The One Thing

How to actually get things done

‘The One Thing’ a book by Gary Keller is the first book that consciously and notably changed my life. To highlight how worth this read is, I’ll highlight some of my biggest takeaways for you.

The title is pretty self-explanatory. In case ambiguous at all, the book is about finding the one thing to focus on that makes everything else easier, or unnecessary. It also highlights a few lies about success which ties in well with one of my last posts about success and excellence.

You may have heard that 20% of what you know will give you 80% of the results. This is abundantly true, yet most people enjoy the small sexy details. People who exercise love seeing the newest exercises or pieces of equipment and are a bit less excited about doing the mundane things very consistently. Keep the goal the goal. Focus on the little bit, that gives you the most.

Goal lists and to-do lists are littered with ideas, often with very little being completed, and even less completed well. I’m going to give you one of my little cheat sheets I made many years ago. To be clear, the following are examples, and you may choose to do ONE of these at a time. It may be one in a week, or one for the month, maybe even one for the year. Let’s dive in.

1 thing

For my job: ensure I keep my clients happy

Spiritual: focus on helping others, create a relationship with God

Physical health: exercise regularly

Personal Life: to make time for myself

To improve my relationship with a spouse: ‘show up’ consistently

For my future child(ren): help them with school performance

For career: help my team succeed, build a winning culture, to improve customer experience

Finances: to eliminate credit debt, to improve investment cash flow

All of the above could be more general, or more specific. Depending on what was listed I may have had that title as my year goal, and then reverse engineered the goal by then setting a 6 month goal, then 1 month, then 1 week. By doing this consistently I could clearly see what needed to happen on any given day to help me reach my ‘big’ goal.

Takeaway, start with ONE focus if you really want to breakthrough to a success.

For your pleasure, here are a few lies about success. Everything matters equally. Multitasking is okay/you’re good at it. Willpower is always on will call. There is a work/life balance. Something is inherently ‘bad’.

Here are the truths. Very little matters in the grand scheme of life. No one can multitask and be as effective as focusing on one thing. Willpower is non-existent and to be successful you must have discipline. Work/life balance is fluid. Sometimes you need more work, sometimes more life (family time, vacation, exercise, spa day). ‘Bad’ is a just a learning. Think of all the mistakes you have made, and here you are, still, alive and well. Keep going!