Book Review - The ONE Thing by Gary Keller
READ: 7 mins
AUTHOR: Robert Craven on Gary Keller
I love this book. I give it to all my new clients. So simple. Yet profound. And you don’t have to read it all to ‘get’ it.
The back cover sums it up…
YOU WANT LESS.
You want fewer distractions and less on your plate. The daily barrage of emails, texts, tweets, messages and meetings distract you and stress you out. The simultaneous demands of work and family are taking a toll. And what's the cost? Second-rate work, missed deadlines, smaller pay cheques, fewer promotions - and lots of stress.
AND YOU WANT MORE.
You want more productivity from your work. More income for a better lifestyle. You want more satisfaction from life, and more time for yourself, your family, and your friends.
NOW YOU CAN HAVE BOTH - LESS AND MORE.
In The ONE Thing, you'll learn to:
cut through the clutter
achieve better results in less time
build momentum toward your goal
dial down the stress
overcome that overwhelmed feeling
revive your energy
stay on track
master what matters to you
Key Take-Aways:
For each year, quarter, week and day you need to figure out, “What is the ONE thing I can do such that by doing it everything else will be easier or unnecessary?”
It is Stephen Covey’s “Start with the end in mind” meeting 80/20 and Tim Ferriss. On steroids.
Success comes from focusing on your most important activity that will bring you the most results. This activity is like the first domino in a chain of dominos… Your job is simply to identify the first domino, and work on it until it falls.
Discipline is merely a tool to create successful habits.
The book is full of quotes, many of which are used carelessly on PowerPoint decks all over the world!
I use the one-thing mantra in almost everything I do. “What’s the one thing I could do right now…? If there were only one thing to do, what should it be?” These are all nuanced versions of the original one-thing question. Especially useful when remembering what the big goal is and how we are going to progress towards it today. It applies to private and business life. Love it.
Also check out the website which has some great free resources and links to several paid-for options! https://www.the1thing.com/
And here are some of the better quotes from the book:
Extraordinary results are directly determined by how narrow you can make your focus.
Find the lead domino, and whack away at it until it falls.
Success is built sequentially. It’s one thing at a time.
Success is actually a short race – a sprint fuelled by discipline just long enough for habit to kick in and take over.
When we know something that needs to be done but isn’t currently getting done, we often say, “I just need more discipline.” Actually, we need the habit of doing it. And we need just enough discipline to build the habit.
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. Professional success requires it.
Anyone who dreams of an uncommon life eventually discovers that there is no choice but to seek an uncommon approach to living it.
What is the ONE thing I can do such that by doing it everything else will be easier or unnecessary?
Until my ONE thing is done, everything else is a distraction.
If everyone has the same amount of time and yet some earn more than others, can we then say that it’s how we use our time that determines the money we make?
You’d be hard pressed to find elite achievers who don’t have coaches helping them in key areas of their life.
If disproportionate results come from one activity, then you must give that one activity disproportionate time.
There is magic in knocking down your most important domino day after day. All you have to do is avoid breaking the chain, one day at a time, until you generate a powerful new habit in your life.
Taking complete ownership of your outcomes by holding no-one but yourself responsible for them is the most powerful thing you can do to drive your success.
When you give your ONE Thing your most emphatic “Yes!” and vigorously say “No!” to the rest, extraordinary results become possible.
To ignite your life, you must focus on ONE Thing long enough for it to catch fire.
And people they quote in the book
If you chase two rabbits you will not catch either one. - Russian Proverb
It is those who concentrate on but one thing at a time who advance in this world. - Og Mandino
Success demands singleness of purpose. - Vince Lombardi
Things which matter most must never be at the mercy of things which matter least. - Johann Wolfgang van Goethe
The things which are most important don’t always scream the loudest. - Bob Hawk
Multitasking is merely the opportunity to screw up more than one thing at a time. - Steve Uzzell
It takes an average of 66 days to acquire a new habit. - University College of London Study 2009
People do not decide their futures, they decide their habits and their habits decide their futures. -F.M. Alexander
Only those who risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go. - T.S. Eliot
Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the age harbour. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover. - Mark Twain