The janitor doesn’t sit atop a mountain and issue decrees; he has to implement whatever tasks he designs. Similarly, your life is not a corporation with thousands of employees, and you’re the one who has to live with your choices and carry out your decisions. Also, a life is different from a corporation. Your goals and values are different. Sometimes you need to think like a CEO, but other times you should think like the janitor, the guy who works throughout the building, knows everyone, and keeps his eyes on the pulse of the business at all times.
WA R R E N B U F F E T T ’ S “ F I V E L I F E G O A L S ” M O D E L O F S U C C E S S I’ve said that you shouldn’t attempt to emulate Warren Buffett when it comes to investing, unless you happen to have a spare $70 billion lying around. But when it comes to goal setting, the sage of Omaha has some interesting advice that may apply to everyone. According to legend, Buffett once asked a struggling friend to write down his list of goals this way: 1. First, make a list of the top 25 things you’d like to do in life. 2. Next, circle the top five things from this list. Choose wisely! 3. Discard the other 20 items. Work only on tasks that relate to the top five goals. The principle is that you can’t work hard on 25 important things at once. You might think that the other 20 are still important, just not as important as the top five. But no—Buffett’s advice is to run away from