Do you find that you often don’t intently focus on the ONE Thing that has the potential to move you closer to your goals because you are caught up in a myriad of things you have to do?

If so, you might fall into the eco-chamber of the belief that everything matters equally.

And trust me, you are not alone!

Most of us spend our time juggling different tasks at a time doing what is popularly known as multitasking -thinking we are being productive.

We’ve all fallen victim to these productivity myths that have done nothing but mislead and derail our progress.

Gary Keller and Jay Papasan in their book: THE ONE THING, did an incredible job of deconstructing some of these myths.

In this blog, I review the big ideas I got from this book that have immensely shaped how I approach my daily work and that will influence how you approach your work as well.

The review will be in three parts, the introduction; THE ONE THING, the myths about success, and the truths about how success is achieved.

Now, without further ado, let’s get into THE ONE THING and why it’s imperative to focus on it.

The ONE Thing.

Have you ever wondered why some people seem to get so much more done than others if everyone has the same number of hours in a day?

Well, the answer is they GO SMALL.

As mentioned in this book: when you want the absolute best chance to succeed at anything you want, your approach should always be to GO SMALL.

“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 the most to focus on.

You see, most people think the opposite, they believe that success is to do more to go out there and try everything.

And it’s a popular belief that successful people are the ones that do the most; the ones that juggle multiple things.

You should immediately drop this type of thinking because it will leave you with congested to-do lists, and have your focus pulled in different ways.

You’ll end up feeling overwhelmed and then give up on reaching your goals as they’ll seem unattainable and then you’ll settle for less.

So, as you think of your work, health, spirituality, and relationships, ask yourself: “what is the ONE Thing I can do such that by doing it everything else will be made easier or unnecessary?”

“There can only be one most important thing. Many things may be important, but only one can be the most important.” – Ross Garber

Now here’s why choosing to focus on the ONE Thing matters:

  • Focusing on the ONE Thing that matters most is the storyline for extraordinary success stories.
  • Passion for something leads to disproportionate time practicing or working on it.
  • The time spent eventually translates to skill, and when skill improves, results improve.

Now that you know why focusing on the ONE Thing matters, let’s get into some of the misleading myths that are told about success.

1. Everything matters equally.

It is not a surprise that the modern-day workplace is filled with to-do lists of every kind.

Filled with all the things that need to be done in a day, a week, a month, a quarter, a year -you get the drill.

Because you were made to believe that everything matters equally, you believe that everything on your to-do list has to get done urgently.

You forget that some tasks don’t necessarily bring you any closer to your goals.

And since you get a dopamine boost with every task you tick off -no matter how small or trivial- you’ll push yourself into working on all tasks equally.

Have you heard of the 80/20 Pareto principle?

It states that 20 percent of what you do brings about 80 percent of your results.

This means that only a few tasks on your to-do lists help you achieve the biggest percentage of your results.

So, everything doesn’t matter equally -it’s a myth.

Here’s what you need to do.

After writing down your to-do list, select the tasks that directly move you closer to your goal; the ones that belong in the 20 percent.

Move those tasks to a new list and organize them in terms of their priority. This will now become your success list.

It will clarify the ONE Thing you should start with; the task that once done will make everything else easier or unnecessary.

Then start working on it.

2. Willpower is always on will-call.

Before reading this book, I didn’t understand the importance of scheduling your day in terms of energy levels.

I would eat my frogs -as Brian Tracy in his book: Eat that frog instructed us- in the evenings thinking it was a perfect time to handle them.

I struggled to accomplish these big tasks which led me to believe that maybe I was an unproductive person.

How absurd is that?

While willpower is such a vital energy resource, it’s also a limited resource.

You have to think about it like your phone battery.

Every morning you wake up with a full battery of willpower; you can do anything that you want -no matter how hard it might seem.

But just like your phone battery, the more you use willpower to do daunting tasks throughout the day, the more it gets depleted.

Since each one of us is incredibly unique, our energy levels also vary greatly.

I might be an early bird and very energetic in the morning, while you might be a night owl that burns the midnight oil.

It’s very important to plan out your tasks according to your energy levels.

Because if you thought that willpower is always on will-call, you’re wrong -it’s a myth.

So, carry out the hard tasks when your willpower is at its strongest and then do the simpler tasks when it’s at its weakest.

The good news is that willpower is a renewable source; you just need to get a good night’s rest.

3. A disciplined life.

You might have thought that all successful people are very disciplined which enables them to accomplish their goals despite any challenges.

Well, you’re wrong. It’s a myth.

You see, successful people are not superhuman -not at all, they just used selected discipline to develop a few significant habits.

Habits that once cultivated make everything else easier or unnecessary and you can do it too.

Here’s how.

All you have to do is select a habit that once cultivated will make everything else easier or unnecessary, and then garner the discipline to make the habit stick.

For example, having a full-time job and also working on my blog and YouTube channel on the side was starting to become very tasking.

I would wake up at 7 am to prepare for my nine-to-five and after I’d immediately start working on content for the blog.

It seemed like the days were running from me; I felt out of control.

I was slacking at my exercise routine; I didn’t have the time to prepare healthy meals, so you know what that meant -ordering out.

I was a mess.

However, after reading Robin Sharma’s book: the 5 am club, I challenged myself to wake up at 5 am every day.

It was tough at first, but the benefits were soon visible: I had the time to work my nine-to-five job tasks and also have enough time for content creation.

Since I wake up at 5 am every day, you might think I’m a disciplined person but actually, I’m not.

All I did was garner the disciple to enable me to create the habit of waking up at 5 am every morning and now it’s something my body does automatically.

Science has proven that it takes sixty-six days to create a habit.

So, if you have a habit in mind that you believe will make achieving your goals easier, why not start today?

Remember: you’re what you repeatedly do.

Here’s a great quote on habits I love: “People do not decide their futures, they decide their habits and their habits decide their futures.” – F. M. Alexander.

4. Big is bad.

It can be quite scary to open your mind and visualize big goals for yourself.

Trust me, I know!

I intellectually understood that thinking big was an important foundation for success, but it was not until I read this book that I sat down and thought about my life goals, in a big way.

I guess it’s because when we think of big achievements, they seem insurmountable, overwhelming, and intimidating.

For some reason, there is fear that big success brings crushing pressure and stress, or you might be fearful of putting the stakes high because you are afraid of failure and embarrassment.

Have you heard of mega phobia? It is the irrational fear of big.

When you connect big with bad, lowering your trajectory might feel safe, and staying where you are might feel prudent.

But the opposite is true.

When big is believed to be bad, small thinking rules the day and big never sees the light of day.

Here’s something to think about: when you’re afraid of big, you subconsciously work against it. You either run towards Lesser outcomes or you run away from bigger ones.

Allow me to be vulnerable for a bit and put myself out there – I hope I don’t regret this later.

When I was reading this part of the book, I paused and put the book down, and sobbed for a good three to five minutes.

I’m not going to lie PMS might have had something to do with it, but still…

I knew exactly why a self-help book about productivity was making me cry; thinking big or having big dreams for myself scared me.

It meant l had to be vulnerable and apply myself every day if I was to accomplish the big scary goals.

My comfort zone was threatened; there was no room for excuses -so maybe I was grieving my comfort zone in those three to five minutes?

But as the book states: “The only actions that become springboards to succeeding are those informed by big thinking.”

Thinking big is essential to extraordinary results. So, the myth that big is bad is completely wrong.

If you acknowledge the fact that thinking big is a daunting task, you’re not alone.

Here’s a truth that can provide solace for us: big goals can seem unattainable at first. Yet how many times have you set out to do something that seemed insurmountable at first, only to discover it was much easier than you thought?

What seemed like a mountain is now a hill once you’ve reached it. You see, as you experience big, you become big.

Your thinking, your skills, your relationships, and your sense of what is possible and what it takes all grow on the journey.

Here’s a quote from the book that changed my outlook on the fear of thinking big.

“If courage isn’t the absence of fear, but moving past it, then thinking big is not the absence of doubts, but moving past them.”

Isn’t that beautiful?

If you’re as emotional as me, now is your cue to take three minutes to grieve your comfort zone.

Are you done? Okay, great! Now dry your tears and start writing down some BIG scary goals. You can do this!

5. A balanced life.

This is a grand idea but not very practical. It’s idealistic but not realistic.

Balance does not exist. I know it’s a tough pill to swallow but it’s the truth.

You might have believed that to be successful meant to live a balanced life, but it’s not true -It’s a myth.

Purpose, meaning, and significance are what makes a successful life. And seeking them will most certainly throw your life out of balance.

Here’s what you need to understand: extraordinary results require focused attention and time. Time on one thing means time away from another.

This makes balance impossible.

When you’re trying to attain balance in your life, it will feel like you’re chasing two rabbits -you’re sure to be all over the place.

So, you need to discover the most important thing in every facet of your life that you should be focusing on.

Start leading a counterbalanced life in your professional and personal life. Let the right things take precedence when they should and get to the rest when you can.

An extraordinary life is a counterbalancing act.

Here’s something to ponder: Magic never happens in the middle; it happens at the extremes.

Now that we’ve deconstructed some of the myths about success, let’s get into the truths about how to attain it.

1. Live with purpose.

I can’t tell you how many times I rolled my eyes at this statement in the past.

I honestly believed that asking: “What’s my purpose?” was a question only privileged people could ask.

But that’s not true.

Even if we’re busy working our nine-to-five jobs just to make ends meet, we all have that burning desire that eats at us every day; something that we feel we were meant to do.

If you struggle with finding out what your purpose might be, here’s a clue to help you figure it out.

You see our past leaves trails of clues that help us discover what we are passionate about; something we would be happy to do even if we were not paid.

For example, I remember from a young age, whenever I would learn something new; something that I felt impacted me greatly, I would not want to keep to myself.

I would spend hours talking my mother’s ear off about a certain phenomenon I had just learned about, and my friends wouldn’t escape this too.

As I grew up, it became clear to me that learning and talking about what I’d learned was something I did easily and with great passion.

Talking about purpose always feels heavy and icky, but it doesn’t have to be.

The truth about how to discover your purpose is this: think of it as simply the ONE Thing you want your life to be about more than any other.

Being clear and living with your purpose is very important and here’s why.

When you have a definite purpose for your life, clarity comes faster, which leads to more conviction in your direction, which usually leads to faster decisions.

And like Napoleon Hill always said: “Those who reach decisions promptly and definitely, know what they want, and generally get it.”

“Life isn’t about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself.” -George Bernard Shaw

2. Live by Priority.

After you’ve discovered how you want to create yourself, and what your purpose could be, the question that naturally springs to mind is where do I start, right?

Well, now you set your goal.

Envision what you want to accomplish in your life and start planning.

The reason why planning is important is that it brings the future into the now and helps you to be appropriate in each moment.

Understand that purpose has the power to shape your life, but only in direct proportion to the power of the priority you connect to it. Purpose without priority is powerless and futile.

You have to set your priorities out like dominos simply by asking yourself: what is the ONE Thing I can do right now such that by doing it everything else will be made easier or unnecessary?

This is the focusing question that will keep directing your steps.

For example, for you to achieve your someday goal, what is your five-year goal, and what is the ONE Thing you need to do each year, each month, each week, and each day to enable you to reach your someday goal?

Once you know what to do, the only thing left is to go from knowing to doing.

Because your ability to achieve extraordinary results in the future lies in stringing together powerful moments, one after the other.

And that is called the domino effect.

So, live with purpose and you’ll know where you want to go. Live by priority and you’ll know what to do to get there.

3. Live for productivity.

Here’s an eye-opening truth: the most successful people are the most productive people.

They note the hours in the day when their willpower is at its strongest and time block them to focus on their ONE Thing.

And they do not only stop at time blocking their productive hours, but they also fiercely protect them from any distractions.

So why not do the same thing?

If you discover your willpower is strongest in the morning, get up early and work on the ONE Thing that you’re sure will drive you closer to your goals.

You see, you’re the only one that knows your purpose, your priorities, and why they matter -other people don’t.

So, there will always be distractions, and people needing your time and if you work a nine-to-five job like most of us, you have people calling your attention from different angles.

The way around this is to get a time in the day when you are sure you won’t have any distractions.

Of course, as we all know, sometimes life gets in the way, and something might require your urgent attention during the time you blocked for your ONE Thing.

When this scenario occurs, follow the rule: “If you erase, you replace” and immediately reschedule your time block.

Here’s a truth to consider: Every day great salespeople generate leads, great programmers program, and great artists paint.

Now take your profession or position and fill in the blank.

Mine goes something like this: every day great writers and coaches read, research, and write.

You and I can do this. I believe in us!

Conclusion

You might have heard of the term hyperbolic discounting.

This is when the farther the reward is in the future, the smaller the immediate motivation to achieve it.

When you set your someday goal, it might seem insurmountable, and you might lose the motivation to work at it.

To counteract this, each day focus on the ONE Thing that is the top priority for that day; the thing that will move the needle and bring you closer to your goal -that one domino.

Remember: Success is sequential and not simultaneous. So don’t be afraid to go small and focus intently on that ONE Thing that is going to have the greatest impact.

This book brought out the significance of the oxymoron: Less is more.

I urge you to read it. It’s truly a gem.

Cynthia A. Murungi
Cynthia A. Murungi
Hey there! Welcome to thehealseekers, a space created to expand women's consciousness in metaphysics, psychology, and self-development. I hope you find inspiration here!
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