The One Thing by Gary Keller, Jay Papasan Flashcards
(280 cards)
1
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“Be like a postage stamp— stick to one thing until you get there.” —Josh Billings 46
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“What’s the ONE Thing you can do this week such that by doing it everything else would be easier or unnecessary?” 82
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Where I’d had huge success, I had narrowed my concentration to one thing, and where my success varied, my focus had too. 84
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they make getting to the heart of things the heart of their approach. They go small. 88
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“Going small” is ignoring all the things you could do and doing what you should do. It’s recognizing that not all things matter equally and finding the things that matter most. 90
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extraordinary results are directly determined by how narrow you can make your focus. 92
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In Leeuwarden, The Netherlands, on Domino Day, November 13, 2009, Weijers Domino Productions coordinated the world record domino fall by lining up more than 4,491,863 dominoes in a dazzling display In this instance, a single domino set in motion a domino fall that cumulatively unleashed more than 94,000 joules of energy, which is as much energy as it takes for an average-sized male to do 545 pushups. 108
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In 1983, Lorne Whitehead wrote in the American Journal of Physics that he’d discovered that domino falls could not only topple many things, they could also topple bigger things. He described how a single domino is capable of bringing down another domino that is actually 50 percent larger. 114
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a single domino is capable of bringing down another domino that is actually 50 percent larger. 115
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In 2001 a physicist from San Francisco’s Exploratorium reproduced Whitehead’s experiment by creating eight dominoes out of plywood, each of which was 50 percent larger than the one before. The first was a mere two inches, the last almost three feet tall. The resulting domino fall began with a gentle tick and quickly ended “with a loud SLAM.” 121
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The 10th domino would be almost as tall as NFL quarterback Peyton Manning. By the 18th, you’re looking at a domino that would rival the Leaning Tower of Pisa. The 23rd domino would tower over the Eiffel Tower and the 31st domino would loom over Mount Everest by almost 3,000 feet. Number 57 would practically bridge the distance between the earth and the moon! 125
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successful people know this. So every day they line up their priorities anew, find the lead domino, and whack away at it until it falls. 132
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extraordinary success is sequential, not simultaneous. 134
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The key is over time. Success is built sequentially. It’s one thing at a time. 140
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“It is those who concentrate on but one thing at a time who advance in this world.” — Og Mandino 143
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“There can only be one most important thing. Many things may be important, but only one can be the most important.” —Ross Garber 162
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17
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No one is self-made. 174
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No one succeeds alone. No one. 185
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the line between passion and skill can be blurry. That’s because they’re almost always connected. 192
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This is the story line for extraordinary success stories. Passion for something leads to disproportionate time practicing or working at it. That time spent eventually translates to skill, and when skill improves, results improve. Better results generally lead to more enjoyment, and more passion and more time is invested. 195
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21
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Passion for something leads to disproportionate time practicing or working at it. That time spent eventually translates to skill, and when skill improves, results improve. Better results generally lead to more enjoyment, and more passion and more time is invested. 195
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“It ain’t what you don’t know that gets you into trouble. It’s what you know for sure that just ain’t so.” —Mark Twain 245
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“truthiness,” a word comedian Stephen Colbert coined as “truth that comes from the gut, not books” on the debut episode of his Comedy Central show, The Colbert Report. 254
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The problem is we tend to act on what we believe even when what we believe isn’t anything we should. 258
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(“Toss a frog into a pot of hot water and it will jump right back out. But if you place a frog in lukewarm water and slowly raise the temperature, it will boil to death.”) It’s a lie—a very truthy lie, but a lie nonetheless. 263
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Ever hear about how the explorer Cortez burned his ships on arriving at the Americas to motivate his men? Not true. Another lie. 266
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Over time, myths and mistruths get thrown around so often they eventually feel familiar and start to sound like the truth. Then we start basing important decisions on them. 268
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THE SIX LIES BETWEEN YOU AND SUCCESS Everything Matters Equally Multitasking A Disciplined Life Willpower Is Always on Will-Call A Balanced Life Big Is Bad 275
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“Things which matter most must never be at the mercy of things which matter least.” —Johann Wolfgang von Goethe 282
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When everything feels urgent and important, everything seems equal. We become active and busy, but this doesn’t actually move us any closer to success. 299
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“The things which are most important don’t always scream the loudest.” —Bob Hawke 301
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Henry David Thoreau said, “It’s not enough to be busy, so are the ants. The question is, what are we busy about?” 303
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Not everything matters equally, and success isn’t a game won by whoever does the most. Yet that is exactly how most play it on a daily basis. 305
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Most inboxes overflow with unimportant e-mails masquerading as priorities. 313
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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. 315
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Achievers always work from a clear sense of priority. 318
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Richard Koch, in his book The 80/20 Principle, defined it about as well as anyone: “The 80/20 Principle asserts that a minority of causes, inputs, or effort usually lead to a majority of the results, outputs, or rewards.” 347
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“The 80/20 Principle asserts that a minority of causes, inputs, or effort usually lead to a majority of the results, outputs, or rewards.” 347
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the majority of what you want will come from the minority of what you do. Extraordinary results are disproportionately created by fewer actions than most realize. 353
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Juran’s great insight was that not everything matters equally; some things matter more than others—a lot more. A to-do list becomes a success list when you apply Pareto’s Principle to it. 357
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Keep going. You can actually take 20 percent of the 20 percent of the 20 percent and continue until you get to the single most important thing! 373
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Eric said that if I could do only one thing, then I should practice my scales. 385
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The inequality of effort for results is everywhere in your life if you will simply look for it. 388
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Go small. Don’t focus on being busy; focus on being productive. Allow what matters most to drive your day.
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Go extreme. Once you’ve figured out what actually matters, keep asking what matters most until there is only one thing left. That core activity goes at the top of your success list.
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Say no. Whether you say “later” or “never,” the point is to say “not now” to anything else you could do until your most important work is done.
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Don’t get trapped in the “check off” game. If we believe things don’t matter equally, we must act accordingly. We can’t fall prey to the notion that everything has to be done, that checking things off our list is what success is all about. 393
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Say no. Whether you say “later” or “never,” the point is to say “not now” to anything else you could do until your most important work is done. 396
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doing the most important thing is always the most important thing. 402
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“To do two things at once is to do neither.” —Publilius Syrus 404
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Nass, “Multitaskers were just lousy at everything.” Multitasking is a lie. 413
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“Multitasking is merely the opportunity to screw up more than one thing at a time.” —Steve Uzzell 420
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Steve Uzzell said, “Multitasking is merely the opportunity to screw up more than one thing at a time.” 424
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the term “multitasking” didn’t arrive on the scene until the 1960s. It was used to describe computers, not people. 426
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Multitasking is about multiple tasks alternately sharing one resource (the CPU), but in time the context was flipped and it became interpreted to mean multiple tasks being done simultaneously by one resource (a person). 429
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they switch back and forth, alternating their attention until both tasks are done. The speed with which computers tackle multiple tasks feeds the illusion that everything happens at the same time, so comparing computers to humans can be confusing. 432
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what we can’t do is focus on two things at once. Our attention bounces back and forth. 434
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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. 440
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Researchers estimate that workers are interrupted every 11 minutes and then spend almost a third of their day recovering from these distractions. 447
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an average of 4,000 thoughts a day flying in and out of our heads, 453
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But juggling isn’t multitasking. Juggling is an illusion. To the casual observer, a juggler is juggling three balls at once. In reality, the balls are being independently caught and thrown in rapid succession. 459
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juggling isn’t multitasking. Juggling is an illusion. To the casual observer, a juggler is juggling three balls at once. In reality, the balls are being independently caught and thrown in rapid succession. 459
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“task switching.” When you switch from one task to another, voluntarily or not, two things happen. The first is nearly instantaneous: you decide to switch. The second is less predictable: you have to activate the “rules” for whatever you’re about to do 462
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researcher Dr. David Meyer. “It can range from time increases of 25 percent or less for simple tasks to well over 100 percent or more for very complicated tasks.” Task switching exacts a cost few realize they’re even paying. 468
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Our brain has channels, and as a result we’re able to process different kinds of data in different parts of our brain. This is why you can talk and walk at the same time. There is no channel interference. But here’s the catch: you’re not really focused on both activities. One is happening in the foreground and the other in the background. 474
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You can do two things at once, but you can’t focus effectively on two things at once. 477
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Many think that because their body is functioning without their conscious direction, they’re multitasking. This is true, but not the way they mean it. A lot of our physical actions, like breathing, are being directed from a different part of our brain than where focus comes from. As a result, there’s no channel conflict. 479
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where focus occurs—in the prefrontal cortex. When you focus, it’s like shining a spotlight on what matters. You can actually give attention to two things, but that is what’s called “divided attention.” And make no mistake. Take on two things and your attention gets divided. Take on a third and something gets dropped. 483
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You simply can’t effectively focus on two important things at the same time. 488
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There is just so much brain capability at any one time. Divide it up as much as you want, but you’ll pay a price in time and effectiveness. The more time you spend switched to another task, the less likely you are to get back to your original task. This is how loose ends pile up. Bounce between one activity and another and you lose time as your brain reorients to the new task. Those milliseconds add up.
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Researchers estimate we lose 28 percent of an average workday to multitasking ineffectiveness.
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Chronic multitaskers develop a distorted sense of how long it takes to do things. They almost always believe tasks take longer to complete than is actually required. Multitaskers make more mistakes than non-multitaskers. They often make poorer decisions because they favor new information over old, even if the older information is more valuable. Multitaskers experience more life-reducing, happiness-squelching stress. 491
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Media multitaskers actually experience a thrill with switching—a burst of dopamine—that can be addictive. 501
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Why would we ever tolerate multitasking when we’re doing our most important work? 513
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Author Dave Crenshaw put it just right when he wrote, “The people we live with and work with on a daily basis deserve our full attention. When we give people segmented attention, piecemeal time, switching back and forth, the switching cost is higher than just the time involved. We end up damaging relationships.” 520
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Distraction is natural. 525
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Multitasking takes a toll. 526
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Distraction undermines results. 527
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Figure out what matters most in the moment and give it your undivided attention. 528
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Success is actually a short race—a sprint fueled by discipline just long enough for habit to kick in and take over. 539
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When you discipline yourself, you’re essentially training yourself to act in a specific way. Stay with this long enough and it becomes routine—in other words, a habit. 544
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when you see people who look like “disciplined” people, what you’re really seeing is people who’ve trained a handful of habits into their lives. 545
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success is about doing the right thing, not about doing everything right. The trick to success is to choose the right habit and bring just enough discipline to establish it. 551
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The trick to success is to choose the right habit and bring just enough discipline to establish it. 551
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Phelps channeled all of his energy into one discipline that developed into one habit—swimming daily. 569
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aiming discipline at the right habit gives you license to be less disciplined in other areas. When you do the right thing, it can liberate you from having to monitor everything. 572
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habits are hard only in the beginning. Over time, the habit you’re after becomes easier and easier to sustain. It’s true. Habits require much less energy and effort to maintain than to begin 578
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Over time, the habit you’re after becomes easier and easier to sustain. It’s true. Habits require much less energy and effort to maintain than to begin 578
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Researchers at the University College of London have the answer. In 2009, they asked the question: How long does it take to establish a new habit? They were looking for the moment when a new behavior becomes automatic or ingrained. 584
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The results suggest that it takes an average of 66 days to acquire a new habit. The full range was 18 to 254 days, but the 66 days represented a sweet spot—with 587
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it takes an average of 66 days to acquire a new habit. The full range was 18 to 254 days, but the 66 days represented a sweet spot—with easier behaviors taking fewer days on average and tough ones taking longer. 587
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It’s why those with the right habits seem to do better than others. They’re doing the most important thing regularly and, as a result, everything else is easier. 594
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Don’t be a disciplined person. Be a person of powerful habits and use selected discipline to develop them. Build one habit at a time. 597
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Build one habit at a time. 599
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Give each habit enough time. Stick with the discipline long enough for it to become routine. Habits, on average, take 66 days to form. Once a habit is solidly established, you can either build on that habit or, if appropriate, build another one. 601
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Construe willpower as just a call for character and you miss its other equally essential element: timing. It’s a critical piece. 616
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I quickly discovered something discouraging: I didn’t always have willpower. 621
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humbling conclusion: willpower isn’t on will-call. 625
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Willpower is always on will-call is a lie. 628
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Left alone with a marshmallow they couldn’t eat, kids engaged in all kinds of delay strategies, from closing their eyes, pulling their own hair, and turning away, to hovering over, smelling, and even caressing their treats. On average, kids held out less than three minutes. And only three out of ten managed to delay their gratification until the researcher returned. It was pretty apparent most kids struggled with delayed gratification. 637
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On average, kids held out less than three minutes. And only three out of ten managed to delay their gratification until the researcher returned. 639
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or the ability to delay gratification was a huge indicator of future success. 646
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Willpower has a limited battery life 656
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Everyone accepts that limited resources must be managed, yet we fail to recognize that willpower is one of them. 660
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Stanford University professor Baba Shiv’s research shows just how fleeting our willpower can be. He divided 165 undergraduate students into two groups and asked them to memorize either a two-digit or a seven-digit number. 662
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students asked to memorize the seven-digit number were nearly twice as likely to choose cake. This tiny extra cognitive load was just enough to prevent a prudent choice. The implications are staggering. The more we use our mind, the less minding power we have. 667
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The more we use our mind, the less minding power we have. Willpower is like a fast-twitch muscle that gets tired and needs rest. It’s incredibly powerful, but it has no endurance. 668
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Willpower is like a fast-twitch muscle that gets tired and needs rest. 669
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The brain makes up l/50th of our body mass but consumes a staggering 1/5th of the calories we burn for energy. If your brain were a car, in terms of gas mileage, it’d be a Hummer. 674
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The most recent parts of our brain to develop are the first to suffer if there is a shortage of resources. Older, more developed areas of the brain, such as those that regulate breathing and our nervous responses, get first helpings from our blood stream and are virtually unaffected if we decide to skip a meal. The prefrontal cortex, on the other hand, feels the impact. 678
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the impact of nutrition and willpower. 683
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Participants who exercised willpower showed a marked drop in the levels of glucose in the bloodstream. Subsequent studies showed the impact on performance when two groups completed one willpower-related task and then did another. 684
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The studies concluded that willpower is a mental muscle that doesn’t bounce back quickly. If you employ it for one task, there will be less power available for the next unless you refuel. 687
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willpower is a mental muscle that doesn’t bounce back quickly. If you employ it for one task, there will be less power available for the next unless you refuel. 688
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Foods that elevate blood sugar evenly over long periods, like complex carbohydrates and proteins, become the fuel of choice for high-achievers—literal proof that “you are what you eat.” 690
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when our willpower is low we tend to fall back on our default settings. 692
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When our willpower runs out, we all revert to our default settings. 704
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We lose our willpower not because we think about it but because we don’t. Without appreciating that it can come and go, we let it do exactly that. 710
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You make doing what matters most a priority when your willpower is its highest. 717
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make doing what matters most a priority when your willpower is its highest. 717
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if you want to get the most out of your day, do your most important work—your ONE Thing—early, before your willpower is drawn down. 729
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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. 732
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A balanced life is a lie. 747
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the term “work-life balance” wasn’t coined until the mid-1980s when more than half of all married women joined the workforce. 766
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we went from a family unit with a breadwinner and a homemaker to one with two breadwinners and no homemaker. Anyone with a pulse knows who got stuck with the extra work in the beginning. 768
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The problem with living in the middle is that it prevents you from making extraordinary time commitments to anything. In your effort to attend to all things, everything gets shortchanged and nothing gets its due. 780
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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. 782
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The reason we shouldn’t pursue balance is that the magic never happens in the middle; magic happens at the extremes. 786
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magic never happens in the middle; magic happens at the extremes. The dilemma is that chasing the extremes presents real challenges. We naturally understand that success lies at the outer edges, but we don’t know how to manage our lives while we’re out there. 786
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When you gamble with your time, you may be placing a bet you can’t cover. 814
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Counterbalancing done well gives the illusion of balance. 821
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when you focus on what is truly important, something will always be underserved. 824
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An 11-year study of nearly 7,100 British civil servants concluded that habitual long hours can be deadly. Researchers showed that individuals who worked more than 11 hours a day (a 55-plus hour workweek) were 67 percent more likely to suffer from heart disease. 830
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Researchers showed that individuals who worked more than 11 hours a day (a 55-plus hour workweek) were 67 percent more likely to suffer from heart disease. 830
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it’s not about how much overtime you put in; the key ingredient is focused time over time. 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, 835
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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, 836
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The question is: “Do you go short or long?” In your personal life, go short and avoid long periods where you’re out of balance. Going short lets you stay connected to all the things that matter most and move them along together. In your professional life, go long and make peace with the idea that the pursuit of extraordinary results may require you to be out of balance for long periods. 842
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The question of balance is really a question of priority. 851
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When you act on your priority, you’ll automatically go out of balance, giving more time to one thing over another. 853
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The challenge becomes how long you stay on your priority. To be able to address your priorities outside of work, be clear about your most important work priority so you can get it done. Then go home and be clear about your priorities there so you can get back to work. When you’re supposed to be working, work, and when you’re supposed to be playing, play. 855
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When you’re supposed to be working, work, and when you’re supposed to be playing, play. 857
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Think about two balancing buckets. 860
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Counterbalance your work bucket. 862
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Your work life is divided into two distinct areas—what matters most and everything else. You will have to take what matters to the extremes and be okay with what happens to the rest. 864
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Counterbalance your personal life bucket. 866
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“We are kept from our goal, not by obstacles but by a clear path to a lesser goal.” —Robert Brault 872
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When big is believed to be bad, small thinking rules the day and big never sees the light of it. 889
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Historically, we’ve done a remarkably poor job of estimating our limits. 892
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“What set Sabeer apart from the hundreds of entrepreneurs I’ve met is the gargantuan size of his dream. Even before he had a product, before he had any money behind him, he was completely convinced 908
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only actions that become springboards to succeeding big are those informed by big thinking to begin with. 914
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Everyone has the same amount of time, and hard work is simply hard work. As a result, what you do in the time you work determines what you achieve. 918
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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. 921
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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. 929
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As you experience big, you become big. 951
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Stanford psychologist Carol S. Dweck has studied the science of how our self-conceptions influence our actions. 953
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Dweck’s work with children revealed two mindsets in action—a “growth” mindset that generally thinks big and seeks growth and a “fixed” mindset that places artificial limits and avoids failure. Growth-minded students, as she calls them, employ better learning strategies, experience less helplessness, exhibit more positive effort, and achieve more in the classroom than their fixed-minded peers. They are less likely to place limits on their lives and more likely to reach for their potential. Dweck points out that mindsets can and do change. Like any other habit, you set your mind to it until the right mindset becomes routine. 954
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Dweck points out that mindsets can and do change. Like any other habit, you set your mind to it until the right mindset becomes routine. 958
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Act bold. Big thoughts go nowhere without bold action. 980
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“Be careful how you interpret the world; it is like that.” —Erich Heller 992
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I discovered that we can’t manage time, and that the key to success isn’t in all the things we do but in the handful of things we do well. 1021
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the key to success isn’t in all the things we do but in the handful of things we do well. 1022
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success comes down to this: being appropriate in the moments of your life. 1023
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your energy, thought and capital exclusively upon the business in which you are engaged. 1035
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quality of any answer is directly determined by the quality of the question. 1050
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Voltaire once wrote, “Judge a man by his questions rather than his answers.” 1052
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Research shows that asking questions improves learning and performance by as much as 150 percent. 1057
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any wage I had asked of Life, Life would have willingly paid.” 1070
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“What’s the ONE Thing I can do / such that by doing it / everything else will be easier or unnecessary?” 1097
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You’re allowed to pick one thing and one thing only. 1101
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There are many things we should, could, or would do but never do. Action you “can do” beats intention every time. 1104
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Woulda-Coulda-Shouldas all ran away and hid from one little Did.” —Shel Silverstein 1106
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“Such that by doing it” lets you know you’re going to have to dig deep, because when you do this ONE Thing, something else is going to happen. 1109
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Archimedes said, “Give me a lever long enough and I could move the world,” 1112
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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. 1114
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Most people struggle to comprehend how many things don’t need to be done, if they would just start by doing the right thing. 1115
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The Focusing Question asks you to find the first domino and focus on it exclusively until you knock it over. 1117
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Great questions are the path to great answers. 1121
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The Big-Picture Question: “What’s my ONE Thing?” Use it to develop a vision for your life and the direction for your career or company; it is your strategic compass. It also works when considering what you want to master, what you want to give to others and your community, and how you want to be remembered. It keeps your relationships with friends, family, and colleagues in perspective and your daily actions on track. 1125
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The Small-Focus Question: “What’s my ONE Thing right now?” Use this when you first wake up and throughout the day. It keeps you focused on your most important work and, whenever you need it, helps you find the “levered action” or first domino in any activity. 1128
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“Success is simple. Do what’s right, the right way, at the right time.” —Arnold H. Glasow 1137
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the Focusing Question is the most powerful success habit we can have. 1141
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the Focusing Question is a way of life. I use it to find my most leveraged priority, make the most out of my time, and get the biggest bang for my buck. Whenever the outcome absolutely matters, I ask it. I ask it when I wake up and start my day. I ask it when I get to work, and again when I get home. 1142
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put up a sign at work that says, “Until my ONE Thing is done—everything else is a distraction.” 1195
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“People do not decide their futures, they decide their habits and their habits decide their futures.” —F. M. Alexander 1206
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Quadrant 4. Small & Specific: “What can I do to increase sales by 5 percent this year?” This aims you in a specific direction, but there’s nothing truly challenging about this question. 1223
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Quadrant 3. Small & Broad: “What can I do to increase sales?” This is not really an achievement question at all. 1227
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Quadrant 2. Big & Broad: “What can I do to double sales?” Here you have a big question, but nothing specific. It’s a good start, but the lack of specifics leaves more questions than answers. 1231
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Quadrant 1. Big & Specific: “What can I do to double sales in six months?” Now you have all the elements of a Great Question. 1234
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Answers come in three categories: doable, stretch, and possibility. 1246
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Highly successful people choose to live at the outer limits of achievement. They not only dream of but deeply crave what is beyond their natural grasp. 1256
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If you want the most from your answer, you must realize that it lives outside your comfort zone. 1258
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A Great Answer is essentially a new answer. It is a leap across all current answers in search of the next one and is found in two steps. 1262
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your first ONE Thing is to search for clues and role models to point you in the right direction. The first thing to do is ask, “Has anyone else studied or accomplished this or something like it?” The answer is almost always yes, so your investigation begins by finding out what others have learned. 1264
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The research and experience of others is the best place to start when looking for your answer. 1273
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A new answer usually requires new behavior, 1283
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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. 1303
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Your big ONE Thing is your purpose and your small ONE Thing is the priority you take action on to achieve it. The most productive people start with purpose and use it like a compass. 1306
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The more productive people are, the more purpose and priority are pushing and driving them. 1313
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All businesspeople want productivity and profit, but too many fail to realize that the best path to attaining them is through purpose-driven priority. 1315
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Great businesses are built one productive person at a time. 1320
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“Life isn’t about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself.” —George Bernard Shaw 1325
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Charles Dickens shows us a simple formula for creating an extraordinary life: Live with purpose. Live by priority. Live for productivity. 1354
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our purpose sets our priority and our priority determines the productivity our actions produce. 1357
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As the narrative ends, Scrooge’s purpose is no longer money, but people. 1370
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Who we are and where we want to go determine what we do and what we accomplish. 1375
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One of our biggest challenges is making sure our life’s purpose doesn’t become a beggar’s bowl, a bottomless pit of desire continually searching for the next thing that will make us happy. That’s a losing proposition. 1398
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Happiness happens on the way to fulfillment. 1408
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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. 1409
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When our daily actions fulfill a bigger purpose, the most powerful and enduring happiness can happen. 1412
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financially wealthy people are those who have enough money coming in without having to work to finance their purpose in life. 1420
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It’s been said that the end shouldn’t justify the means, but be careful—when achieving happiness, any end you seek will only create happiness for you through the means it takes to achieve it. 1424
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The prescription for extraordinary results is knowing what matters to you and taking daily doses of actions in alignment with it. 1429
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Sticking with something long enough for success to show up is a fundamental requirement for achieving extra-ordinary results. 1436
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Purpose provides the ultimate glue that can help you stick to the path you’ve set. When what you do matches your purpose, your life just feels in rhythm, and the path you beat with your feet seems to match the sound in your head and heart. 1437
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your “Big Why.” It’s why you’re excited with your life. It’s why you’re doing what you’re doing. Absent an answer, pick a direction. “Purpose” may sound heavy but it doesn’t have to be. 1447
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Pick a direction, start marching down that path, and see how you like it. Time brings clarity and if you find you don’t like it, you can always change your mind. It’s your life. 1456
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“Planning is bringing the future into the present so that you can do something about it now.” —Alan Lakein 1460
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Live with purpose and you know where you want to go. Live by priority and you’ll know what to do to get there. 1466
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Purpose without priority is powerless. 1472
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the word is priority—not priorities—and it originated in the 14th century from the Latin prior, meaning “first.” If something mattered the most it was a “priority.” Curiously, priority remained unpluralized until around the 20th century, 1473
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we have goals and plans for only one reason—to be appropriate in the moments of our lives that matter. 1483
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The truth about success is that our ability to achieve extraordinary results in the future lies in stringing together powerful moments, one after the other. 1486
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our ability to achieve extraordinary results in the future lies in stringing together powerful moments, one after the other. What you do in any given moment determines what you experience in the next. Your “present now” and all “future nows” are undeniably determined by the priority you live in the moment. 1486
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If you’re offered a choice of $100 today or $200 next year, which would you choose? The $200, right? You would if your goal were to make the most money from the opportunity. Strangely, most people don’t make that choice. Economists have long known that even though people prefer big rewards over small ones, they have an even stronger preference for present rewards over future ones—even when the future rewards are MUCH BIGGER. It’s an ordinary occurrence, oddly named hyperbolic discounting—the further away a reward is in the future, the smaller the immediate motivation to achieve it. 1490
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Economists have long known that even though people prefer big rewards over small ones, they have an even stronger preference for present rewards over future ones—even when the future rewards are MUCH BIGGER. It’s an ordinary occurrence, oddly named hyperbolic discounting—the further away a reward is in the future, the smaller the immediate motivation to achieve it. 1492
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you’re training your mind how to think, how to connect one goal with the next over time until you know the most important thing you must do right NOW. 1519
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Connect today to all your tomorrows. It matters. 1525
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In the end, students who visualized the process performed better across the board—they studied earlier and more frequently and earned higher grades than those who simply visualized the outcome. 1528
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students who visualized the process performed better across the board—they studied earlier and more frequently and earned higher grades than those who simply visualized the outcome. 1528
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People tend to be overly optimistic about what they can accomplish, and therefore most don’t think things all the way through. Researchers call this the “planning fallacy” Visualizing the process— 1530
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Much has been written about writing down goals and for a very good reason—it works. 1539
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Those who wrote down their goals were 39.5 percent more likely to accomplish them. 1541
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“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 1554
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Productive action transforms lives. 1558
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what we do defines our life more than anything else. In the end, putting together a life of extraordinary results simply comes down to getting the most out of what you do, when what you do matters. 1566
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putting together a life of extraordinary results simply comes down to getting the most out of what you do, when what you do matters. 1567
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They time block their ONE Thing and then protect their time blocks with a vengeance. 1586
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Highly successful people are clear about their role in the events of their life. 1888
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One of the fastest ways to bring accountability to your life is to find an accountability partner. 1892
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Individuals who wrote their goals and sent progress reports to friends were 76.7 percent more likely to achieve them. 1899
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“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 1903
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“The Good Samaritan Experiment.” 1929
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In the end, fewer than half the students stopped to help. But the deciding factor wasn’t the task—it was time. Ninety percent of the students who were rushed failed to stop and render aid to the stranger. 1934
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THE FOUR THIEVES OF PRODUCTIVITY 1) Inability to Say “No” 2) Fear of Chaos 3) Poor Health 4) Habits Environment Doesn’t Support Your Goals 1941
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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. 1947
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When you say yes to something, it’s imperative that you understand what you’re saying no to. 1951
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Apple created. In the two years after his return in 1997, he took the company from 350 products to ten. 1955
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You can’t please everyone, so don’t try. 1961
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saying yes to your ONE Thing is your top priority. 1962
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if you feel there are times you need to say no in a helpful way, there are many ways to say it that can still lead people forward toward their goals. 1972
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leverage your yeses. 1976
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A request must be connected to my ONE Thing for me to consider it. 1984
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When you give your ONE Thing your most emphatic “Yes!” and vigorously say “No!” to the rest, extraordinary results become possible. 1992
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A not-so-funny thing happens along the way to extraordinary results. Untidiness. Unrest. Disarray. Disorder. 1994
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Messes are inevitable when you focus on just one thing. 1996
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One of the greatest thieves of productivity is the unwillingness to allow for chaos or the lack of creativity in dealing with it. Focusing on ONE Thing has a guaranteed consequence: other things don’t get done. 1999
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When you strive for greatness, chaos is guaranteed to show up. 2007
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“When you argue for your limitations, you get to keep them,” 2025
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“The art of being wise is the art of knowing what to overlook.” — William James 2026
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Move past your fear of chaos, learn to deal with it, and trust that your work on your ONE Thing will come through for you. 2030
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Personal energy mismanagement is a silent thief of productivity. When we keep borrowing against our future by poorly protecting our energy, there is a predictable outcome of either slowly running out of gas or prematurely crashing and burning. 2036
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if you haven’t walked at least 10,000 steps, make it your ONE “exercise” Thing to reach your 10,000-step goal before you go to bed. This one habit will change your life. 2051
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Calendaring your day this way frees your mind from worrying about what might not get done while inspiring you with what will. 2057
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when you spend the early hours energizing yourself, you get pulled through the rest of the day with little additional effort. 2074
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Your environment must support your goals. Your environment is simply who you see and what you experience every day. 2082
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Attitude is contagious; it spreads easily. As strong as you think you are, no one is strong enough to avoid the influence of negativity forever. 2091
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Their book, Connected: The Surprising Power of Our Social Networks and How They Shape Our Lives, connects the dots between our relationships and drug use, sleeplessness, smoking, drinking, eating, and even happiness. For instance, their 2007 study on obesity revealed that if one of your close friends becomes obese, you’re 57 percent more likely to do the same. 2098
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Hanging out with people who seek success will strengthen your motivation and positively push your performance. 2106
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No one succeeds alone and no one fails alone. Pay attention to the people around you. 2109
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Walk through the path you’ll take each day, and eradicate all the sight and sound thieves that you find. 2123
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when you clear the path to success— that’s when you consistently get there. 2128
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“To get through the hardest journey we need take only one step at a time, but we must keep on stepping.” —Chinese Proverb 2151
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at any moment in time there can be only ONE Thing, 2178
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Actions build on action. Habits build on habit. Success builds on success. 2179
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One evening an elder Cherokee told his grandson about a battle that goes on inside all people. He said, “My son, the battle is between two wolves inside us. One is Fear. It carries anxiety, concern, uncertainty, hesitancy, indecision and inaction. The other is Faith. It brings calm, conviction, confidence, enthusiasm, decisiveness, excitement and action.” The grandson thought about it for a moment and then meekly asked his grandfather: “Which wolf wins?” The old Cherokee replied, “The one you feed.” 2187
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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. Life is too short to pile up woulda, coulda, shouldas. 2211
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Bronnie Ware’s 2012 book The Top Five Regrets of the Dying did both. The five most common were these: I wish that I’d let myself be happier—too late they realized happiness is a choice; I wish I’d stayed in touch with my friends—too often they failed to give them the time and effort they deserved; I wish I’d had the courage to express my feelings—too frequently shut mouths and shuttered feelings weighed too heavy to handle; I wish I hadn’t worked so hard—too much time spent making a living over building a life caused too much remorse. As tough as these were, one stood out above them all. The most common regret was this: I wish I’d had the courage to live a life true to myself not the life others expected of me. Half-filled dreams and unfulfilled hopes: this was the number-one regret expressed by the dying. 2217
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Gilovich and Medvec in 1994 wrote, “When people look back on their lives, it is the things they have not done that generate the greatest regret.... People’s actions may be troublesome initially; it is their inactions that plague them most with long-term feelings of regret.” 2227
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Put yourself together, and your world falls into place. 2261
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it’s time to put The ONE Thing into action in your life. VisitThe1Thing.com to start thinking big by going small and focusing on your ONE Thing today! Find up-to-date information on our seminars and coaching programs, as well as exclusive ONE Thing tools. See real-time updates from others joining the worldwide movement and share your ONE Thing. Experience your ONE Thing today. 2924
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