The ONE Thing Book Summary - The ONE Thing Book explained in key points

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The ONE Thing summary

Name: The ONE Thing
Rating: 4.6 (518 reviews)
Author: Gary Keller and Jay Papasan

Gary Keller and Jay Papasan

The surprisingly simple truth behind extraordinary results

4.6 (518 ratings)

18 mins

Table of Contents

The ONE Thing
summarized in 12 key ideas

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Key idea 1 of 12

Failing to think big can limit your opportunities.

When Arthur Guinness set up his first brewery, he clearly had grander plans than producing a few barrels of stout: he signed a 9,000 year lease on the building. Similarly, when J. K. Rowling conceived the idea of Harry Potter, she envisioned seven books about life at Hogwarts before she wrote even the first chapter of the first one.

Both of these people went on to be extraordinarily successful, and this was in no small part because they were not afraid of thinking big: starting out with a grand vision of success before even beginning to work toward it. It’s hard to imagine that they would have achieved such great success had they failed to think so big in the first place.

Yet, for most people, the thought of big ideas or big achievements is daunting and has negative associations, such as feeling overwhelmed and intimidated. These negative thoughts often prevent people from thinking big.

When we fail to think big and allow these negative associations to dominate us, our thinking shrinks and we lower our trajectories. We actively limit our potential achievement, condemning ourselves to mediocrity.

Consider science and how much of its progress would have stalled if someone hadn’t dared to think of previously unimaginable possibilities, like that humans could breathe underwater, fly through the air or explore space. History tells us that we’ve done a remarkably poor job of estimating our limits, so we should not let the limits we perceive constrain our aspirations.

Success requires action, and action requires thought. But in order to achieve extraordinary results, our actions have to be based on big thinking in the first place.

Failing to think big can limit your opportunities.

Prioritize your to-dos – they are not all equally important.

Most people, from time to time, make “to-do” lists to keep track of all the tasks they have to complete. But once you have your list, how do you decide which item to work on first?

Do you start with the most time-consuming ones, or get smaller tasks checked off first? Maybe you just work through them in the order they were written?

Asking the “focusing question” will help you to prioritize, create actionable tasks and achieve your goals.

On the subject of success, Mark Twain once said,

“The secret of getting ahead is getting started. The secret of getting started is breaking your complex overwhelming tasks into small manageable tasks, and starting on the first one.”

The secret to a disciplined life is sequential habit forming.

When we think of someone as successful as Bill Gates, we tend to attribute his phenomenal success to the extraordinary self-discipline that allowed him to learn how to program computers in his formative years. This level of discipline seems like a daunting unachievable goal. How do successful people maintain such discipline?

On closer inspection, we see that the key to their success is not so much to constantly apply a tremendous amount of discipline in order to stay focused and driven but, instead, to use discipline selectively to form enduring good habits.

Multitasking is horribly inefficient: pick one thing and give it your undivided attention.

Nowadays, it is generally accepted that multitasking is an effective thing to do. We generally understand the term as meaning: to do two or more things simultaneously. But it was originally coined to describe a computer using a single processor to work on multiple tasks, alternating back and forth between them in rapid succession. A distinction which, as it happens, is very revealing.

Although we can do some things at the same time – for example, walking and talking on the phone – what we can’t do is effectively focus on two tasks at the same time. This means that frequently, when we think we are multitasking, we are actually juggling two or more tasks, switching focus from one to the other just as a computer does.

Your willpower is like a fuel tank: choose carefully where you use it or you may run out when you really need it.

Most people are painfully aware that they do not have ironclad willpower. What is surprising, however, is that research has shown that our willpower, far from being a constant resource, actually drains at varying rates throughout the day, depending on what activities we engage in.

For example, our willpower is depleted when we make decisions to focus our attention, suppress our emotions or modify our behavior in pursuit of a goal. When our willpower has been drained, we are less able to exert it should further tasks call upon this resource.

Saying no to unimportant tasks is vital if you are to focus your efforts on the most important ones.

We all struggle at one time or another with saying no to requests, because we want to be helpful. Helping others can be deeply rewarding, but, in order to preserve your time and energy for your biggest goals, you need to say no to lower-priority requests.

Steve Jobs was famously as proud of the projects he didn’t pursue as the ones he did. When he returned to Apple in 1997, he reduced the company's output from 350 products down to just ten. That’s a lot of no's. At a developer’s conference in 1997, he explained, “When you think about focusing, you think ‘Well, focusing is about saying yes.’ No! Focusing is about saying no.”

Living with purpose and visualizing the steps to get to your goal will set you on the path to extraordinary results.

Imagine for a minute that you currently have no concrete goals or ambitions whatsoever. Adrift like this, how would you decide what to do each day? Do you think you would persevere at a difficult and tedious task without knowing why you’re doing it?

When we imagine the above scenario, we realize how important it is to have a goal to work toward. It gives your life added meaning and purpose, which leads to greater clarity in your thoughts, more conviction in your actions, and faster decisions. Most importantly, though, knowing why you’re doing what you’re doing provides inspiration and motivation when problems occur.

Never compromise your personal life for your professional goals – instead, prioritize your work time ruthlessly.

We all strive to achieve a balanced life – to divide our time equally between all of the things that matter to us – but we do this without stopping to ask why, and what it is that we are actually trying to achieve.

It’s understandable that we strive for balance because all of the demands in our work life and personal life seem so important, but in fact this vision of a balanced life is unobtainable and undesirable. If you try to do everything, you will end up short-changing everything you do, in both your personal and your professional life.

To focus on your ONE thing, you need effective time-management strategies, and to accept some chaos in other areas.

Let’s assume you have discovered your ONE thing, the key priority you need to achieve, and you have a clear plan of the steps needed to reach your goal.

You’re all set to conquer the world but with only one small problem: life does not have a pause button. While you are beavering away, working on your masterpiece, the world does not patiently wait for you to finish. Things stack up. There will always be other people and projects that demand your attention.

Final summary

The main message in this book is:

Success comes from focusing on ONE thing, not many things. When working toward your ONE thing, avoid the pitfalls that prevent you from achieving success. Learn how to cut through the clutter and do your best work where it really counts.

Actionable advice

Actionable ideas from this book in blinks

Prioritize your to-do lists – If you want to work much more productively, realize that not all of the tasks on your to-do list matter equally; some will provide a greater proportion of your results than others. With this in mind, you should always try to prioritize the ones that are likely to contribute greatest to your success, and then work on these highest-priority tasks first.

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What is The ONE Thing about?

The ONE Thing (2013) helps you to discover your most important goal, and gives you tools to ensure you can use your time productively to get there. The book reveals that many of the maxims we accept as good practice are actually myths that only hinder our progress. It also provides advice on how to live your life with priority, purpose and productivity without sending other aspects of life out of balance, because this is the way to perform the kind of focused work that leads to great success.

Best quote from The ONE Thing

Dont let small thinking cut your life down to size. Think big, aim high, act bold.

—Gary Keller and Jay Papasan

Who should read The ONE Thing?

Anyone looking to improve their productivity
Anyone who has trouble finding time to commit to their goal
Anyone looking for greater clarity and purpose in their daily life

About the Author

Gary Keller is co-founder and chairman of the board of Keller Williams Realty International, a company he grew from a small office in Austin, Texas, to become the largest real estate company in the US. His previous three books formed the Millionaire Real Estate Series and have all been bestsellers.

Jay Papasan is the executive editor and vice-president of publishing at Keller Williams Realty, and is the president of Rellek Publishing. He has also co-authored numerous bestselling books, including the Millionaire Real Estate Series.

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