The One Thing

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“Planning is bringing the future into the present so you can do something about it now” 

- Alan Lakein

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I recently finished reading Gary Keller’s The One Thing. It was one of the few books I’ve read where I realized it would greatly impact my life if I applied it’s lessons. The book is designed to help you discover your top priority, and to give you the tools to use your time most effectively to achieve your goals. The book promotes thinking BIG, asking focused questions, forming sequential habits, writing down important tasks, among other principles. 

Countless books offer their own secret sauce to achieving balance, discipline, and success in business and life. And while this book espouses its own compelling philosophy of self-improvement, it’s the applicable tools that set it apart.

I want to focus on chapter 14: Live by Priority. This chapter helps to identify your top priority as the One Thing you can do right now that will help you achieve your future goal. You do this by using a very important tool. 

Goal setting to the now: Start by identifying your “someday goal,” then get more and more granular as you work your way back through the years, months, weeks, and days to arrive at this moment’s present priority - the One Thing you can do nowto achieve your someday goal.  

The book categorizes goals into seven areas of life: 

  1. Spiritual life

  2. Physical health

  3. Personal life

  4. Key relationships

  5. Job

  6. Business

  7. Finances  

After carefully considering each area of your life, choose the one area that investing in now would deliver the greatest value. Over time you may identify your One Thing in all seven areas, but start by focusing on the most important area.  

For example, I might feel that I have established goals and habits in every area, but I really want to improve my business. So, I will first identify my someday goal in business: 

Someday goal: I want to achieve financial freedom and a net worth of $10 million through my real estate investment portfolio (you want to think BIG here, as thinking informs actions, and actions determine outcomes). 

From this someday goal, you set your goals to the now: 

    1. 5-year goal (based on my someday goal, what’s the One Thing I can do in the next 5 years?) 

      • Own 15+ rental properties

    2. 1-year goal (based on my 5-year goal, what’s the One Thing I can do this year?) 

      • Make 36 offers, purchase first property 

    3. Monthly goal (based on my 1-year goal, what’s the One Thing I can do this month?)  

      • Make 3 offers

    4. Weekly goal(based on my monthly goal, what’s the One Thing I can do this week?)  

      • Send 3 analyzed deals to my realtor for feedback

    5. Daily goal (based on my weekly goal, what’s the One Thing I can do today?)  

      • Spend 1 hour analyzing properties

    6. Right now - my One Thing(based on my daily goal, what’s the One Thing I can do right now?)  

      • Analyze 1 property 

Goal setting to the now has helped me see and understand the connection between purpose and priority, making my business goals more tangible and attainable. It’s taken the guesswork out of my lofty dreams. This principle is helping me prioritize my to-do list and avoid multitasking by mastering focused, sequential workflow. And it’s diminished the obstacle of hyperbolic discounting, i.e. feeling less motivated by a reward that’s far in the future. Rather than focus solely on my destination, I can be excited about the process of getting there because I’m now working with clearer direction. And by writing down my prioritized goals and looking at them daily, I remind myself of where I want to end up someday, and what I need to do right now.  

“Our ability to achieve extraordinary results in the future lies in stringing together powerful moments, one after the other” - The One Thing