The ONE Thing: G. Keller & J. Papasan - Summary & Analysis (1/3)
2 Minute Overview of this post.
Chapter 1. The One Thing.
“Be like a postage stamp, stick to one thing until you get there.”
Life is short. Too short for should'ves, would'ves and could'ves. It takes purpose and big thinking to look back on our lives without regret.
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“All the woulda-coulda-shouldas layin’ in the sun, talkin’ about the things that they woulda coulda shoulda done… but all those woulda-coulda-shouldas all ran away and hid from one little did” — Shel Silverstein |
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Extraordinary results are directly determined by how narrow you can make your focus.
Chapter 2. The Domino Effect.
Each domino represents a small amount of potential energy; the more you line up, the more potential energy you’ve accumulated. Line up enough and, with a simple flick, you can start a chain reaction of surprising power.
Getting Extraordinary Results.
So when you think about success, shoot for the moon. The moon is reachable if you prioritize everything and put all of your energy into accomplishing the most important thing. Getting extraordinary results is all about creating a domino effect in your life.
Why does this approach work?
Because extraordinary success is sequential, not simultaneous. What starts out linear becomes geometric. You do the right thing and then you do the next right thing. Over time it adds up, and the geometric potential of success is unleashed. The domino effect applies to the big picture, like your work or your business, and it applies to the smallest moment in each day when you’re trying to decide what to do next. Success builds on success, and as this happens, over and over, you move toward the highest success possible.
Chapter 3. Success Leaves Clues.
“There can only be one most important thing. Many things may be important, but only one can be the most important.”
If your company doesn't know what its ONE Thing is, then its ONE Thing is to find out.
One Passion, One Skill.
The one thing shows up in every successful business, every person who has achieved success and in every passion and skill.
This is a storyline for extraordinary success: passion for something → disproportionate time invested → this time invested, eventually translates into skill → skill improves… results improve → creating a virtuous cycle ♻️ all the way to extraordinary success!
One Thing.
The unintended consequence of abundance is that we are faced with more choices in a day than our ancestors were faced with in a lifetime.
Part One. The Lies. They Mislead and Derail Us.
Chapter 4. Everything Matters Equally.
“Things which matter most must never be at the mercy of things which matter least.”
In the world of achievement equality is a lie. Activity is often unrelated to productivity, and busyness rarely takes care of business. Success isn't a game won by whoever does the most. Achievers always work from a clear sense of priority.
Much to-do about nothing.
While to-dos serve as a useful collection of our best intentions, they also tyrannise us with trivial (and important) stuff that we feel obligated to do. Which is why most of us have a love-hate relationship with our to-dos. If allowed, they set our priorities the same way an inbox can dictate our day. Most inboxes overflow with unimportant e-mails masquerading as priorities. Tackling these tasks in the order we receive them is behaving as if the squeaky wheel immediately deserves the grease.
Achievers operate differently. They have an eye for the essential. They pause just long enough to decide what matters and then allow what matters to drive their day. Achievers do sooner what others plan to do later and defer, perhaps indefinitely, what others do sooner. Achievers always work from a clear sense of priority.
Left in its raw state, as a simple inventory, a to-do list can easily lead you astray. A to-do list is simply the things you think you need to do; the first thing on your list is just the first thing you thought of. To-do lists inherently lack the intent of success. In fact, most to-do lists are actually just survival lists — getting you through your day and your life, but not making each day a stepping-stone for the next so that you sequentially build a successful life.
Instead of a to-do list, you need a success list — a list that is purposefully created around extraordinary results. To-do lists tend to be long; success lists are short. One pulls you in all directions; the other aims you in a specific direction.
“The 80/20 Principle asserts that a minority of causes, inputs, or effort usually lead to a majority of the results, outputs, or rewards.”
Richard Koch (Author of The 80/20 Principle)
A to-do list becomes a success list when you apply Pareto’s Principle to it.
Extreme Pareto:
Go small by identifying the 20%, and then go even smaller by finding the vital few of the vital few.
Develop the mindset to keep eliminating until you get to the ONE Thing.
The inequality of effort for results is everywhere in your life if you will simply look for it. And if you apply this principle, it will unlock the success you seek in anything that matters to you. Sometimes it’s the first thing you do. Sometimes it’s the only thing you do. Regardless, doing the most important thing is always the most important thing.
Chapter 5. Multitasking.
“To do two things at once is to do neither. ”
Some have gone so far as to be proud of their supposed multitasking skill and have adopted it as a way of life. But it’s actually a “way of lie,” for the truth is multitasking is neither efficient nor effective.
“Multitasking is merely the opportunity to screw up more than one thing at a time.”
People can do two things at once, but we can’t focus on two things at once. It’s not that we have too little time to do all the things we need to do, it’s that we feel the need to do too many things in the time we have.
Definition of a monkey mind: We think we’re mastering multitasking, but we’re just driving ourselves 🍌s!!
Though multitasking is sometimes possible, it’s never possible to do it effectively.
Chapter 6. A Disciplined Life.
“It’s one of the most prevalent myths of our culture: self-discipline.”
Contrary to what most people believe, success is not a marathon of disciplined action. Achievement doesn’t require you to be a full-time disciplined person where your every action is trained and where control is the solution to every situation. Success is actually a short race — a sprint fueled by discipline just long enough for habit to kick in and take over. We need the habit of doing it. And we need just enough discipline to build the habit.
Discipline = regularly working on something until it regularly works for you = Habit.
When you do the right thing, it can liberate you from having to monitor everything.
66 Days to the Sweet Spot.
Habits require much less energy and effort to maintain than to begin them.
The author cites a University of London study that indicates it takes an average of 66 days to acquire a habit (contrary to the much-publicized 21 days).
Build one habit at a time. If you are what you repeatedly do, then achievement isn’t an action you take but a habit you forge into your life. You don’t have to seek out success. Harness the power of selected discipline to build the right habit, and extraordinary results will find you.
Chapter 7. Willpower is Always on Will-Call.
Don’t spread your willpower too thin. On any given day, you have a limited supply of willpower, so decide what matters and reserve your willpower for it.
Monitor your fuel gauge. Full-strength willpower requires a full tank. Never let what matters most be compromised simply because your brain was under-fueled. Eat right and regularly.
Time your task. Do what matters most first each day when your willpower is strongest. Maximum strength willpower means maximum success.
Don’t fight your willpower. Build your days around how it works and let it do its part to build your life. Willpower may not be on willcall, but when you use it first on what matters most, you can always count on it.
Chapter 8. A Balanced Life.
Viewed wistfully as a noun, balance is lived practically as a verb. Seen as something we ultimately attain, balance is actually something we constantly do.
Purpose, meaning, significance — these are what make a successful life.
Middle Mismanagement.
If you think of balance as the middle, then out of balance is when you’re away from it. Get too far away from the middle and you’re living at the extremes. The problem with living in the middle is that it prevents you from making extraordinary time commitments to anything. Knowing when to pursue the middle and when to pursue the extremes is in essence the true beginning of wisdom. Extraordinary results are achieved by this negotiation with your time.
The reason we shouldn’t pursue balance is that the magic never happens in the middle; magic happens at the extremes.
To achieve an extraordinary result you must choose what matters most and give it all the time it demands. This requires getting extremely out of balance in relation to all other work issues, with only infrequent counterbalancing to address them. When you’re supposed to be working, work, and when you’re supposed to be playing, play. When it comes to work, you'll have to take what matters to the extremes and be okay with what happens to the rest. Professional success requires it.
Chapter 9. Big is Bad.
“We are kept from our goal, not by obstacles but by a clear path to a lesser goal.”
For some reason there is the fear that big success brings crushing pressure and stress, that the pursuit of it robs them of not only time with family and friends but eventually their health.
When we connect big with bad, we trigger shrinking thinking. Lowering our trajectory feels safe. Staying where we are feels prudent.
But the opposite is true: When big is believed to be bad, small thinking rules the day and big never sees the light of it.
When you allow yourself to accept that big is about who you can become, you look at it differently. In this context, ‘big' is a placeholder for what you might call a leap of possibility.
Everyone has the same amount of time. As a result, what you do in the time you work determines what you achieve. And since what you do is determined by what you think, how big you think becomes the launching pad for how high you achieve. 🚀
Every level of achievement requires its own combination of what you do, how you do it, and who you do it with. The trouble is that the combination of what, how, and who that gets you to one level of success won’t naturally evolve to a better combination that leads to the next level of success.
Think as big as you possibly can and base what you do, how you do it, and who you do it with on succeeding at that level.
What you build today will either empower or restrict you tomorrow. It will either serve as a platform for the next level of your success or as a box, trapping you where you are.
“The rung of a ladder was never meant to rest upon, but only to hold a man’s foot long enough to enable him to put the other foot higher.”
It’s important to realize that on the journey to achieving big, you get bigger.
Blowing Up Your Life.
Achievement and abundance show up because they’re the natural outcomes of doing the right things with no limits attached.
Don’t order from the menu. Don’t fear failure. It’s as much a part of your journey to extraordinary results as success. Adopt a growth mindset, and don’t be afraid of where it can take you. Extraordinary results aren’t built solely on extraordinary results. They’re built on failure too.
