Warren Buffett 25/5 Rule
Choose five critical goals and deliberately avoid the other twenty.
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Time to result
- ~days to results
- Steps
- 5
- Confidence
- 99%
The 25/5 Rule converts a broad ambition list into a hard boundary around five strategic priorities. First, the decision-maker records the 25 goals or projects most likely to compete for attention over the next one to three years. They then select the five with the strongest alignment, leverage, and expected return on time, energy, or money. The remaining twenty do not become secondary tasks; they become an explicit avoidance list. This distinction matters because moderately important projects often threaten focus more than obviously meaningless work. Whenever a new partnership, product, or initiative appears, it must qualify for the top five or be declined. The result is concentrated execution, fewer fragmented commitments, and more resources available for the goals capable of producing the greatest strategic progress.
Origin
Jasmine Star presented the Warren Buffett 25/5 Rule as a way to evaluate an attractive joint opportunity that was strategically appealing but absent from her five priorities for 2025. Extracted from The Jasmine Star Show.
Core principles
- 01Focus requires excluding attractive opportunities, not merely trivial tasks.
- 02A small number of priorities should receive disproportionate resources.
- 03Middle-tier goals are dangerous because they appear worthwhile.
- 04Every new opportunity must compete against the committed top five.
- 05Deliberate avoidance protects execution from diluted attention.
How to run it
- 1
List 25 Goals
Write down the 25 business, career, or development goals most likely to compete for your attention during the next one to three years. Include attractive possibilities without filtering them prematurely.
Pro tip Capture projects, partnerships, operational improvements, and personal-development goals in one list.
Watch out Do not pad the list with trivial tasks that were never serious contenders.
- 2
Select the Critical Five
Circle the five goals with the strongest connection to long-term success. Evaluate strategic importance and expected return on time, energy, and money.
Pro tip Ask which five goals would matter most if the other twenty remained unfinished.
Watch out Do not choose goals merely because they are urgent, exciting, or externally prestigious.
- 3
Create Two Categories
Place the selected goals on a commitment list and the other twenty on an avoid-at-all-costs list. Treat the second category as an active boundary, not a backlog.
Pro tip Display both lists where project and partnership decisions are made.
Watch out Calling the remaining twenty secondary priorities weakens the rule and invites distraction.
- 4
Concentrate Resources
Direct available time, energy, money, and attention toward the top five. Structure calendars and team plans around meaningful progress on those priorities.
Pro tip Reserve focused blocks before accepting discretionary meetings or deliverables.
Watch out Five priorities can still fragment attention if all are pursued simultaneously without sequencing.
- 5
Filter New Opportunities
Compare each new opportunity with the committed top five. Decline or defer it when it does not materially advance one of them.
Pro tip Revisit the written list whenever an opportunity feels too attractive to refuse.
Watch out Do not quietly add a sixth priority without explicitly replacing one of the existing five.
In the wild
A software company lists 25 plausible initiatives, including integrations, mobile features, international expansion, and infrastructure improvements. Leadership identifies five projects tied most directly to retention and profitable growth. The other twenty enter an explicit avoidance list rather than the active backlog. When a prestigious integration proposal appears, the team declines because it advances none of the selected priorities.
→ Engineering capacity remains concentrated on the five initiatives most likely to improve retention and profitability.
Common mistakes
Treating the Other Twenty as a Backlog
The framework fails when the remaining goals continue receiving occasional attention. They must be deliberately avoided while the top five remain active.
Selecting by Excitement
A compelling or prestigious project may have little strategic leverage. Rank goals by alignment and expected impact rather than novelty.
Adding Priorities Without Subtracting
Allowing every new opportunity to join the priority list recreates the overload the rule is designed to prevent. Replace an existing goal before admitting another.
Is it for you?
Best for
It is best for entrepreneurs and teams facing more worthwhile projects than they can execute well.
Not ideal for
It is not ideal for emergency work, mandatory obligations, or exploratory periods when priorities cannot yet be ranked reliably.
From the transcript
“Write down your top 25 goals.”
“circle your top five goals from the list.”
“If it is not part of your top five list, you must put it in the avoid at all costs list.”
From the episode
Turning Down Revenue: When Intuition Outranks Logic in Business