The One Thing: (Ultra Condensed Cliffnotes #26)

The One Thing: The Surprisingly Simple Truth Behind Extraordinary Results. Gary Keller & Jay Papasan notes By Kingston S Lim

Below are my personal notes of The One Thing These highlights were what I used to write my personal development book, Wiser Next Week, a condensation of many different self improvement books.

Where I had huge success, I had narrowed my concentration to one thing
Extraordinary results are directly determined by how narrow you can make your focus

Myth: Everything matters equally

Go small: don’t focus on being busy, focus on being productive. Allow what matters most to drive your day
Go Extreme: Once you’ve found what matters, keep asking what matters most until there is only 1 thing left. This is your core activity
Recognize that checking off a to do list leads to attempting to accomplishing everything and achieving nothing.

Myth: Multitasking

You can do two things at once, but you can’t focus effectively on two things at once
If you try doing too much at once, you end up doing nothing well. Figure out what matters most and give it your undivided attention

Myth: A Disciplined Life

You need discipline just long enough for habit to kick in so we don’t think about it
Habit makes the hard stuff easy
- It is the mental barriers, the perceived difficulty, rather than the task that is difficult. Mini habits lower this barrier

Myth: Unlimited Willpower, Willpower at Will Call

Every decision drains our mental capacity
Do what matters most first when willpower is at its highest, ie. in the morning

Focusing Question:

Life is a question and how we live it is our answer
What is the one thing I can do such that by doing it everything else will be easier or unnecessary?
- Your actions become a natural progression of building one right thing atop a previous right thing, a domino effect
The Focus Question is 2 fold:
- Big Picture: Finding the right direction in life (Leadership)
- Small Focus: Finding the right action (Management)
- It keeps you focused on what’s most important

Living With Purpose:

Happiness is found on the way to fulfillment
Purpose is the one thing you want in life found through the Focus Question

Living By Priority:

When you’re purposely going somewhere, there will always be something you “should do”

Goal Setting to the Now:

Someday Goal: What’s the One Thing I want to do someday?
5 Year Goal: Based on my Someday Goal, what’s the One Thing I can do in the next 5 years.
1 Year Goal: Based on my 5 Year Goal, what’s the One Thing I can do this year?
Monthly Goal: Based on my 1 Year Goal, what’s the One Thing I can do this month?
Weekly Goal: Based on my Monthly Goal, what’s the One Thing I can do this week?
Daily Goal: Based on my Weekly Goal, what’s the One Thing I can do today?
Right Now: Based on my Daily Goal, what’s the One Thing I can do right now?

Everything worthwhile that was ever accomplished required through planning, begin achieving now by reverse engineering your biggest goal into the smallest actionable step
Create your domino effect, one step, one punch, one round at a time
Connect today with all your tomorrows. It matters

Train your mind on 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. Think big, but go small

Live for Productivity:

Block out a portion of your workday dedicated to exclusively working on your One Thing
- Preferably in the morning, when your willpower is highest
- You need just enough discipline to make it a habit and keep it a habit

Commitment and Master

Time on a task, over time, eventually beats talent every time
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

Saying No: