The Danger 20
A strategy for focussing your priorities
Hello YOU,
It’s a short but sweet newsletter from me this week. Some things just don’t need dragging out, right?
I’ve had a bit of shiny-object-syndrome during this first quarter of 2024, and needed to bring myself back to the things that were important. I know I’m not the only one who struggles with this! I thought I would share the system that I use with you in this week’s newsletter so that you can use it too.
The Danger 20
The system I use is actually derived from Warren Buffet’s 525 rule, but someone once told me that they call it the Danger 20 which frankly I thought sounded way cooler! It’s a system you can use for the BIG goals in life, and for those day to day tasks that you need to get done.
Simply write down 25 goals that you want to achieve.
Once you have your list, prioritise your top 5.
Those are the things that you focus on. Ignore the rest.
The rest become your ‘Danger 20’; the 20 things that have the biggest chance of de-railing you from achieving your top 5 priorities.
Writing a Newsletter vs Learning the Guitar
I used the Danger 20 method to think about all the goals I wanted to achieve in the next 5 years. Some were BIG. Some were small. Most of them were related to the growth of my business in some way, or relied on the growth in order for them to happen (family holidays, for example).
I’d also LOVE to learn to play the guitar. I bought a guitar about 15 years ago and never got round to learning, so gave it away.
But learning the guitar is not one of my top 5 priorities. In fact it’s not even in the top 20. BUT it is on the list of 25 things I’d like to do in the next 5 years.
Writing this newsletter is one of my top 5 priorities though. I was mega inconsistent with it throughout 2023 and made the commitment to myself (and to you, my fab readers) that I would commit to releasing a newsletter every week throughout 2024.
It takes time to write a newsletter, typically 1-2 hours per week. Sometimes more.
What do you think happened the day after I’d recalibrated, made my list and started to plan the time in my diary for my top 5 tasks?
I was scrolling on Facebook when I saw an advertisement for a new guitar teacher in my area! AND they had one slot available for a shiny new student that very week! AMAZING! I had almost hit send on my ‘OMG this is exactly what I’ve been looking for, can I have the slot please?’ when I thought I’d better double-check my diary. The slot the guitar teacher had available was the slot I had set aside to write my newsletter (and the only time in the week I could actually do so).
It was a great reminder to me about why the rest of the items on the list are called the Danger 20! Because it was something I wanted to do, it meant that when it crossed my path it was really difficult to say no to it. I have no doubt that if I'd not made my list I would now be a beginner guitar player. I also have no doubt that this newsletter would have fallen by the wayside.
Day to Day Tasks
The Danger 20 doesn’t just have to be wheeled out for the big, ‘life-goal’ type stuff. You can use this method for keeping focused on your daily, weekly and monthly tasks at work and at home too.
Maybe you don’t quite have a list of 25 tasks to complete each day - that’s ok. There’s no hard and fast rule on the number, so flex the technique to work for you.
Let me know if you try it!