How to Implement The One Thing by Gary Keller

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How do you practically implement the principles of The One Thing by Gary Keller? What difference could it make for your success?

In The One Thing, Gary Keller argues that the key to extraordinary success is focusing daily on the “One Thing” that’s most important for achieving your goal, rather than scattering yourself in many directions. When you know and focus exclusively on the most important thing every day, everything else falls into place.

Keep reading to learn how to implement the principles in The One Thing by Gary Keller.

Implement Your One Thing

In The One Thing, Gary Keller and co-author Jay Papasan explain how to determine your goal or life purpose, and then focus intensely on getting there while avoiding pitfalls such as multitasking, relying on an unprioritized to-do list, thinking too small, misunderstanding willpower and discipline, and neglecting your personal life. Extraordinary focus on One Thing brings extraordinary success.

There are three components to implementing your One Thing and achieving exceptional results: purpose, priority, and productivity. Your big One Thing is your purpose, and your small One Thing is your priority—what you do now—to achieve it.

In The One Thing, Gary Keller shows how purpose, priority, and productivity are like three parts of an iceberg. Productivity is the tip or part you see, priority is directly under the surface, and purpose is deeper. Your purpose determines your priority, and both purpose and priority drive productivity. How well you connect your purpose, priority, and productivity determines your personal level of success.

1) Purpose is the one thing you want your life to be about more than any other.

Following are some tips for discovering your purpose

  • Write down a handful of activities you’re passionate about—for example, activities involving family, work, community, or a hobby.
  • List several outcomes you’re passionate about.
  • Pick one activity and one outcome most important to you.
  • Combine your activity and outcome to answer the question, “What’s the One Thing I can do that would mean the most to me, such that by doing it everything else would be easier or unnecessary?” 

Post your One Thing where you’ll see it often. Try it for a while, even if you’re not completely satisfied with it. You can always revise it or develop a better one later.

2) Priority: Your purpose specifies where you want to go. Your priority is what you do now to get there. Because of the way humans are wired, it can be hard to connect the present—what we’re doing now—with the future. The way to do it is to think in steps, each building on the previous step to reach your final goal/purpose. It’s like lining up your dominoes, so a small action sets off a chain of related actions leading to the result you want. Train your mind to drill down from your big goal, like opening a set of Russian nesting dolls one at a time until you know the most important thing to do in the present.

How to Implement The One Thing by Gary Keller

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Like what you just read? Read the rest of the world's best book summary and analysis of Gary Keller's "The One Thing" at Shortform .

Here's what you'll find in our full The One Thing summary :

  • Why focusing daily on one thing, rather than many, is the key to success
  • How success is like dominos
  • The six common myths about success

Elizabeth Whitworth

Elizabeth has a lifelong love of books. She devours nonfiction, especially in the areas of history, theology, and philosophy. A switch to audiobooks has kindled her enjoyment of well-narrated fiction, particularly Victorian and early 20th-century works. She appreciates idea-driven books—and a classic murder mystery now and then. Elizabeth has a Substack and is writing a book about what the Bible says about death and hell.

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