Warren Buffett is one of the greatest investors of our time. His investment choices made him a rich man. And nobody seems to match him in terms of financial outcomes.

Over the past years, he released many interviews about his discipline and strategies. And he also shared self-improvement and personal growth tips.

One, in particular, caught my attention – a piece shared by his pilot (then named The Pilot Story). Buffet used it to show people how to find their purpose. And although his advice is not rocket science, he succeeded in life. So, he must have understood something most people ignore.

Mike Flint was Warren Buffett’s pilot for ten years. During their many flights, Flint shared his life priorities once. And Buffett asked him to test his priorities with a 3-step exercise . Only in this way could Flint be sure of the importance of his goals.

Buffett’s advice is nothing special. Its simplicity is its main strength. But his 3-step plan can help you spot your life priorities right away.

So, let’s jump right into it.

Writing 25 goals is the first step of the exercise. And even if it seems simple, you will notice it will become challenging after the first few.

Twenty-five goals are a lot. You will need to dig deep to find a way to fill all the spaces. So here are a few suggestions:

• Consider career, family, passions, self-care, personal growth, finance, love, and friends goals.
• Start with one life purpose and try to understand if many goals hide inside it.
• Include materialistic goals like the house of your dreams.
• Be as specific as possible.

Now that you have found your 25 life goals, you must pick only five of them.

If finding 25 goals was challenging, figuring out the most important ones would be even worse. So here are a few suggestions:

• Start by excluding the last goals you added to the list.
• Understand if there are mutually exclusive goals. For example, if you have a successful career, you can afford a big house.
• And if you still haven’t reduced the list to only five goals, cut goals without second thoughts.

The third step is the key to Buffett’s advice – the swing that changes everything.

Your life is full of things you want to achieve. You may have understood that by now. But your time and focus are limited. And you can only accomplish that much.

But how can I make this easy for you?

I don’t think I can.

The 20 goals you left out are the distractions that will fight for your focus. Here, I said it. 

The 20 remaining goals you didn’t pick will try to distract you. So avoid them at all costs.

Here is some advice from me.

• Make two lists with your five life goals and their 20 potential distractions, and keep them somewhere you can see them.
• You can make adjustments, but you can only do it twice: now and when you reach one of the five goals. Switching too much transforms life goals into other failures.

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