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Key insights from
The One Thing
By
Gary Keller, Jay Papasan
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What you’ll learn
In the 1991 comedy City Slickers, there’s a
memorable exchange between the film’s protagonists, in which the older,
sage figure tells the younger character, “Do you know what the secret of
life is? One thing. Just one thing. You stick to that, and everything else
don’t mean sh*t…. That’s what you’ve got to figure out.” Gary Keller
(co-founder of the world’s most successful real estate company, Keller
Williams Realty) teams up with his editor, Jay Papasan, to convince the
world that this is the soundest advice out there, that to find and pursue
that One Thing is the key to a life that is simpler, less stressful and
more meaningful.
Read on for key insights from The One Thing.
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1. It is better to
go small than to go big.
With success, the main thing is to keep the main thing the
main thing. The path to success is not doing more, but going small—honing
in on that One Thing that matters most. This means learning to separate the
precious from the worthless, setting aside all the things that you could go
for in order to go after what you really should be pursuing. The more you
tighten your focus, the more amazing and noticeable your results will be.
We often exhaust ourselves doing way too many things and achieving only
mediocre results in all of them, instead of doing a handful of things well.
Spread yourself thin, bury yourself in the never-ending
to-do lists, and you risk settling for average work with no noticeable
impact; and resigning yourself to the belief that c’est la vie —
“such is life.” This is how dreams die, and people conclude their lives are
insignificant.
Going small is refreshingly simple, and, paradoxically, it
will give you more: you will have more time; what you do will feel more
meaningful; and anxiety over which decisions need to be made - including
when and how often - will decrease. Learning and acting on your One Thing
is the key.
Bear in mind that success does not come all at once. It is
built over time, one item at a time. If you hope for instantaneous success,
that everything will miraculously converge, you’ll quickly feel overwhelmed
by any signs of challenge or complexity.
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2. You won’t have
a success story without the One Thing principle applied.
No one is good at everything. Look at the success stories of
athletes, entrepreneurs, musicians and other famous individuals. They are
typically known for that One Thing for which they had a particular knack.
Maybe van Gogh was a good poker player, but everyone remembers him for his
exquisite paintings. Bill Gates might be good at Sudoku, but he will be
remembered for his remarkable skill as a computer programmer. Programming
was his One Thing since middle school when his school got a computer. And
maybe Michael Phelps is a half-decent singer, but we know him and will
remember him for his Olympian swimming ability. Or consider Apple’s wildly
successful branding. In 1998, Apple began to market their Mac computers as
iMac. Then came iTunes, iPods, iPhones, and iPads. From that One Thing came
a successful family of electronic products.
The secret to success is not a complicated formula but a
simple principle.
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3. Implementing
your One Thing means rejecting ingrained cultural assumptions about how
success works.
This sounds exciting on paper, but before running out to do
that One Thing, it is helpful to debunk mistaken assumptions that pass by
undetected because they resonate with our cultural sensibilities. Here are
a few lies that have proven detrimental to success:
One common lie that derails the success train is that all
things are equally important. Equality is a noble ideal in the realm of
human rights, but from an achievement perspective, the notion is
paralyzing. If all decisions are weighted the same, you will become frantic
and reactionary. Everything feels urgent and in need of immediate
attention. The busiest doer isn’t necessarily the most effective or
productive. Checking off twenty unimportant tasks is subpar to completing
one meaningful task.
Another lie is that multitasking is a skill worth
cultivating. This goes against the grain of conventional wisdom. In Western
cultures especially, we prize efficiency. Multitasking is an ability people
speak about with pride or envy. But if we really valued efficiency, we’d be
better off without the multitasking. Multitaskers are not especially
talented—they’re just especially prone to distractions. We can do two
things at once, but we are unable to focus on both things simultaneously.
As the ancient Roman thinker, Publilius Syrus, once wrote, “To do two
things at once is to do neither.”
Multitasking leads to mistakes, ineffectiveness, stress, and
the cultivation of poor decision-making skills as one learns to prioritize
the newest information over older information, even if the older task at
hand was the more important.
There’s no need to beat yourself up over succumbing to
distractions, as it comes pretty naturally; but, over time, giving in to
the impulse to multitask will leave its mark on your work and your mental and
emotional stability.
When people are stressed over to-dos and deadlines piling
up, the common conclusion is, “I need more discipline in my life.” This is
another common lie that clutters out One Thing one-track focus. Achievement
has far more to do with doing the right thing than getting it all right.
It’s not a question of more discipline. We’ve got enough. It’s more about
establishing a habit. A disciplined life sounds like someone trying
to fire on all cylinders all the time, which is exhausting and impossible.
You just need enough to form a habit—a habit of doing One Thing. It’s more
about just doing it. By simply doing One Thing, you’re freed from the
pressure of killing it in every little thing.
“Habit” is a daunting word for some. Just as it takes more
energy to catalyze a chemical reaction than to sustain one, so
habit-building takes more effort on the front end. If you do something
enough, it will eventually become second nature, a part of the habit loop
that your brain will anticipate and crave. Studies show that it takes about
sixty-six days for a new habit to form and stick. This is only overwhelming
if you attempt a complete life overhaul. Success builds. It doesn’t come
all at once. Start with one habit that aligns with that One Thing you’re going
for, and then give it time to stick.
These lies about equality, multitasking and discipline will
throw you off the path to success. Other common notions that ring true—but
are flat-out falsehoods—are that willpower is something that can be
summoned at any time, that balance is a mark of success, and that thinking
too big is arrogant and unattainable.
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4. To find
satisfactory answers in life, we need to start asking the right questions.
We’re all looking for answers, but we’re often asking
the wrong questions. The process of discovering your One Thing must begin
with the Focusing Question: “What’s the One Thing I can do, such that, by
doing it, everything else will become easier or unnecessary?”
The Focusing Question is powerful because it requires us to
give thought to the big picture, as well as the particular actions required
to get there. One Thing looks at macro and micro, orienting us toward the
ultimate goal and the action that needs to be taken right now. Picking One
Thing means putting all your eggs in one basket. By streamlining our tasks,
the dominoes are lined up. You knock one over, and success starts to come
more and more quickly over time. You start with the biggest, most important
task, and the others come to completion more easily.
Using the Focusing Question in life’s various spheres
(spiritual, social, physical, vocational) is the best habit we can form
because it teaches us to prioritize.
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5. The more
ambitious your pursuit of an answer, the clearer and more original the
answer will be.
The point of asking a great question is to move toward a
great answer. The Focus Question is a great question because it requires
attention to ultimate ends and particulars. Likewise, the answer we form
should be both broad and particular. You will find answers to these great
questions in one of three realms: the doable realm (where you feel
confident and comfortable), the stretch realm, or the outer band of the
doable realm (where an answer is attainable through research and some extra
effort), and the realm of possibilities (where you venture into the
unknown). It is good to do research and start conversations with people,
but don’t hang out in the doable and stretch realms. The realm of
possibilities is the arena of high achievers, those willing to brave the
unknown, and who end up doing things completely differently. Don’t stop
with research and conversations with the experienced. Push into the
possibilities, and the threshold for the stretch zone will continue to
rise. What you used to consider the outer limit of your comfort zone is now
completely comfortable.
Benchmarking and trending is the best way to find an answer
in the realm of possibilities and hone in on your great answer. A benchmark
is where things stand at present in an area of interest. Trends are the
possibilities for future successes in that area. This will land you in
situations of uncertainty and chaos, because it will mean looking for new answers
that haven’t already been given. When you approach a question from an angle
no one else has, you’re in territory that’s unfamiliar - not just to you,
but to just about everyone else, as well. Consider yourself warned: New
answers will often lead to new behavior. Your experience in the realm of
possibilities will inevitably shape you, but people who have the courage to
find these answers find it worthwhile.
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6. Productivity is
the tip of the success iceberg; it must be undergirded by clear Purpose and
Priority.
When many people think of success, they jump straight to,
“What can I produce?” They are anxious for concrete results. But
productivity is just the visible tip of the success iceberg. The vast
majority of a glacier is submerged beneath the surface, invisible but
substantial. Far below the surface are purpose and priority. Purpose deals
with the core of your idea identity. From this comes Priority - what we
value most. Productivity is the outworking of those values. This is the
life well-lived - one in which these three P’s are in sync.
Purpose, Priority and Productivity are mutually reinforcing.
As you take actions that align with your purpose, the feedback will
solidify your sense of purpose and determination to maintain your
priorities. The tip of the iceberg (productivity) will grow as the
subaquatic base (purpose and priority) does.
It’s one thing to know who you are and what you’re about.
But if you have no sense of priority, then you will be ineffective. The
word priority itself comes from the Latin word for “first.” This is where
the One Thing is so vital. It is the link between purpose and
productivity.
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7. Inability to
deal with uncertainty, maintain healthy habits and surround yourself with
encouraging peers will kill productivity.
As people go for their One Thing they sometimes run into
productivity blocks. The main ones are the inability to say “no,” the fear
of chaos, not maintaining health, and tolerating environments that aren’t
conducive to goal achievement.
Some people have a hard time saying “no.” They’re afraid of
sounding mean or selfish. But by saying “yes” to something, you are
implicitly saying “no” to other things. Too many yeses will leave you
scattered, and cut into your One Thing time. It is imperative that you’re saying
“no” to the unnecessary, and “yes” to the One Thing.
Chaos is part of the deal when you passionately pursue that
One Thing. Messes pile up. Miscommunications abound. People and projects
you care about - but are not essential to your One Thing - will vie for
your attention and create inner tension. To turn aside from the One Thing
in order to deal with the minutia will feel like a relief, like you’ve
released a pressurized valve. But when you get into the weeds, you can say
goodbye to productivity. This is not to downplay the difficult
circumstances in people’s lives, nor the time-intensive obligations; but it
is advisable to think in terms of solutions and alternatives, so that you
can continue to devote time to your One Thing. Impossible? Maybe. But argue
fiercely enough for those constraints in your life, and you’re far more
likely to hang on to them.
One must never see good health as optional; nor should
health and success be viewed in either-or terms. Health is vital to
success; it’s not supposed to be sacrificed for success. Meditation, prayer
or connecting with a purpose greater than yourself is essential. Breakfast
is still the most important meal of the day. Exercise is critical to health
and high performance. So is staying connected with loved ones.
Are you spending all your time with Negative Nancy and
Debbie Downer? Even if you consider yourself mentally and emotionally
resilient, it’s just a matter of time before they rub off on you. Studies
have shown the huge extent to which those in our “spheres of influence” are
actually influencing us. Take stock of the people with whom you surround
yourself. To be with ambitious, positive people intent on doing something
meaningful with their lives creates what sociologists refer to as a
“positive spiral of success.” Ideally you get caught in that upward spiral,
but that doesn’t happen if you spend time with pessimists and cynics. It
also doesn’t occur in isolation. You need others who will spur you on.
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Endnotes
These insights are
just an introduction. If you're ready to dive deeper, pick up a copy of The One Thing
here. And since we get a commission on
every sale, your purchase will help keep this newsletter free.
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