In the latest shareholder letter, Warren Buffet attributed his success to a “handful of decisions” over his entire career. It wasn’t about getting thousands of decisions right but only a few.
It’s a powerful idea that goes against everything we are told about decisions. Even in my second book, Bulletproof Decisions, I started with the premise that we make around 35,000 decisions every day so we need to learn how to get as many as possible right.
Warren Buffet is suggesting a radical approach. He is suggesting a punch card model for decision making. Imagine if you have a punch card for the rest of your life (or career). Every year, you get one decision that you will make perfectly. That’s all you have to worry about. Ignore my 35,000 premise and focus on that one decision.
Over a life or career, you might only make 30 – 40 decisions that truly matter. What would happen if you could make one great decision per year?
It would have to be a major, strategic, and high impact decision. You would need to let go of all the minor ones. You wouldn’t worry about decisions being overwhelming because only one decision matters. Everything else can go in any direction.
I love this idea because it forces you to truly think about what decisions really need your attention. It is too easy to waste energy on trivial things that don’t provide enough value. Keeping the punch card analogy in the back of your mind will force you to prioritize and focus on impact instead of volume.
Perhaps my next book will need to push back against the 35,000 premise.