More than anything else, expertise tracks with hours invested. Take a look at this drawing of an iceberg: Purpose comes first because that’s what the best people and organizations are made of. The ONE Thing: The Surprisingly Simple Truth Behind Extraordinary Results is a non-fiction, self-help book written by authors and real estate entrepreneurs, Gary W. Keller and Jay Papasan. You can actually give attention to two things, but that is what’s called “divided attention.” And make no mistake. When the things that matter most get done, you’ll still be left with a sense of things being undone—a sense of imbalance. You can become successful with less discipline than you think, for one simple reason: success is about doing the right thing, not about doing everything right. Saying yes to everyone is the same as saying yes to nothing. When you gamble with your time, you may be placing a bet you can’t cover. This time typically has one moving from meeting to meeting, and because those who oversee or direct tend to have power and authority, “they are in a position to make everyone resonate at their frequency.”. Shut down your phone or put it on silent — not vibrate — when you’re working. Habits build on habit. Add whatever else you need to add to ensure they know not to screw with you while you’re working. Why This Book Matters: The ONE Thing teaches readers to focus their time and energy on what truly matters. Answers come from questions, and the quality of any answer is directly determined by the quality of the question. Or have you gotten down to the business of deliberately creating the life you deserve? High achievement and extraordinary results require big energy. In fact, the more you focus on your ONE Thing, the more of it you might get. How circumstances affect us depends on how we interpret them as they relate to our life. The word “can” implies action, as opposed to others, which imply intention. Chaos is natural. The farther away a reward is in the future, the smaller the immediate motivation to achieve it. Bill’s company, Microsoft focussed on ONE thing -- the development and sale of BASIC interpreters for the Altair 8800. which eventually made Bill the ONE richest man in the world for 15 years in a row. You make doing what matters most a priority when your willpower is its highest. It worked. Self-improvement + business book summaries you can read or listen to in under 20 minutes. My journey is built on making the aforementioned dream a reality. Example: Imagine, you place dominos in a series one after the other. The process of doing one thing is to remove the clutter and ignoring all the other activities. Check it out here >>. The one thing shows up in every successful business, every person who has achieved success and in every passion and skill. There are no boundaries as to who can come on my show and who cannot. Block time as early in your day as you possibly can. Do not multi-task. If yo… Success is built sequentially. Your health and your success are intertwined with one another and depend on each to survive and thrive. Shut down your phone or put it on silent — not vibrate — when you’re working.Turn off the notifications from your email app when you’re working.Put up a sign of some sort (more on this later) on your desk to prevent people from disrupting your focus. In an industry of about a million people, one thing changed our image forever.”. In short, I’m all about  inspiring people to inspire themselves. Then you'll love the full version of this book summary: Audio, Kindle + PDF. Activity is often unrelated to productivity, and busyness rarely takes care of business. That’s the power of geometric progression or the domino effect. Our purpose sets our priority and our priority determines the productivity our actions produce. Bill’s ONE passion in high school was computers. The more we use our mind, the less minding power we have. We overthink, overplan, and over-analyze our careers, our businesses, and our lives; that long hours are neither virtuous nor healthy; and that we usually succeed in spite of most of what we do, not because of it. Apparently, background scratches can be pretty unsatisfying. No one knows their ultimate ceiling for achievement, so worrying about it is a waste of time. But just because it’s simple doesn’t mean it’s easy. And the quote above is an example of how he dug into the 80/20 Principle to take Keller-Williams to the top of their industry. Think about that — one of the most accomplished martial artists of his time and beyond, asks to be buried with a white belt to symbolize his new journey in his next life and beyond. Not really, but it felt that way. It took us all day to come up with the list. Researchers estimate that workers are interrupted every 11 minutes and then spend almost a third of their day recovering from these distractions. Instead of a to-do list, focus on a success list—a list that is purposefully created around extraordinary results. Some things matter a lot more than others. — is that it puts you in a position to take control. Doing the most important thing is always the most important thing. Shit happens. Here, the book THE ONE THING book online has been explained to you in a short story form or you can say, it is a THE ONE THING BOOK CHAPTER SUMMARY explained to you. Happiness happens on the way to fulfillment. Extraordinary results are rarely happenstance. “Life isn’t about finding yourself. When you spend the early hours energizing yourself, you get pulled through the rest of the day with little additional effort. For more on Mastery, checkout the book summary on Leonard’s book. While a “P” would leave the axe behind and look for a chainsaw instead. There is a natural rhythm to our lives that becomes a simple formula for implementing the ONE Thing and achieving extraordinary results: purpose, priority, and productivity. There are so many lessons and golden nuggets about life, work, and finding purpose. The way to protect what you’ve said yes to and stay productive is to say no to anyone or anything that could derail you. The Focusing Question collapses all possible questions into one: Eat right, exercise, and sleep sufficiently for physical energy, Hug, kiss, and laugh with loved ones for emotional energy, Set goals, plan, and calendar for mental energy, Time block your ONE Thing for business energy. As a result, there’s no channel conflict. The One Thing by Gary Keller and Jay Papasan, is a life-improvement masterpiece. When you want the absolute best chance to succeed at anything you want, your approach should always be the same. Let’s take responsibility for our outcomes. When you can see mastery as a path you go down instead of a destination you arrive at, it starts to feel accessible and attainable. Get hundreds of business book summaries for just $1, Michelangelo once said, “if the people knew how hard I had to work to gain my mastery, it wouldn’t seem wonderful at all.”. When you’re clear about those two, you’ll become a more Productive person. “...at any moment in time there can be only ONE Thing, and when that ONE Thing is in line with your purpose and sits atop your priorities, it ill be the most productive thing you can do to launch you toward the best you can be. Considered one of the funniest movies of all Anders Ericsson 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.”. Many think that because their body is functioning without their conscious direction, they’re multitasking. In time, you’ll learn to deal with the chaos in your own unique way. But it is possible. We overthink, overplan, and over-analyze our careers, our businesses, and our lives; that long hours are neither virtuous nor healthy; and that we usually succeed in spite of most of what we do, not because of it. No one. taking the 20% of the 20% of the 20% until you’ve gotten it down to the vital few. When you do the right thing, it can liberate you from having to monitor everything. Success builds on success.”, “I want you to do something. But it doesn’t mean you should give up on your ONE Thing. Leaving some things undone is a necessary tradeoff for extraordinary results. Highly successful people are clear about their role in the events of their life. A lot of our physical actions, like breathing, are being directed from a different part of our brain than where focus comes from. ... Or have you gotten down to the business of deliberately creating the life you deserve? Ask the right question, get the right answer. You see the One Thing at work in all aspects of business and life, for example: No one succeeds alone and no one fails alone. There is no channel interference. “How we phrase the questions we ask ourselves determines the answers that eventually become our life.”. I can wait…, When I did the little exercise above, I saw myself hosting an internationally syndicated talk show (sort of like Oprah) but with an empowering twist (sort of like a Tony Robbins seminar)... My vision for the show is that it enables viewers to watch and learn from my guests -- who are the most inspiring, passionate,  purpose-driven people on the planet (authors/entrepreneurs/entertainers/philanthropists/etc.) Cha-ching! For maximum energy management and productivity, plan your days include the following: Did you know that if one of your close friends becomes obese, you’re 57% more likely to do the same? American businessman Bill Gates is a great example of The ONE Thing lifestyle in action. Your own need to do other things instead of your ONE Thing may be your biggest challenge to overcome. If disproportionate results come from one activity, then you must give that one activity disproportionate time. Ask the most powerful question possible, and the answer can be life-altering. It’s realizing that extraordinary results are directly determined by how narrow you can make your focus. And once you’re done doing that, Keller recommends that you take your success list and whittle that down even further - taking the 20% of the 20% of the 20% until you’ve gotten it down to the vital few. Stay with this long enough and it becomes routine—in other words, a habit. Block an hour each week to review your annual and monthly goals. The Focusing Question can lead you to answer not only “big picture” questions (Where am I going? According to research, it takes, on average, 66 days to develop a discipline into a habit. The idea that they were discussing seemed incredibly simple – for each area of your life, what is the one thing you could do such that all other things become easier or unnecessary. Take on two things and your attention gets divided. It’s one thing at a time. This is true, but not the way they mean it. Optimism. o Walt Disney took night courses at the Chicago Art Institute and became the cartoonist for his school newspaper. Answers come in three categories: doable, stretch, and possibility. There will always be just a few things that matter more than the rest, and out of those, one will matter most. “The things which are most important don’t always scream the loudest.” — Bob Hawke. The first is nearly instantaneous: you decide to switch. I challenged our group to brainstorm 100 ways to turn this situation around. --Brett Silo, get notified when we publish new episodes, 10 Things to Remember if You Want to Do What You Love for a Living, 7 Life-Changing Benefits of Weight Lifting, Habit Ramps: Secret To Starting Successful Habits That Stick, Use Outcome Thinking To Get What You Want, More popular articles on self-improvement >, HOME // BLOG // ABOUT // PODCAST // ITUNES // GRATITUDE, © 2020 MEANINGFUL, LLC | MeaningfulHQ.com, Irvine, CA. At any moment in time there can be only ONE Thing, and when that ONE Thing is in line with your purpose and sits atop your priorities, it will be the most productive thing you can do to launch you toward the best you can be. They’re doing the most important thing regularly and, as a result, everything else is easier. You can become successful with less discipline than you think, for one simple reason: This requires getting extremely out of balance in relation to all other work issues, with only infrequent counterbalancing to address them. Simple right? This time tends to be viewed in half-day increments. After Purpose, comes Priority. The ONE Thing Book Summary (PDF) by Gary Keller and Jay Papasan. Even better, setting up your workspace so that people know not to interrupt you in the first place REALLY puts you in control. In this summary of the book "The ONE Thing" by Gary Keller and Jay Papasan, take a look at what the authors' call the "surprisingly simple truth behind getting extraordinary results". In high school, he got ONE job in the computer programing field. The book has appeared on the best seller lists of The New York Times, The Wall Street … As a rule of thumb, Keller recommends that we avoid saying yes to most things unless they’re connect to our ONE Thing. If your to-do list contains everything, then it’s probably taking you everywhere but where you really want to go. It’s simple. A life worth living might be measured in many ways, but the one way that stands above all others is living a life of no regrets. If you like The One Thing, you may also enjoy the following books: ...and I’ll show you how to live better and work smarter—faster than you ever thought possible. A lot of our physical actions, like breathing, are being directed from a different part of our brain than where focus comes from. This is hard. In his book “Mastery”, George Leonard tells a story about Jigoro Kano, the founder of Judo, and how he was so dedicated to the concept of Mastery that when he was on his death bed, he asked his students to bury him in a white belt. But keep at it. Email it to me here », "Dean Bokhari's Meaningful Show is the Self-Improvement Podcast I've been Extraordinary results are disproportionately created by fewer actions than most realize. The ONE thing is really as simple as it sounds, it’s about finding out what matters, and ignoring the rest. Ask the most powerful question possible, and the answer can be life altering.”. Figure out those high-leverage activities, and you’ve just turned your to-do list into a success list. So, are you looking in every direction trying to find things to do in your life? The key to success is figuring out your ONE most important thing in your business/career/life over the long-run. Think BIG, but focus on ONE SPECIFIC thing at a time. Ask the wrong question, get the wrong answer. Keller mentions an excerpt from a book written by Bronnie Ware titled “The Top Five Regrets of the Dying”. Go small. It's actionable, inspiring, and BS-Free." To give you an example of “E” to “P”, imagine you’ve just been asked to go chop some firewood. The ONE Thing shows up time and again in the lives of the successful because it’s a fundamental truth. Success builds on success.”“I want you to do something. Though seperate in meaning, they powerfully connect to form the foundation for achievement — regularly working at something until it regularly works for you. When you don’t know what matters most, anything makes sense. Extraordinary results are determined by how narrow you can make your focus Environmental factors can limit productivity and output. But just because it’s. Ask the wrong question, get the wrong answer. Trying to get them all done is folly. The only actions that become springboards to succeeding big are those informed by big thinking to begin with. In other words, without purpose, you’ll never know when you have enough money, and you can never be financially wealthy. And develop the right disciplines today, so you can turn them into habits tomorrow…, “In any discussion about success, the words “discipline” and “habit” ultimately intersect. “You may be asking, “Why focus on a question when what we really crave is an answer?” It’s simple. Why would we ever tolerate multitasking when we’re doing our most important work? The ONE solution they came up with was vaccination. A request must be connected to my ONE Thing for me to consider it. When you know what matters most, everything makes sense. 3. Eight years later that one book had not only become a national bestseller, but also had morphed into a series of books with total sales of over a million copies. this final part of the Focusing Question is about LEVERAGE. And no one succeeds alone. 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. The best way to protect your time blocks is to adopt the mindset that they can’t be moved. No matter the task, mission, or goal. Second, you must continually seek the very best ways of doing things. In your effort to attend to all things, everything gets shortchanged and nothing gets its due. You can also include a time frame—such as “right now” or “this year”—to give your answer the appropriate level of immediacy, or “in five years” or “someday” to find a big-picture answer that points you at outcomes to aim for. A Great Answer is essentially a new answer. The path of mastering something is the combination of not only doing the best you can do, but also doing it the best it can be done. Your Journey toward extraordinary results will be built above all else on faith, “It’s only when you have faith in your purpose and priorities that you’ll seek out your ONE Thing. Not everything is equally important. The one thing. No one is self-made. When big is believed to be bad, small thinking rules the day and big never sees the light of it. Keller mentions an excerpt from a book written by Bronnie Ware titled “The Top Five Regrets of the Dying”. Answering “no” puts you in charge. Quick Summary Keller’s The One Thing is probably in our Top 3 books. It can be a little like a Russian matryoshka doll in that your ONE Thing “right now” is nested inside your ONE Thing TODAY, which is nested inside your ONE Thing this WEEK, which is nested inside your ONE Thing this MONTH… it’s how a small thing can actually build up to a big one… You’re lining up your dominoes.“. No matter how success is measured, personal or professional, only the ability to dismiss distractions and concentrate on your ONE Thing stands between you and your goals. One is happening in the foreground and the other in the background. That’s okay. Actions build on action. organizations haven’t got a clue that there are two additional P’s that The key is over time. The One Thing: The Surprisingly Simple Truth Behind Extraordinary Results is a non-fiction, self-help book written by authors and real estate entrepreneurs, Gary W. Keller and Jay Papasan. Keller’s recommendation is to block four hours a day. The ONE Thing introduces a counterintuitive philosophy about succeeding in life – going small and focusing one doing only ONE thing. The One Thing—The Surprisingly Simple Truth Behind Extraordinary A book by Gary Keller and Jay Papasan. Equality is great, but when it comes to tasks and priorities, they don’t all matter equally. Keller says that “Personal energy mismanagement is a silent thief of productivity” and I couldn’t agree more (checkout the FlashNotes on  "The Power of Full Engagement” for a deeper dive on this subject). No matter how hard you try, there will always be things left undone at the end of your day, week, month, year, and life. Think of this as your “someday” goal. It takes an average of 66 days to acquire a new habit. Read now. Many think that because their body is functioning without their conscious direction, they’re multitasking. Even my dog Max knows this. Take on two things and your attention gets divided. One Paragraph Book Summary Learn how to find the number one priority in your life and how to work towards it by protecting your limited resources like willpower and time.. This is true, but not the way they mean it. are Purpose and Priority. And once you’re done doing that, Keller recommends that you take your success list and whittle that down even. And the quote above is an example of how he dug into the 80/20 Principle to take Keller-Williams to the top of their industry. 20% of your investments usually account for 80% of your returns. Normal business culture gets in the way of the very productivity it seeks because of the way people traditionally schedule their time. Success is found in prioritizing everything and then sequentially doing the ONE Thing that is most important. When moving toward a goal, the first thing to do is ask, “Has anyone else studied or accomplished this or something like it?”. I want you to close your eyes and imagine your life as big as it can possible be. Researchers estimate we lose 28 percent of an average workday to multitasking ineffectiveness. Ask the right question, get the right answer. “Accountable people achieve results others can only dream of. We’re right when we say something is “front and center” or “top of mind,” because that’s where focus occurs--in the prefrontal cortex. It takes time to develop the right habit, so don’t give up too soon. Where’s the bulls-eye?). Because when we do that, we put ourselves in control. but also “small focus” ones as well (What must I do right now to be on the path to getting the big picture? The ONE thing is a dominant theme that shows up in different ways. The second is less predictable: you have to activate the “rules” for whatever you’re about to do. If you can honestly say, “This is where I’m meant to be right now, doing exactly what I’m doing,” then all the amazing possibilities for your life become possible. What about yours? LIVE LIKE YOU GIVE A DAMN, DEAN BOKHARI //  Join 563,778 members of the Meaningful Movement », Connect with Dean: Subscribe to blog (it's free) | Twitter: @deanbokhari | Facebook | LinkedIn, If you find my podcast helpful, please rate + review it on Apple Podcasts », Got a Self-Improvement question you'd like me to cover in an article or podcast? As Keller explains “going small” means focusing purely on what you should be doing, not simply what you could do. Tim was interviewing the author Gary Keller. Protect your precious time blocks and remain productive. The only requirements are that they’re willing to talk about why they do what they do, and how they went from being  “ordinary” people to “extraordinary [insert profession here]”. Think of this as your “someday” goal. Suggestion: make a sign that says “until I’m done with my ONE Thing, nothing else matters” and post it up so that it’s visible to any potential interrupters. Every time you try to do two or more things at once, you’re simply dividing up our focus and dumbing down all of the outcomes in the process. It is. Pay attention to the people around you. The Highly Productive Person’s Daily Energy Plan. “One-half of knowing what you want is knowing what you must give up before you get it.”. Take on a third and something gets dropped.”. The One Thing (English): https://amzn.to/2RIUPEB The One Thing (Hindi): https://amzn.to/2WPJRl4 This video is all about The One Thing Book Summary in Hindi But don’t let chaos control you. To be financially wealthy you must have a purpose for your life. Task switching exacts a cost few realize they’re even paying. Stay with this long enough and it becomes routine — in other words, a HABIT.”. (To learn more about asking quality questions, One of the most empowering moments of Keller’s life came when he realized that. Selecting Disciplines & Turning Them Into Habits, “Success is actually a short race — a sprint fueled by discipline just long enough for habit to kick in and take over.”. When life happens, you can be either the author of your life or the victim of it. Even my dog Max knows this. You should only have ONE at a time. The One Thing Book Summary A book by Gary Keller 2. When you discipline yourself, you’re essentially training yourself to act in a specific way. But here’s the catch: you’re not really focused on both activities. Short Summary Focus on what is most important. “The One Thing” by Gary Keller and Jay Papasan (Book Summary) The One Thing by Gary Keller and Jay Papasan is a productivity book based on a simple premise: If you want more – more productivity, income, satisfaction, time – you need to go small and want less. It means that you’re about to take action on something that actually has a purpose.\. Go for it! When you clear the path to success—that’s when you consistently get there. We’re right when we say something is “front and center” or “top of mind,” because that’s where focus occurs--in the prefrontal cortex. The One thing Book Summary 1. I want you to close your eyes and imagine your life as big as it can possible be. As the authors put it, “You want fewer distractions and less on your plate. If you haven’t heard of the 80/20 principle (aka Pareto’s Principle), it’s pretty simple: the 80/20 principle says that the MINORITY of your effort leads to the MAJORITY of your results…. Turn off the notifications from your email app when you’re working. Happiness happens when you have a bigger purpose than having more fulfills, which is why we say happiness happens on the way to fulfillment. Eventually, it got me sick of success.”. Can you see it? I love this… how often do we allow other people to pull us away from what we KNOW is most important? Willpower is always on will-call is a lie. When you strive for greatness, chaos is guaranteed to show up. The book discusses the value of simplifying one's workload by focusing on the one … When you switch from one task to another, voluntarily or not, two things happen. Here’s a 3-part break-down of The Focusing Question: “What’s the ONE Thing I can do / such that by doing it / everything else will be easier or unnecessary?”, Crucial Quote: “How we phrase the questions we ask ourselves determines the answers that eventually become our life.”, Diggin this? Keller tells us we don’t need a To-Do List, we need a Success List -- a list purposely designed around your highest leverage activities… how do you find your highest leverage activities? Believing in big frees you to ask different questions, follow different paths, and try new things. When everything feels urgent and important, everything seems equal. And once certain you know it, you’ll have the personal power necessary to push you through any hesitancy to do it. The key to success isn’t in all the things we do but in the handful of things we do well. For you to achieve extraordinary results, the people surrounding you and your physical surroundings must support your goals. Where Keller has had huge success, he had narrowed his concentration to one thing, and where his success varied, his focus had too. Book, THE ONE THING wants to explain to you what is the power of one thing. So, are you looking in every direction trying to. 20% of your customers usually account for 80% of your profits. Answers come from questions, and the quality of any answer is directly determined by the quality of the question. Raise your standards and listen to Oprah’s advice: “Surround yourself only with people who are going to lift you higher.”, “...at any moment in time there can be only ONE Thing, and when that ONE Thing is in line with your purpose and sits atop your priorities, it ill be the most productive thing you can do to launch you toward the best you can be. As big as you have ever dared to dream , and then some. Who we are and where we want to go determine what we do and what we accomplish. You can actually give attention to two things, but that is what’s called “divided attention.” And make no mistake. The Focusing Question collapses all possible questions into one: “What’s the ONE Thing I can do such that by doing it everything else will be easier or unnecessary?”. Achievers always work from a clear sense of priority. Your big ONE Thing is your purpose and your small ONE Thing is the priority you take action on to achieve it. And when you have a strong Purpose, you can become clear about your highest Priority. The one that we decided on was that I would write a book on how to become an elite performer in our industry. Keller tells us we don’t need a To-Do List, we need a Success List -- a list purposely designed around your highest leverage activities… how do you find your highest leverage activities? It matters. Success is a result of narrowing your concentration to one thing. When you say yes to something, it’s imperative that you understand what you’re saying no to. Anyone who dreams of an uncommon life eventually discovers there is no choice but to seek an uncommon approach to living it. Once we get what we want, our happiness sooner or later wanes because we quickly become accustomed to what we acquire. The ONE Thing is about getting extraordinary results in every situation. Bill’s ONE passion in high school was computers. And what did all of this get me? Actually, to get rid of your to-do list and make it do-only-one-thing list. Ask the most powerful question possible, and the answer can be life-altering. And when what you go for is as vast as you can possibly envision, you’ll be living the biggest life you can possibly live. Chapter 1: THE ONE THING – this chapter introduces the one thing approach and how you can carry it out. Where Keller has had huge success, he had narrowed his concentration to one thing, and where his success varied, his focus had too. Should keep you pretty busy, eh? We become active and busy, but this doesn’t actually move us any closer to success. What you build today will either empower or restrict you tomorrow. For example: hiring an assistant to handle your calls and emails is a levered action that frees up the time you used to put into calls and emails, thus making it easier for you to focus on growing your business. Keller says that most people have an Entrepreneurial “E” mindset, and that in order to be more productive and effective at what we do, we should adopt a Purposeful “P” mindset. How often do we allow the buzz, the bing, the flash from our cell phone sitting on our desk DIVIDE our attention from what matters most? Figure out what's most important + give it your undivided attention, A small dose of discipline develops into a long-lasting, Time blocking, mastery, and being accountable, You’ll want to write that down… because the whole entire book is based around that single question, and the, The key to success is figuring out your ONE most important thing in your business/career/life over the long-run. Those two P’s Start with the big stuff and see where it takes you. The ONE Thing : The Surprisingly Simple Truth Behind Extraordinary Results - Book Summary | Read this book summary by FlashNotes If you imagine lining up a bunch of dominos, knocking over one domino can mean knocking over a whole string of dominos. Do you tell them “yes” or do you tell them “no”? Likewise, if you were walking across a gorge on a rope bridge, you’d likely stop talking..", Keller continues, "You can do two things at once, but you can’t focus effectively on two things at once. 20% of your habits usually result in 80% of your success. In one study, those who wrote down their goals were 39.5 percent more likely to accomplish them. So here’s the trick if you want to create a habit — you’ll need to use your will-power/discipline juice in the beginning. The must-read summary of Gary Keller and Jay Papasan's book “The One Thing: The Surprisingly Simple Truth Behind Extraordinary Results”.This complete summary of the ideas in Gary Keller and Jay Papasan’s book “The One Thing” explains that, surprisingly enough, the best way to achieve incredible results is to do less. When you discipline yourself, you’re essentially training yourself to act in a specific way. So what are those handful of things that you can extract from your to-do list that would have the BIGGEST impact on your results? As we close out this GetFlashNotes book summary, I'm going to leave you with one final insight to keep in mind and remember. The ONE Thing Summary Chapter 1: The ONE Thing. Actions build on action. Paul Graham, from Y Combinator, divides all work into two buckets: maker (do or create) and manager (oversee or direct). this part of the question lets you know you’re about to get specific. Great businesses are built one productive person at a time. … everything else will be easier or unnecessary? Now, open your eyes and listen to me. Put up a sign of some sort (more on this later) on your desk to prevent people from disrupting your focus. Ask the right question, get the right answer. Cutting through clutter is … Work with a purpose, priority, and productivity, to gain profit 3. The ONE Thing In Action. Once you’ve figured that out, you need to identify how many dominoes you need to line up - and then knock down - in order to achieve it. The power of Keller’s Focusing Question —. The aim of the book is to show you how to cut through the clutter of work, life, well-being, love, family, hobbies, free time, etc., and focus on the things that matter. Spend time with friends and family for emotional energy. The ONE Thing is the best approach to getting what you want. , you may also enjoy the following books: Get My Searchable Collection of 100+ Book Notes. One of the most empowering moments of Keller’s life came when he realized that life is a question and how we live it is our answer. As a result, there’s no channel conflict. © 2020 MEANINGFUL, LLC | MeaningfulHQ.com, DEAN BOKHARI'S MEANINGFULHQ.com Self-Development and Motivation, Skin in the Game by Nassim Nicholas Taleb, 25 Most Powerful Leadership Books of All-Time, Get hundreds of business book summaries for just $1, Join 563,778 members of the Meaningful Movement », Nugget of wisdom to repeat to self: “I am the author of my destiny.”. The ONE Thing summary will teach you the focusing question from the book, why focus means saying no, and how to juggle work & personal life. Those with the right habits seem to do better than others. The research and experience of others is the best place to start when looking for your answer. And the only way to produce real and consistent value in the marketplace, is to Prioritize your activities based around your most important goals (yearly, monthly, weekly, and daily). In the words of the authors: "be like a stamp, and hold on to that one thing until you have arrived". The most successful people are the most productive people. You’ll want to write that down… because the whole entire book is based around that single question, and the power of organizing every area of your life around ONE Thing (per area). Viewed wistfully as a noun, balance is lived practically as a verb. stick to one thing until you get there.” —Josh Billings 1 THE ONE THING On June 7, 1991, the earth moved for 112 minutes. Dr. Martin Seligman, past president of the American Psychological Association, believes there are five factors that contribute to our happiness: positive emotion and pleasure, achievement, relationships, engagement, and meaning. Which led to him eventually starting ONE company - Microsoft. Success is actually a short race—a sprint fueled by discipline just long enough for habit to kick in and take over. This first part of the Focusing Question is about taking action… it’s not the ONE thing you “should do”, or “could do”, or “would do” — but the ONE Thing you CAN do. Let’s not be that. When you want the absolute best chance to succeed at anything you want, your approach should always be the same. ONE Thing stands between you and your goals. Here’s how you want to “line up your dominoes” within the context of your professional life (by the way, it’s the same thing for your personal life or any other area of improvement): Now all you need to do is knock each domino down until you’ve hit your Someday Goal. And once you turn a discipline into a habit, you become better at it AND it becomes easier to execute. Living large is that simple.”, If not -- what are you waiting for? Visualizing the process—breaking a big goal down into the steps needed to achieve it—helps engage the strategic thinking you need to plan for and achieve extraordinary results. If you started with a 2-inch domino, and increased the size of each subsequent domino by 50%, the 57th domino would practically bridge the distance between the earth and the moon. Wives (and husbands)  get angry. There is magic in knocking down your most important domino day after day. It’s not necessarily about the exact numbers (80%; 20%) as much as it’s about the simple truth behind them, which is this: a SMALL percentage of what you do accounts for  a LARGE percentage of the results you experience. To experience extraordinary results, be a maker in the morning and a manager in the afternoon. “Manager time,” on the other hand, gets divided into hours. The One Thing summary Youtube: Role of environment. The ONE Thing sits at the heart of success and is the starting point for achieving extraordinary results. And when you Prioritize based on what’s most important to you — then you’re driven by Purpose. come first, and serve as foundation for the second two. {click to tweet}, “What’s the ONE Thing you can do such that by doing it everything else will be easier or unnecessary?”. When you act on your priority, you’ll automatically go out of balance, giving more time to one thing over another. Apparently, background scratches can be pretty unsatisfying. We can’t manage time. American businessman Bill Gates is a great example of The ONE Thing lifestyle in action. I’m glad you asked…, Listen to the full 20-minute Audio Summary Here >>, “By thinking through the filter of Goal Setting to the Now, you set a future goal and then methodically drill down to what you should be doing right now. When you focus, it’s like shining a spotlight on what matters. Faith ultimately leads to action, and when we take action we avoid the very thing that could undermine or undo everything we’ve worked for--regret.”. The Focusing Question always aims you at the absolute best of both by forcing you to do what is essential to success—make a decision. And in my mind, it already is. If you’re afraid of saying no to someone because it might hurt their feelings, come up with a way to say it that you’re comfortable with. When I get caught up with a basketball game on TV, he gives me a good nudge. The trick to success is to choose the right habit and bring just enough discipline to establish it. To achieve this, you need to answer this question. And last, you must be willing to be held accountable to doing everything you can to achieve your ONE Thing. Achieving extraordinary results through time blocking requires three commitments. What target should I aim for?) The majority of what you want will come from the minority of what you do. Go for it! By using the good ol’. A new answer usually requires new behavior. This summary teaches you that not all activities matter equally. Success is built sequentially, one thing at a time. “...As fast as we were growing, we were still not acknowledged by the top people in our industry. The next morning, we narrowed the list down to ten ideas, and from there we chose just one big idea. Therefore, it is necessary to take good care of environmental factors in business. Time block your ONE Thing for business energy. Answers come from questions, and the QUALITY OF ANY ANSWER IS DIRECTLY DETERMINED BY THE QUALITY OF THE QUESTION. Messes occur. Decide what the right one is, then give yourself all the time you need and apply all the discipline you can summon to develop it. To stay on track for the best possible day, month, year, or career, you must keep asking the Focusing Question. When you try to do two things at once, you either can’t or won’t do either well. Personal energy mismanagement is a silent thief of productivity. When you focus, it’s like shining a spotlight on what matters. *Note: checkout the FlashNotes for The 80/20 Principle by Richard Koch for a deeper dive on this rule, “...what’s happening when we’re actually doing two things at once? Whatever you can see, you have the capacity to move toward. In high school, he got ONE job in the computer programing field. Extraordinary results require a Great Answer. In other words, when you see people that seem like they’re super DISCIPLINED, what you’re really observing is people who conditioned a handful of HABITS into their lives. Answering “ yes” when you know you should be focusing on your ONE Thing, puts your co-worker in control. It says that when you do this ONE Thing, everything else you could do to accomplish your goal will now be either doable with less effort or no longer even necessary. It got me success, and it got me sick. Those are your only two choices—accountable or unaccountable.”. ISBN: … — is that it puts you in a position to take control. The Focusing Question is so deceptively simple that its power is easily dismissed by anyone who doesn’t closely examine it. Putting together a life of extraordinary results simply comes down to getting the most out of what you do, when what you do matters. I was watching the hit comedy City Slickers, and the audience’s laughter rattled and rocked the theater. The ONE Thing Summary This book harnesses the power of ‘the domino effect’. With the quotes of THE ONE THING book is, "The surprisingly simple truth behind extraordinary results." This microbook is a summary/original review based on the book: The ONE Thing: The Surprisingly Simple Truth Behind Extraordinary Results Available for: Read online, read in our mobile apps for iPhone/Android and send in PDF/EPUB/MOBI to Amazon Kindle. Achievement and abundance show up because they’re the natural outcomes of doing the right things with no limits attached. An “E” would grab an axe and start chopping away. And when what you go for is as vast as you can possibly envision, you’ll be living the biggest life you can possibly live. Now, open your eyes and listen to me. I can wait…. Without further ado, here they are: “I wish that I’d let myself be happier”“I wish I’d stayed in touch with my friends”“I wish I’d had the courage to express my feelings”“I wish I hadn’t worked so hard”“I wish I’d had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.”. This led him to develop ONE skill, computer programming. Life is about creating yourself.”. But just saying yes because you can’t bear the short-term pain of saying no is not going to help you do the work.” Love it. Your environment must support your goals. by Richard Koch for a deeper dive on this rule, "You can do two things at once, but you can’t focus effectively on two things at once. … actually, yeah. 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