Euthanize your goals
Photo by Bastian Pudill on Unsplash
Got goals?
Yeah, I assumed so. We all do. Chances are, you have a few too many for the time available for you. I know I do. That’s the price of curiosity, the price of committing to lifelong learning and growth. Goals help us understand where we get to. They give us a North Star. As Ryan Holiday says “Having an end in mind is no guarantee that you’ll reach it…but not having an end in mind is a guarantee you won’t.”
In this age of infinite wisdom, available for free (if you can sort the wheat from the chaff), it’s never been easier to say “I should learn digital marketing”, or “I should learn french”, or “I should get in shape”
Listening to the wise words of Dereks Sivers, he spoke about the dark side of having goals. What if you have too many goals?
“Let go of EVERY GOAL you can. All of the “maybe” and “someday” and “in my spare time” goals. EUTHANIZE them all…They’re TEARING YOU APART.”
This “dark side” of goal setting can be detrimental to progress. Those goals become a constant draw of energy as you remember to yourself over and over “Ah, I really want to learn French” or “Ah, I really want to get good at golf”. Words such as “Really want to” are wish-words, and if a goal doesn’t make you take action in the present, it might be wise to let it go.
When we say no, we say no to 1 thing. When we say yes, we say no to 1000 things. Make the things you say yes to really, really, worth it.
This idea is echoed in the words of Warren Buffet, one of the most successful investors of all time. It’s been called “The 5/25 Strategy”. The story of where it came from goes as follows:
A few years ago, before an airplane takeoff, Warren Buffett walked up to the pilot of his private jet, Mike Flint and jokingly said to him, “The fact that you’re still working for me, tells me I’m not doing my job. You should be out, going after more of your goals and dreams.”
Buffett then walked Flint through a simple, quick process to gain clarity on his priorities and achieve his goals.
First he got him to write down his top 25 goals. These were the most important career goals he wanted to achieve in his lifetime.
Next he asked Flint to draw a circle around his top 5 goals. Flint was hesitant because each goal was important to him, but nevertheless, he circled five goals.
Then, Buffett asked, “Are you sure these are the absolute highest priority for you.” Flint replied, “Yes. These are the most important things in my life right now. I’m going to get to work on them right away. I’ll start tomorrow. Actually, no I’ll start tonight.”
Buffett replied, “but what about these other 20 things on your list that you didn’t circle? What is your plan for completing those?” Flint replied swiftly, “Well the top five are my primary focus but the other twenty come in at a close second. They are still important so I’ll work on those intermittently as I see fit as I’m getting through my top 5. They are not as urgent but I still plan to give them dedicated effort.”
After a brief moment of silence, Buffett looked straight into Flint’s eyes and said, “No. You’ve got it wrong Steve. Everything you didn’t circle just became your ‘avoid at all cost list’. No matter what, these things get no attention from you until you’ve succeeded with your top 5.”
So if your goal is to grow your business, using this 5/25 strategy, you write down the top 25 goals for your business e.g. to create new products, invest in innovation etc. Then, you circle the top 5 goals and focus on these only.
Our time and energy are limited. Yet, we often ignore this fact and instead commit ourselves to chasing too many goals at the same time, and spreading ourselves too thin. We lose focus, get distracted, and before we know it, none of our goals are happening. We further lose momentum, and down and down we go until we give up on those goals altogether.
The “5/25 Strategy” above is a simple and effective way to prioritize and achieve your most important goals in your life. The whole point is - it’s not what you do, it’s what’s you don’t do, that gets you where you need to go.
Back to Derek for a second. It’s worth mentioning that Derek is also the originator of the modern classic quote “Either ‘HELL YEAH!’ or ‘No’”. Saying No can seem like closing a door to opportunity, but what if it’s the way to succeed?
Eat more vegetables. Drink more water. Say No more. That way simplicity lies.
