In a recent conversation with the brilliant strategic consultant Ben Anderson-Ray , I was reminded of a simple yet profoundly powerful principle: The Rule of 5.

As Ben explains, the idea is straightforward—at any given moment, individuals, teams, and organizations should focus on no more than five strategic priorities. Not six. Not ten. Five. Once you exceed that number, you haven’t created a list of priorities—you’ve created a wishlist. A longer list outlines aspirations, not priorities.

This principle isn’t just an anecdotal rule of thumb. It’s backed by cognitive science and echoed throughout the playbooks of successful leaders across history and today.

The Cognitive Science Behind 5

Our brains are wired for focus, but they come with limits. Research on working memory—our mental “scratchpad” for holding and manipulating information—consistently shows that humans can only juggle 4 to 7 items at once. Go beyond that, and clarity turns to clutter. Prioritization dissolves into distraction.

A study by psychologist George Miller, famously titled The Magical Number Seven, Plus or Minus Two, laid the foundation for understanding the boundaries of our mental bandwidth. But in the decades since, neuroscience has pointed to an even more constrained reality: in high-stakes, high-complexity environments, fewer is better. That’s where five becomes a magic number.

In "Cognitive Load During Problem-Solving," John Sweller argues when cognitive load exceeds our processing capacity, performance suffers. Particularly relevant in high-stakes, fast-paced environments—when you overload attention, learning and decision-making decline.

Another study, in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, found "goal shielding was shown to have beneficial consequences for goal pursuit and attainment." IOW...fewer goals, more progress.

What This Means for Strategy

At the organizational level, the Rule of 5 serves as a critical constraint. It forces leadership to say no—strategically, consistently, and with conviction. When a business attempts to pursue too many goals at once, none of them get the attention, resourcing, or focus they deserve. Effort gets diluted. Energy gets scattered.

John D. Rockefeller understood this well. As he built Standard Oil into a world-defining enterprise, he embraced the power of limited priorities. Each quarter, he and his lieutenants set no more than five primary goals. This ruthless focus allowed them to move faster, adapt quickly, and execute relentlessly—while competitors floundered under the weight of complexity.

Jeff Bezos, in a much more modern context, follows a similar principle. At Amazon, Bezos was known for aggressively narrowing focus. “If you have more than three priorities,” he once said, “you don’t have any.” His leadership style emphasized singular strategic bets—like Prime, AWS, or one-click ordering—and ensured that the company’s immense resources weren’t diluted across too many competing initiatives. That extreme clarity helped Amazon scale without losing strategic direction.

Why It Matters for Teams and Individuals

The same principle holds at the team and individual level. It’s tempting to load up a to-do list or strategic plan with every idea that feels important. But the Rule of 5 calls us back to discipline. Which five efforts will truly move the needle? What will we actually commit to delivering this quarter, this month, this week?

Everything else? It’s not that it doesn’t matter—but it's not a priority. It’s an aspiration. And the sooner we name it as such, the sooner we can stop pretending and start focusing.

I find this a difficult constraint - either because I tend to think I can do more or because I want to do more - but, as Ben suggests, focus accelerates results, while a lack of focus impede them.

A Guiding Question

The Rule of 5 invites one essential question: What five things matter most right now?

If you can answer that clearly—for yourself, your team, or your business—you’re already ahead. And if you can stay true to those five, resisting the gravitational pull of “just one more thing,” you’ll be amazed at how quickly progress compounds.

Because in the end, strategy isn’t about doing more. It’s about choosing less, and doing it better.

Do you follow the Rule of 5 to life in your organization? I spoke to one CEO yesterday that thinks the number is three - at his company, they call it F3 (Focus 3). What works for you?