Title: “The Power of Focusing on One Thing: Reflections on ‘One Thing’ by Gary Keller”
As someone who is constantly juggling multiple projects and tasks, I was intrigued by the title of Gary Keller’s book “One Thing: The Surprisingly Simple Truth Behind Extraordinary Results.” In this book, Keller argues that the key to achieving success and reaching our goals is to focus on just one thing at a time.
At first, this concept seemed counterintuitive to me. I’ve always been told that multitasking is the key to productivity, and the idea of narrowing my focus down to just one thing seemed like it would slow me down. But as I read on, Keller made a compelling case for the benefits of focusing on one thing.
One of the main ideas in the book is the concept of the “law of diminishing returns.” Essentially, this law states that there is a point at which the returns from our efforts start to decrease as we try to do more and more at once. In other words, if we try to focus on too many things at once, our productivity and effectiveness will start to suffer.
Keller argues that by focusing on just one thing at a time, we can avoid the law of diminishing returns and achieve extraordinary results. He uses examples from a variety of fields, including business, sports, and the arts, to show how successful people have achieved their goals by focusing on one thing at a time.
One thing that really resonated with me was the idea of “the one thing within the one thing.” Keller suggests that to truly focus on one thing, we need to break it down into smaller, more manageable goals. For example, if our “one thing” is to write a book, we might break it down into smaller goals such as writing a certain number of words per day or completing a certain number of chapters per week. By focusing on these smaller goals, we can make progress on our larger goal without getting overwhelmed.
Overall, I found “One Thing” to be a thought-provoking and inspiring read. It has definitely changed the way I approach my work and has given me some valuable strategies for achieving my goals. If you’re someone who struggles with multitasking or finding it difficult to make progress on your goals, I highly recommend giving this book a read. It might just be the push you need to start achieving extraordinary results.
Here are my notes from reading the book
- The ONE Thing is the best approach to getting what you want.
- Success is a result of narrowing your concentration to one thing.
- Success is built sequentially, one thing at a time.
- Not everything matters equally.
- Multitasking is a lie.
- Discipline is a result of habit.
- Willpower is a finite resource.
- Big is bad.
- The ONE Thing is the best approach to getting what you want.
- When you want the absolute best chance to succeed at anything you want, your approach should always be the same. Go small.
It’s realizing that extraordinary results are directly determined by how narrow you can make your focus.- You need to be doing fewer things for more effect instead of doing more things with side effects.
- The key is over time. Success is built sequentially. It’s one thing at a time
- The ONE Thing sits at the heart of success and is the starting point for achieving extraordinary results.
- “The things which are most important don’t always scream the loudest.” — Bob Hawke
- Instead of a to-do list, focus on a success list—a list that is purposefully created around extraordinary results.
- There will always be just a few things that matter more than the rest, and out of those, one will matter most.
- You can become successful with less discipline than you think, for one simple reason: 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.
- It takes an average of 66 days to acquire a new habit.
- When we tie our success to our willpower without understanding what that really means, we set ourselves up for failure.
We overthink, overplan, and over-analyze our careers, our businesses, and our lives; that long hours are neither virtuous nor healthy; and that we usually succeed in spite of most of what we do, not because of it. We can’t manage time. The key to success isn’t in all the things we do but in the handful of things we do well.- A new answer usually requires new behavior.
- Purpose without priority is powerless.
- Accountable people achieve results others only dream of.
- 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.
- When you say yes to something, it’s imperative that you understand what you’re saying no to.
- You can’t please everyone, so don’t try.
- When you know what matters most, everything makes sense. When you don’t know what matters most, anything makes sense.
- Your environment must support your goals.
