The first step in this exercise was to list down 25 things that Flint wanted to accomplish in the foreseeable future.

Secondly, Flint was to rank these items in order of importance and circle the top five.

“what are you going to do with the remaining 20 items?”

“No. You’ve got it wrong. 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.”

There’s more competition for our attention than ever.

Each time we pursue a new course of action, we incur an opportunity cost. It takes our time and attention away from the things that are most important to us.

Your odds of success improve when you direct your focus into a singular pursuit. You have to double down on a few things and rack up the hours trying to get really good at that.

Spending time on a singular focus helps them get the important things done.

The 5/25 rule’s only requirement is that you finish the top five items before moving on to item #6 and beyond.

Pareto’s principle — better known as the 80/20 rule — tells us that the majority of outcomes are driven by a small number of things that we do. Chances are that anything that falls outside your top five will have little impact on your life.