The 25/5 Priorities Rule
List 25 priorities, circle 5, and avoid the other 20 at all costs.
- Difficulty
- Starter
- Time to result
- ~days to results
- Steps
- 4
- Confidence
- 85%
Attributed to Warren Buffett, the 25/5 Rule forces ruthless prioritization. You write down your 25 biggest priorities, then circle only five. The crucial twist is that the uncircled 20 are not a to-do-later list, they are an avoid-at-all-costs list, because any energy spent on them distracts from the five that truly drive outcomes. Bloom pairs it with the observation that ambitious people sabotage themselves by taking on too much, getting less done, not more. The rule turns the seductive but secondary into things you consciously say no to.
Origin
Bloom credits the exercise to Warren Buffett and includes it in his book as a companion to the Energy Calendar for figuring out what actually matters versus what merely feels exciting.
Core principles
- 01The five things you circle are your true priorities.
- 02The other twenty are not a someday list; they are an avoid-at-all-costs list.
- 03Every ounce of energy on the uncircled twenty is a distraction from what matters.
- 04Ambitious people fail by taking on too much, not too little.
How to run it
- 1
List 25 priorities
Write down all 25 of your biggest priorities in life without filtering.
- 2
Circle only five
Force yourself to circle just the five that genuinely matter most.
- 3
Quarantine the other twenty
Treat the uncircled 20 as an avoid-at-all-costs list, not a backlog to get to later.
Watch out The 20 are dangerous precisely because they are attractive things you'd genuinely enjoy doing.
- 4
Concentrate your energy
Put your attention on the five and keep chipping at them over a long period rather than splitting focus.
In the wild
Bloom argues the popular idea of building 15 income streams spreads a little attention across each, versus concentrating heavy attention on two or three that could become huge.
→ He frames real success as identifying the one thing that matters and pouring energy into it over a long horizon.
Common mistakes
Treating the 20 as a later list
Keeping the uncircled items as future goals means they keep pulling energy away from your true five.
Saying yes because you want to
Wanting to do something is not enough; you must be able to decline even appealing options to protect focus.
Is it for you?
Best for
Ambitious people with a long list of exciting things they want to pursue.
Not ideal for
Those who genuinely need to explore broadly before they know what to commit to.
From the transcript
“the five things you circled are your true priorities... The other 20 things are your avoid at all costs list.”
“when you take on too much, you aren't actually getting more done, you are getting less done.”
From the episode
Sahil Bloom: The 5 Types of Wealth You Need to Design Your Dream Life
Sahil Bloom