoid doing these things at all costs". These things do not matter to you until you succeed with your top 5 goals. "
The Power of Elimination
I believe in minimalism and simplicity.
I like to remove unnecessary. I think removal of insignificant is one of the best ways to make life easier, to make good habits automatic and to be grateful for what you have. - Warren Buffett
To say that we will get rid of minor tasks and solutions is relatively easy. But the truth is that removing things you care about is difficult.
It is difficult to prevent the use of your time for things that are easy to rationalize , but they are of little use.
Tasks that are most likely to fail your progress are those that interest you but are not as important at the same time.
Every behavior has a price.
Even neutral behavior is not really neutral.
It takes time, energy, and space to focus on better behavior or more important tasks. We often hurry to just move instead of doing something meaningful.
That's why Buffett's strategy is brilliant.
Points 6 to 25 in your list are the things you care about. They are important to you, so it is very easy to justify spending time on them. But when you compare them with your first 5 primary goals, they fade.
Spending time on your secondary priorities is the reason you have 20 semi-finished projects instead of 5 completed.
Eliminate mercilessly.
Focus. Complete the task or kill it. The most dangerous distractions are those you love but do not fit your senses.