Warren Buffett's #1 Rule for Focus

Today’s Theme: The Power of Elimination

Most people don’t struggle with ambition, they struggle with focus. It’s easy to set goals and dream big, but the real challenge is in the execution. What separates the good from the great isn’t how much they take on, but how well they protect their ability to prioritize.

Today’s message is all about why fewer priorities lead to greater progress and why success depends less on how much you do and more on how consistently you focus on what truly matters.

Warren Buffett’s Advice on Priorities

There’s a famous story about Warren Buffett and his personal pilot, Mike Flint.

Frustrated by his lack of professional progress, Flint asked Buffett how to set better goals. Buffett proceeded to describe a very simple 3-step approach to help Flint.

1. He advised him to write down his top 25 life goals.

2. Circle the 5 that mattered most.

3. Avoid the other 20 at all costs.

His advice was direct, but clear. He emphasized the point of this exercise isn’t to postpone “the other 20” and “save them for later.”

Buffett explained that our biggest threat isn’t failure, but rather it’s distraction. We don’t lose focus to the bad things, we lose it to the “pretty good” ones. Those middle-tier goals feel productive, but drain time, energy, and attention from what actually moves the needle.

Success is less about what you say “yes” to and more about how often you say “no.”

His advice reinforces the notion that most people don’t fail from lack of effort, they fail because they spread that effort too thin. They confuse being busy with being effective.

It’s like sitting in a rocking chair: There’s plenty of motion, but you don’t actually go anywhere. Performers do their own version of this all the time. They become preoccupied with lots of activity, but then get disappointed by the limited progress.

The Brain’s Bandwidth Problem

When your focus is divided across too many goals, your brain’s prefrontal cortex (the region responsible for planning and decision-making) has to keep switching between tasks. That constant switching burns energy and slows performance.

It’s a bit like having too many computer browser tabs open at once. Every new tab drains processing power and bouncing between them makes the system lag. You can’t give full attention to any one thing when ten others are competing for it.

High performers resist this trap by getting good at subtraction and reducing how many things they give their attention. They protect their mental bandwidth the way a computer protects processing speed, which starts by closing unnecessary tabs.

Arguably, your most important priority is protecting your ability to prioritize. That’s how you sustain focus and make decisions that actually move you forward.

A Framework for Protecting Your Time and Focus

Here’s a simple system you can use to bring Buffett’s lesson to life. This framework isn’t about making a prettier to-do list. It’s about creating a system that protects your attention and channels your best energy toward what matters most.

1. Audit (See what’s really on your plate) – Start by writing down your current goals and priorities. Don’t edit or filter. Just name what’s competing for your focus.

2. Anchor (Identify your vital few) – Circle the goals and priorities that move the needle most. These become your anchor points or the priorities that guide where your time, energy, and attention go first.

3. Align (Design your calendar around your anchors) – Audit your calendar, routines, and habits. What gets time gets importance. Make sure your schedule reflects your actual priorities, not your distractions.

4. Abandon (Let go of what no longer fits) – This is the hard one. This last part is where you see high performers distinguish themselves through discipline. You’ll notice projects, goals, or commitments that don’t align with your anchors. The temptation is to keep them alive because you’ve already invested time or energy (aka the “sunk-cost bias” at work). Great performers don’t quit easily, but they do quit strategically.

Something Worth Considering: If the only things we knew about you were your daily routines and how you spend your time (not what you say), what would we assume your priorities are?

Final Thoughts:

The discipline of ignoring can be harder than the discipline of doing. Buffett’s wisdom wasn’t in making to-do lists, it was in making don’t-do lists.

Every day, you get a new chance to recommit to what matters and de-commit from what doesn’t.

Inspiration for This Piece:

• McKeown, G. (2014). Essentialism: The disciplined pursuit of less. First edition. Crown Business.

The Threshold Lab:

Here’s a quick rundown of last week’s episodes on The Threshold Lab Podcast.

• Interview with Phil Beckner, NBA High Performance Consultant and Player Development Coach (56 min)

• Are You Playing “From” or “For” Victory? (5 min)

• Fight One More Round (8 min)

• The One Word That Strengthens Emotional Agility (6 min)

• Getting Over vs. Getting Through (5 min)

You can listen to all past episodes here: The Threshold Lab Podcast.

With gratitude,

ZB