Gary Keller, Jay Papasan. The One Thing: the Surprisingly Simple Truth Behind Extraordinary Results. 3rd Press3. Austin, Texas. 2012.
Applying your focus.
Authors highlight (underline) key sentences and include diagrams to emphasize key ideas.
- The ONE Thing
- The Domino Effect
- Success Leaves Clues
- One product, one service
- One person
- One passion, one skill
- One life
- One thing
-
The lies - they mislead and derail us
- Everything Matters Equally
- Much to-do about nothing
- Juran cracks the code
- Extreme Pareto
- Big ideas
- go small
- go extreme
- say no
- don't get trapped in the "check-off" game
- Multitasking
- Juggling is an illusion: multitasking wastes time
- Brain channels
- Driven to distraction
- Big ideas
- distraction is natural
- multitasking takes a toll
- distraction undermines results
- A Disciplined Life
- Selected discipline works swimmingly
- Sixty-six days to the sweet spot
- Big ideas
- don't be a disciplined person - use powerful habits with selected discipline to develop them
- build one habit at a time
- give each habit enough time
- Willpower Is Always on Will-Call
- Toddler torture
- Renewable energy
- Food for thought
- Default judgment
- Give willpower the time of day
- Big ideas
- don't spread your willpower too thin
- monitor your fuel gauge
- time your task
- mind your motivation
- A Balanced Life
- The genesis of a myth
- Middle mismanagement
- Time waits for noe one
- Counterbalancing - the long and short of it
- Life is a balancing act
- Big ideas
- thing about balancing two buckets
- counterbalance your work bucket
- counterbalance your personal life bucket
- Big Is Bad
- Who's afraid of the big bad big?
- Flat wrong
- Going big
- The big deal
- Blowing up your life
- Big ideas
- think big
- don't order from the menu
- act bold
- don't fear failure
- Everything Matters Equally
-
The truth - the simple path to productivity
- The Focusing Question
- Life is a question
- Anatomy of the question
- What's the one thing I can do...
- ...such that by doing it...
- ...everything else will be easier or unnecessary?
- Big ideas
- great questions are the path to great answers
- the focusing question is a double duty question: big picture and small focus
- the Big-Picture Question: "What's my ONE thing?"
- the Small-Focus Question: "What's my ONE thing right now?"
- The Success Habit
- apply the focusing question in each area of your life
- Big ideas
- understand and believe the concept of the ONE thing
- use it
- make it a habit
- leverage reminders
- recruit support (support group, family, friends)
- The Path to Great Answers
- Ask a great question - apply the focusing question in each quadrant
- small and specific
- small and broad
- big and broad
- big and specific
- Find a great answer
- Big ideas
- think big and specific
- think possibilities
- benchmark and trend for the best answer
- Ask a great question - apply the focusing question in each quadrant
- The Focusing Question
- Extraordinary results - unlocking the possibilities within you
- Extraordinary results - priority and purpose drive productivity
- Live with Purpose
- Happiness on purpose
- The power of purpose
- Big ideas
- happiness happens on the way to fulfillment
- discover your Big Why
- absent an answer, pick a direction
- Live by Priority - purpose without priority is powerless
- Goal setting to the now
- iterate, based on: someday goal... 5-year goal... 1-year goal... monthly goal... weekly goal... daily goal... right now
- Big ideas
- there can only be ONE
- goal set to the now
- put pen to paper
- Live for productivity
- Time blocking
- Time block your time off
- Time block your ONE thing
- Time block your planning time
- Protect your time block
- build a bunker
- store provisions to avoid leaving your bunker
- sweep for mines - remove distractions
- enlist support - tell people when you'll be available
- Big ideas
- connect the dots
- time block your ONE thing
- protect your time block at all costs
- The Three Commitments
- Follow the path of mastery
- Move from Entrepreneurial to Purposeful
- Live the accountability cycle - seek real state, acknowledge reality, own it, find solution, get on with it
- The Three Commitments
- Big ideas
- commit to be your best
- be purposeful about your ONE thing
- take ownership of your outcomes
- find a coach
- The Four Thieves
- Inability to say "no"
- The Four Thieves
- three-foot rule: a request must connect to my ONE thing for me to consider it
- Fear of chaos
- when you strive for greatness in ONE thing, chaos shows up in your other things
- Poor health habits
- Highly productive person's daily energy plan
- meditate or pray to generate spiritual energy
- eat right, exercise, and sleep enough 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
- Environment doesn't support your goals
- create the environment to support your ONE thing: people around you and the place you inhabit
- no one succeeds alone and no one fails alone. Pay attention to the people around you.
- Big ideas
- start saying "no"
- accept chaos
- manage your energy
- take ownership of your environment
- The Journey
- Advice from a friend: live a life of no regrets
- Success is an inside job
- Extraordinary results - priority and purpose drive productivity
- Putting The ONE Thing to Work
- in your personal life
- to discover or affirm your life's purpose
- to get in physical shape you want
- to strengthen your spiritual faith
- and more
- in your family
- to improve your marriage
- to spend more quality family time together
- to support your relatives' school work
- and more
- in your job
- to complete your current project ahead of schedule
- to produce better work
- before your next review to get the raise you want
- to finish your work and still get home on time
- in your work team
- (in any meeting) What's the one thing we can accomplish in this meeting and end early such that...?
- (in team building) What's the one thing I can do in the next six months to find and develop incredible talent such that...?
- in your non-profit
- to fund our annual needs
- to serve twice as many people
- to double our volunteers
- in your school
- to decrease dropout rate to zero
- to raise test scores by 20%
- to increase graduation rate to 100%
- to double parent participation
- in place of worship
- improve experience
- double outreach success
- maximize attendance
- achieve finance goals
- your community
- improve sense of community
- help the homebound
- double volunteerism
- double voter turnout
- in your personal life
- On the Research
- Index
- Acknowledgements
- About the Authors
- Resources
- Copyright