Never done this before! Right there—on page 117—was a stunner-of-a-statement that went immediately from the book to my brain, to my laptop, to my printer, and now it’s big and bold on my office door:
"Until my ONE Thing is done—everything everything else is a distraction."
I’ve just read a powerful book, The ONE Thing: The Surprisingly Simple Truth Behind Extraordinary Results, by Gary Keller with Jay Papasan. This bestseller will certainly be on my Top-10 book list for 2016, and is already a contender for my 2016 book-of-the-year.
But first—an apology. The ONE Thing waited patiently on my overflowing “books-to-read” shelves for three years. Then recently, it popped back onto The Wall Street Journal business bestsellers list. (OK. OK. I’ll read it!) But I apologize because you (and I) could have been much more productive over these last three years. So sorry—but better late than never.
Gary Keller, chairman of the board and cofounder of Keller Williams Realty, Inc., the largest real estate company in the U.S., has seen his share of failures and successes—and that’s how he discovered The ONE Thing.
He writes, “Where I’d had huge success, I had narrowed my concentration to one thing, and where my success varied, my focus had too.” Here’s Keller’s big idea:
"What's the ONE Thing you can do this week such that by doing it everything else would be easier or unnecessary?"
Read his chapter titles and you’re hooked. The first section highlights six lies that mislead and derail us:
• Lie #1: Everything Matters Equally
• Lie #2: Multitasking
• Lie #3: A Disciplined Life
• Lie #4: Willpower Is Always on Will-Call
• Lie #5: A Balanced Life
• Lie #6: Big Is Bad
The second section addresses the focusing question, the success habit (66 days), and the path to great answers. The final section motivates with unusual clarity on the four thieves of productivity:
• Thief #1: Inability to Say “No”
• Thief #2: Fear of Chaos
• Thief #3: Poor Health Habits
• Thief #4: Environment Doesn’t Support Your Goals
Well…I promised you 10 tweetable quotations. (I know—somewhat ironic that I have over 20 quotations in a book review about The ONE Thing.) On a short plane ride, I winnowed hundreds of PowerPoint-worthy insights down to just 35—just before I landed. I’ve given you three already—and here are 20 more (but who’s counting?). Tweet your 10 favorite!
On rabbits, to-do lists, and irrelevancy:
• "If you chase two rabbits, you will not catch either one." (Russian proverb)
• "Instead of a to-do list, you need a success list—a list that is purposefully created around extraordinary results."
• "...it turns out that high multitaskers are suckers for irrelevancy."
On a “balanced life” and productivity:
• "A 'balanced life' is a myth—a misleading concept most accept as a worthy and attainable goal without ever stopping to truly consider it."
• "'Don't put all your eggs in one basket is all wrong.' I tell you ‘put all your eggs in one basket, and then watch that basket.'" (Dale Carnegie)
• "Productivity isn’t about being a workhorse, keeping busy or burning the midnight oil. ... It's more about priorities, planning, and fiercely protecting your time." (Margarita Tartakovsky)
On goal-setting, accountability, and coaching:
• "Accountable people receive results only others dream of."
• "When Arthur Guinness set up his first brewery, he signed a 9,000-year lease."
• "Earlier I discussed Dr. Gail Matthew's research that individuals with written goals were 39.5 percent more likely to succeed. But there's more to the story. Individuals who wrote their goals and sent progress reports to friends were 76.7 percent more likely to achieve them."
• “Ericsson’s research on expert performance confirms the same relationship between elite performance and coaching. He observed that ‘the single most important difference between these amateurs and the three groups of elite performers is that the future elite performers seek out teachers and coaches and engage in supervised training, whereas the amateurs rarely engage in similar types of practice.’”
On saying no:
• “Someone once told me that one ‘yes’ must be defended over time by 1,000 no’s.”
• In the two years after Steve Jobs returned to Apple in 1997, “he took the company from 350 products to ten. That’s 340 no’s, not counting anything else proposed during that period.”
On time-blocking and buckets to focus on The ONE Thing:
• "Build a bunker. Turn off your phone, shut down your email, and exit your Internet browser. Your most important work deserves 100 percent of your attention."
• "My recommendation is to block four hours a day. This isn't a typo. I repeat: four hours a day. Honestly, that’s the minimum. If you can do more, then do it."
• "If your time-blocking were on trial, would your calendar contain enough evidence to convict you?"
• "The people who achieve extraordinary results don't achieve them by working more hours. They achieve them by getting more done in the hours they work."
• "Paul Graham's 2009 essay, 'Maker's Schedule, Manager's Schedule,' underscores the need for large time blocks."
• "Graham divides all work into two buckets: maker (do or create) and manager (oversee or direct)."
•"To experience extraordinary results, be a maker in the morning and a manager in the afternoon. Your goal is 'ONE and done.’ But if you don't block each day to do your ONE Thing, your ONE Thing won't become a done thing."
On books:
"One of the reasons I've amassed a large library of books over the years is because books are a great go-to resource. Short of having a conversation with someone who has accomplished what you hope to achieve, in my experience books and published works offer the most in terms of documented research and role models for success."
Warning!
Keller: “After my wife, Mary, read this book, I asked her to do something. She turned to me and you know what she said? ‘Gary, that’s not my ONE Thing right now!’ We laughed, high-fived, and I got to do it myself!”
Ready, set, TWEET!
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Popular Highlights in this book
Instead of a to-do list, you need a success list—a list that is purposefully created around extraordinary results.Highlighted by 17,438 Kindle readers- The key is over time. Success is built sequentially. It’s one thing at a time.Highlighted by 16,408 Kindle readers
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Reviews with images
This book can help you evolve into the fully optimized person you are meant to become!!
I love this book and highly recommend it to anyone who wants to become all they are capable of becoming with the gifts they have been given.Gary and Jay’s philosophy of life closely match that of my own. In fact, they write about applying The One Thing principles to “the important areas of my life: my spiritual life, physical health, personal life, key relationships, job, business, and financial life.” In my book, The Belief Road Map, I write about my philosophies for the Seven Foundations of Health: physical fitness, mental fitness, spiritual fitness, financial fitness, love, adventure and significance.The authors teach the reader about the importance of reflection, the Pareto principle of prioritization, doing work you love, and taking complete ownership. All of these I have been working on in my own life for quite some time. I learned a lot though, as I read their unique views on these tools for happy living.The BIG takeaway for me was their idea of making peace with chaos. They write, “Accept chaos. Recognize that pursuing your ONE Thing moves other things to the back burner. Loose ends can feel like snares, creating tangles in your path. This kind of chaos is unavoidable. Make peace with it. Learn to deal with it. The success you have accomplishing your ONE Thing will continually prove you made the right decision.” Wow – what a great lesson!!My philosophy on ‘Why We’re Here’ is to become all we are capable of becoming with the gifts we are given so that we are able to give to others, lift them, and help them become all they are capable of becoming with the gifts they are given. This book helping me to live that philosophy… and it’ll help you too!!Thank you Gary and Jay for writing such an important book!!Matt GersperFounder, Happy Living[...]
Top reviews from other countries
Abhinav
Best book to learn goal setting, setting up a systematic plan, be productive and achieve goals.
Reviewed in India on March 7, 2024
Abhinav
Reviewed in India on March 7, 2024
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Carolina
this was an interesting read
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 16, 2023