Avoiding failure and achieving success require making new decisions in life.
Warren Buffett, the renowned CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, is considered one of the most successful investors of all time.
Buffett has amassed a wealth of experience and knowledge that extends far beyond just the financial world, making him a beloved figure in the business world.
After tracking his numerous pieces of advice from around the internet over the past decade, I have selected three of my favorites that can guide individuals toward success.
1. Take care of your mind and body
In the Buffett biography The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of Life, Buffett shared the importance of self-care by stating the obvious: “You only get one mind and one body. And it’s got to last a lifetime.”
While many of us follow the example of “hustle culture” and barrel through 16-hour days and sleepless nights while chugging down mass quantities of caffeine to keep us alert and productive, Buffett warns that “if you don’t take care of that mind and that body, they’ll be a wreck [later].”
While it’s true that many successful and high-profile entrepreneurs put in insane hours per week, truly successful people don’t neglect their mental health and self-care, or time for family, hobbies, and other interests. They recognize that if they can’t take care of themselves, the business suffers.
It’s what you do right now, today, that determines how your mind and body will operate 10, 20, and 30 years from now. Buffett’s directive is clear: Your actions now form the architecture of your mental and physical health in the future. This isn’t about short-term gains but rather the sustained, methodical care your mind and body require for enduring success.
2. Set strict boundaries around your daily activities
Buffett learned a long time ago that the greatest commodity of all is time. That’s why he is religiously protective of his own time by setting strict boundaries for himself.
The mogul said: “The difference between successful people and really successful people is that really successful people say ‘no’ to almost everything.”
To Buffett’s point, we have to know what to shoot for to simplify our lives. We have to know what to say “no” to in order to keep us focused on our top priorities. This may mean saying “no” many times over to things that don’t serve us, and saying “yes” to the few things that truly matter to advance our cause and keep us balanced.
Steve Jobs once said, “I’m actually as proud of the things we haven’t done as the things I have done. Innovation is saying ‘no’ to 1,000 things.”
As we enter the last quarter of the year, this is typically the time people start thinking about what goals to set for the new year. I have one suggestion to add to your list based on Buffett’s advice: Learn to manage yourself.
We can’t actually manage time, but we can choose how to use that time by managing ourselves wisely. This means saying “no” to opportunities and things that don’t speak to our values or further our personal or organizational mission.
3. Keep your decision-making process simple
Every day, whether you’re choosing what to have for breakfast or what to wear, your brain processes a whopping 35,000 decisions. By evening, fatigue sets in, leaving you drained without a clear reason why.
Chances are, you’re grappling with decision fatigue. It’s that feeling of being overwhelmed by choices, no matter how big or small they may be. Buffett’s advice is to simplify your decision making:
You only have to do a very few things right in your life, so long as you don’t do too many things wrong.
That means making good, smart choices every day. Let’s face it — every one of us has failed at some point, some of us in spectacular fashion. And it’s bound to happen again.
Minimizing your failures will require making good decisions on the road to success. When setting the bar for your own goals, don’t fall for the trap of evaluating it by other people’s measure of success. Instead of trying to keep up with the Joneses, measure yourself by one of Buffett’s most famous rules — your “inner scorecard.”
The inner scorecard defines your own standards and not what the world imposes on you. It’s a principle Buffett learned from his father; it comes from deep within and speaks your truth. It gives meaning to who you are, and how you naturally behave and see the world on the basis of your values and beliefs, not someone else’s. In short, it’s taking the higher road to achieve success because it comes from the heart.
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Guest Author: BY MARCEL SCHWANTES,
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