Now is a great time to reflect on both personal milestones and business goals! Planning your priorities now can set you up for a strong finish to this year and prepare you for a successful start to 2026.
Transitions and Emotional Awareness
When your children start school or college, it can be emotionally intense as it reminds you how quickly time passes. Embracing the emotions of those moments can help you process change while you focus on other areas of life.
Planning Your Year-End Goals
With roughly 85 working days left in the year, it is essential to define what you want to accomplish before this year comes to an end. You should also start thinking about next year.
Using Mind Maps Effectively
Mind maps make it easier to translate abstract ideas into actionable steps. They can help you organize your ideas, set your priorities, and clarify your objectives. Mind mapping is a technique popularized by Tony Buzan that visually allows you to structure ideas around a central topic. Mapping your thoughts for the rest of this year and next will help you to identify your priorities and avoid distractions.
The 25-5 Rule
Prioritization is the key. Identify your top 25 goals first, then select the five of your most critical objectives. Focus on those five, and deliberately avoid distractions from the remaining 20. That will ensure your energy goes toward what truly matters. Eric explains that even if the famous Warren Buffett story about this method is unverified, the principle of disciplined prioritization is still powerful.
Action and Focus
Once you have set your priorities, dedicate your energy to achieving your top goals. The rest of the year will go quickly, so focus on what matters most to determine your success, both personally and professionally. Preparing now will set the stage for a productive and fulfilling year-end and a strong start to 2026.
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“Never ever touch the 20. It’s going to distract you from your objective.”
Eric Rozenberg
Full transcript of episode 285 of The Business of Meetings podcast, a solo episode with Eric Rozenberg. Lightly edited for readability.
Eric Rozenberg: Hello and welcome to the Business of Meetings Podcast. I’m your host, Eric Rozenberg.
Over the years, I’ve had the privilege of helping businesses in the meetings and events industry grow and succeed. And I’m excited to share that experience with you. If you feel alone and overwhelmed, and if you’re looking to take your business to the next level, improve your strategy and sales, and connect with like-minded professionals, you are in the right place. I invite you to visit eventbusinessformula.com and join our community of event business owners dedicated to exponential growth.
Now let’s dive into today’s episode.
Hello and welcome to a new episode of the Business of Meetings Podcast. And yes, ladies and gentlemen, friends, this is the season. It is the season of going back to school, going back to college. The reason I’m mentioning that is that it is not enough to be a business owner in our industry. There’s also other responsibilities and also other roller coaster, and I’m talking about the emotional roller coaster of bringing the kids to college.
I remember last year my wife and I were dropping our second one to college, and I came back as she stayed one more day with her, and I came back a day earlier with our third one, because the third one was starting high school. And I came home and I put her to bed and I closed the door, and then I looked at the two empty other rooms and I start crying. I lost it completely. I was a mess for 2 weeks. I never miss a meeting. I always have like 15 different alarms. People will call me and said, “Are you joining the call?” I was like, “Oh my god, I was a total mess.”
So, if you’re going through that, good luck. I’m not even looking forward where it’s going to be when we’ll be empty nesters. But hey, that’s life. We give them roots and wings, and it’s time for them to fly. So, anyway, good luck with that.
And the reason also that I want to mention that today is that it’s end of August, and in a few months the year will be over already. Actually, I look at my planning, and if I’m not mistaken, we have about 85 working days until the end of the year. I don’t count the weekends. I should, and I hope you’re not working the full weekend and still getting time for yourself. But it’s 85 days, 85 working days until the end of the year.
And the reason I’m mentioning this is it’s going to go fast. And it’s really time to start thinking about two things. First, what is it that you want to achieve until the end of this year during the 85 working days? And second, what do you want to do in 2026? What do you want to do next year?
And one of the tool I love using is a mind map. If you don’t know about mind mapping, which was invented by Tony Buzan a few decades ago, it’s basically mapping all the ideas that are center on one topic. I learned it many, many, many years ago when I was a student, thanks to an organization called AIESEC. It’s a international association of student economic and management, in which I was very involved, and we had trainings from the major Fortune 100 companies, and one of the training we had was about mind mapping. And it was known in the university that we received this type of training.
And I have this anecdote from my former management teacher, Martin, exceptional woman. We had the exam, and it was a case to analyze, and before I start answering, I took a piece of paper and start drawing a mind map with all my ideas and how I was going to structure that before writing the full answer. And she passed by and look at me and look at the mind map, and then she looked at me again and she went, “Are you a member of AIESEC?” So it was very well known that we were training that and we’re using that.
And I encourage you, just like I did myself this week, to prepare a mind map of everything you want to be doing until the end of the year, and then the main objective you’re going to have for ’26. Most importantly, what is it that you want to be achieving between today and the end of the year, which, as I said, is coming in 85 working days. That mind map will help you really take everything that is in your brain, is going to be written in that mind map, and then you’re going to be able to set priorities.
Now, this 24 hours, 7 days a week, you cannot do everything. Now, the priorities that you have to set for you, for your business, is what you’re going to put your focus on.
And there’s a story about Warren Buffett, and I will tell you at the end of this podcast the reality of the story, but there’s a story about Warren Buffett. Legend has it that he was advising his pilot, Mike Flint, who was asking Warren Buffett how he could prioritize his goals. And Warren Buffett allegedly told them, you need to have two list. First of all, you write down the 25 top goals that you have, and then, so you have 25 goals that you’re putting then on paper, and you’re going to prioritize five of those 25. So one list will be the five important goals, and 20 will be the list that you should absolutely not touch.
So use the mind map, put all your ideas, set 25 goals, pick the top five, and forget about the other 20. In other words, never ever touch the 20. It’s going to distract you from your objective. And if you’re using operating system, in some cases called a rock, although they limit to three, some cases it’s called a three months goal. But here we are. What are the top five things that you want to be achieving before the end of the year? And focus all your energy on that. It’s going to go fast.
Now, the funniest thing about the story is that apparently Warren Buffett never say that, and there was a journalist, Mr. Banayan, who wanted to know if it was true or not. So he managed to go to Omaha during the annual assembly of Berkshire Hathaway and ask a question. And when it was his turn, he asked Warren Buffett and said, “I’ve heard that one of your way of focusing your energy is that you write down the 25 things you want to achieve. You choose the top five and then you avoid the bottom 20 at any cost. So, I’m really curious how you came up with this and what other methods you use for prioritizing your desires.” And guess what Warren Buffett answered? He said, “Well, I’m actually more curious about how you came up with it.”
In other words, Warren Buffett never said that. That doesn’t mean that it’s not a good process, that it’s not a good idea, to prioritize your goal, to make sure that you’re going to focus your energy on what matters, and to prepare for a wonderful ’26.
This is what I love doing, helping small business owners in our industry. And if there’s any way I can help you, please reach out on LinkedIn. And I wish you a wonderful week.
Thank you for tuning in to the Business of Meetings Podcast. I hope you found today’s episode valuable. If you enjoyed the show, the most important thing you can do is leave a review and share it with your colleagues. It really helps spread the word. I truly appreciate your support. And if you’re ready to take your business to the next level, don’t forget to visit eventbusinessformula.com to learn more about how we are helping event business owners like you. Thanks again for listening, and I’ll see you next time.
