Buffett's Two Lists (2024)

Buffett's Two Lists (4)

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Buffett's Two Lists (5)

Buffett's Two Lists (6)

Overview

"The difference between successful people and really successful people is that really successful people say no to almost everything." – Warren Buffett.

Like Charles Munger, Warren Buffett advocates for and uses the Latticework of Mental Models approach that drives ModelThinkers. Buffett’s Two Lists model speaks to his ability to ruthlessly prioritise and say 'no' to tempting, even important tasks that take away from his main focus.

Buffett’s Two Listsis a productivity, prioritisation and focusing approach where you write down your top 25 goals; circle your 5 highest priorities; then focus on those 5 while ‘avoiding at all costs’ doing anything on the remaining 20.

BACKSTORY: BUFFETT'S PILOT.

This model comes from a post by Scott Dinsmore who described a conversation between a Buffett and his pilot. According to Scott, when ‘Steve’, Buffett’s pilot sought Buffett’s advice, Buffett asked Steve to list the top 25 things he wanted to do in the next few years or even his lifetime. Once done, Buffetttt told Steve to circle his absolute top 5 priorities.

Steve assumed that he would focus on the top 5 but that he’d still find a way to work on some of the remaining 20, even in small ways.

RUTHLESS PRIORITISATION.

Buffett reportedly replied by saying: “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.

IN YOUR LATTICEWORK.

Buffett’s Two Lists is a prioritisation model, so has some connections to other prioritisation models including the Pareto Principle and Impact vs Effort Matrix.

You can combine it with the Circle of Competence to focuson and improving your strengths, indeed that combination is something that is a favourite of both Buffett and Charles Munger.

If you're finding it too hard to implement, you might also try and combinethis model with Parkinson's Law to Timebox or implement Forced Functions on your list before rotating them — though I suspect Buffett wouldn't recommend that.

Share this model with your network to be smarter, faster, together!

Actionable Takeaways

  • Make a list of your top 25 priorities.

You might apply this to a specific project or timeframe, or consider your broader life goals.

  • Circle your highest 5 priorities.

These are the things that must be accomplished and drive you.

  • Focus on your top 5 and avoid the other 20 at all costs.

This isn’t just about what you do, it’s about how you say no to those tempting secondary priorities to achieve real focus.

  • When you achieve 1 of your top 5, add a new goal from the 20.

This list is a work in progress, something on the ‘avoid at all cost’ list might become a priority as you achieve your top 5.

Limitations

While this dedicated focus is potentially powerful, by avoiding the 20 lesser priorities you might miss opportunities to find links or move them forward in the process of working on your ‘big 5’. It might also be too inflexible, and not allow for updating priorities or taking advantage of opportunities that might open up making your ‘20 list’ more possible or desirable.

In Practice

Buffett.

In some ways, this seems to link with the way Buffett and Munger apply the circle of competence. They seem to practice ruthless prioritisation. That said, it’s hard to track down specific examples of this model as it would involve what Buffett has not done.

Build your latticework

This model will help you to:

Buffettt’s two list model is a simple mental model that can be life changing if applied to life goals.

Use the following examples of connected and complementary models to weave Buffett’s two list model into your broader latticework of mental models. Alternatively, discover your own connections by exploring the category list above.

Connected models:

  • The pareto principle: in identifying highest value options, or your ‘top 5’.
  • Eisenhower matrix: in identifying high priority and high importance.
  • Kano or RICE score: in applying prioritisation to product development.

Complementary models:

  • Kanban: tracking priorities in a more dynamic, iterative approach.
  • Golden circle and Ikigai: in establishing purpose.

Origins & Resources

As noted in the overview, this model comes from Scott Dinsmore’s post here. I’m aware that it’s essentially a third-hand story - from the pilot to Scott, to us. But it’s grown in popularity and Buffett hasn’t corrected it. Either way, it’s a useful model for prioritisation so worth the inclusion.

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FAQs

What is the Buffett's two list rule? ›

Buffett presented a three-step exercise to help streamline his focus. The first step was to write down his top 25 career goals. In the second step, Buffett told Flint to identify his top five goals from the list. In the final step, Flint had two lists: the top five goals (List A) and the remaining 20 (List B).

What is the 70 30 rule Warren Buffett? ›

A 70/30 portfolio is an investment portfolio where 70% of investment capital is allocated to stocks and 30% to fixed-income securities, primarily bonds.

What is the 5 25 rule Buffett? ›

The rule is simple: identify the 25 most important things on your to-do list, prioritize them, and then focus on the top five items while ignoring the rest. This approach can help you increase your focus, achieve your goals faster, and ultimately become more productive.

What is the two list strategy? ›

Buffett's Two Lists is a productivity, prioritisation and focusing approach where you write down your top 25 goals; circle your 5 highest priorities; then focus on those 5 while 'avoiding at all costs' doing anything on the remaining 20.

What is Warren Buffett's golden rule? ›

"Rule No. 1: Never lose money. Rule No. 2: Never forget Rule No. 1."- Warren Buffet.

What are Warren Buffett's 5 rules? ›

A: Five rules drawn from Warren Buffett's wisdom for potentially building wealth include investing for the long term, staying informed, maintaining a competitive advantage, focusing on quality, and managing risk.

What is the rule of 69 in investing? ›

It's used to calculate the doubling time or growth rate of investment or business metrics. This helps accountants to predict how long it will take for a value to double. The rule of 69 is simple: divide 69 by the growth rate percentage. It will then tell you how many periods it'll take for the value to double.

What is the Warren Buffett way formula? ›

Buffett uses the average rate of return on equity and average retention ratio (1 - average payout ratio) to calculate the sustainable growth rate [ ROE * ( 1 - payout ratio)]. The sustainable growth rate is used to calculate the book value per share in year 10 [BVPS ((1 + sustainable growth rate )^10)].

How many hours does Warren Buffett read a day? ›

Indeed, the Oracle of Omaha has said that he spends “five or six hours a day” reading books and newspapers. And while it may be difficult to set aside nearly a full work day's worth of hours to read, it recently got a little bit easier to consume information like Warren Buffett.

What is the Buffett rule bill? ›

The Buffett Rule is the basic principle that no household making over $1 million annually should pay a smaller share of their income in taxes than middle-class families pay. Warren Buffett has famously stated that he pays a lower tax rate than his secretary, but as this report documents this situation is not uncommon.

What is Warren Buffett's rich strategy? ›

Unlike many top billionaires, Buffett has modeled his investment strategy off Benjamin Graham's method of value investing. In other words, he finds and invests in stocks or securities that are priced far lower than their intrinsic value and holds them for the long term.

How do you equate two lists? ›

You can use the set() function to create set objects using the given lists and then compare the sets for equality using the == operator. The order of the original list items is not important, because the == operator returns true when each set contains identical items in any order.

What is the Buffett rule? ›

The Buffett Rule is the basic principle that no household making over $1 million annually should pay a smaller share of their income in taxes than middle-class families pay. Warren Buffett has famously stated that he pays a lower tax rate than his secretary, but as this report documents this situation is not uncommon.

What is the rule never lose money Buffett? ›

Warren Buffett once said, “The first rule of an investment is don't lose [money]. And the second rule of an investment is don't forget the first rule. And that's all the rules there are.”

Why Warren Buffett never split? ›

Warren Buffet has stated that he would never split the class-A shares of Berkshire Hathaway, even though they trade at almost $530,000 per share. His reasoning is that he wants to only attract long-term, high-quality buy-and-hold investors (like himself) and to discourage scalpers and day traders.

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