The ONE Thing
Page 16
Great Answers. See also Focusing Question; Great Question
benchmark and, 126–128
doable answers, 123, 124, 128
path to, 119–128, 120, 121
possibility answers, 123–128, 126–127
stretch answers, 123, 125, 126, 128
Great Question. See also Focusing Question
Big & Broad questions, 122
Big & Specific questions, 122, 127–128
options for asking, 120–123, 121
and path to Great Answers, 119–128, 120, 121
revision of, to form Focusing Question, 123
Small & Broad questions, 122
Small & Specific questions, 121–122
Growth mindset, 91–94
Guns, Germs, and Steel (Diamond), 73–74
H
Habits
building one habit at a time, 59
definition of, 55
Focusing Question as, 112–118
formation versus maintenance of, 57–59
halo effect in formation of, 59
relationship of discipline to, 55–60
research on, 58–59, 117
Success Habit, 112–118
time needed for formation of, 58–60
Hreljac, Ryan, 90
Hyperbolic discounting, 149
I
Isaac, Brad, 169–170
J
Jobs, Steve, 192
Johnson, Eric, 40–41
Juggling, 47–48, 48. See also multitasking
Juran, Joseph M., 36–39
K
Kano, Jigoro, 178
Kayongo, Derreck, 90
Keller, Gary, 236–238, 237
King, Stephen, 166
Koch, Richard, 37
L
Leonard, George, 178
Levav, Jonathan, 68
Levine, Robert, 165
Lies about success
balance, 72–83
big as bad, 84–94
clenching as way to success, 98–100
discipline, 54–60
equality, 32–42
multitasking, 43–53
willpower, 61–71
Lightner, Candace, 90
M
Maker (do or create) time, 167–168
“Makers Schedule, Manager’s Schedule” (Graham), 167–168
Manager time, 167–168
Marshmallow Test with toddlers, 63–64
Martin, George, 20
Mastery, 175, 176–179, 188–189
Mastery (Leonard), 178
Matthews, Gail, 154, 187–188
Matthews, Pat, 21
Megaphobia, 85
Mentoring. See Coaching
Meyer, David, 48
Microsoft, 23, 87
Mischel, Walter, 63–64
Monkey mind, 45–47. See also multitasking
Moving from “E” (Entrepreneurial) to “P” (Purposeful), 175–176, 179–183, 189
Multitasking
automobile accidents and, 51
brain channels and, 48–51
by computers, 45
cost of, 48, 50, 53
distraction and, 51–53
dopamine release and, 51
juggling as illusion, 47–48
lie of, 44–53
media multitaskers, 51
mistakes and, 50
monkey mind, 45–47
research on, 43–44, 50
sense of time and, 50
stress and, 50
in workplace, 46
N
Narrowing of focus. See ONE Thing
Nass, Clifford, 43–44
No regrets, 211–216
No saying, 41, 171, 191–195, 206
O
Oaten, Megan, 59
OK Plateau, 182
On Writing (King), 166
ONE Thing. See also Lies about success; Priority; Productivity; Purpose; Success
attention and, 51–53
clues of success, 17–24
counterbalancing and, 79–83
domino effect and, 12–16
Focusing Question and, 102–128, 219–222
going big and, 87–93, 208–209
going small and, 9–11, 41, 209–210
and Great Answers to Focusing Questions, 119–128
Great Question and, 120–123, 127–128
habits and, 55–60
implementation of, 218–223
inequality of efforts for results, 32–42
lies getting in the way of, 29–31
one life, 22–24
one passion, one skill, 20–22
one person, 19–20
one product, one service, 17–19
as secret of success, 6–11, 24
Success Habit and, 112–118
time blocking of, 160–163, 165–168, 173–174, 178, 200, 201
website on, 224–225, 239
willpower and, 61–71
P
Papasan, Jay, 238–239
Pareto, Vilfredo, 36–37
Pareto’s Principle, 37–39
Path of Mastery, 175, 176–179, 188–189
Personal life. See also Physical health; Relationships
as balancing act, 82–83
daily energy plan for highly productive person, 201
Focusing Questions on, 115, 118, 219
and going small, 209–210
living big for greatness, 92, 93, 208–209
and no regrets, 211–216
and regrets of the dying, 213–214
support for ONE Thing in, 202–204
and support for time blocking, 173
work-life balance, 74–75, 214–216
work-life counterbalancing, 79–83
Phelps, Michael, 56–57
Physical health
daily energy plan for highly productive person, 201
exercise and, 199, 201
Focusing Questions on, 115
nutrition and, 66–67, 71, 199, 201
productivity and, 198–201, 203–204, 207
sleep and, 200–201
social networks and, 203–204
willpower and, 66–67, 71
Planning fallacy, 152
Planning time, 168–170
Possibility answers, 123–128, 124. See also Great Answers
Priority. See also ONE Thing
balancing versus prioritizing, 82
counterbalancing and, 81–82
Dickens’ Christmas Carol on., 138–139, 147, 156
domino effect and, 16, 153
extraordinary results and, 132–134
Focusing Question and, 108
future purpose connecting to present priority, 149–154
Goal Setting to the Now, 147–155
hyperbolic discounting and, 149
meaning of, 147
present bias and, 149
relationship of purpose, productivity and, 132–134, 146–147, 173
to-do lists and, 41–42
written goals and, 154, 155, 187–188
Productivity. See also ONE Thing and acceptance of chaos, 195–198, 206
extraordinary results and, 132–134
Good Samaritan Experiment on, 190–191
and ONE Thing, 165–168
perseverance and, 169–170
physical environment and, 205–206
physical health and, 198–201, 203–204, 207
relationship of purpose, priority and, 132–134, 173
and saying no, 191–195, 206
social networks and, 202–204
supportive environment and, 202–207, 203
thieves of, 190–207
time blocking and, 159–189
and time management generally, 157–158
Purpose. See also ONE Thing
Begging Bowl tale, 140–142
Big Why and, 144–145
Dickens’ Christmas Carol on., 138–139, 147, 156
extraordinary results and, 132–134
>
future purpose connecting to present priority, 149–154
happiness and, 139–144, 207
moving from “E” (Entrepreneurial) to “P” (Purposeful), 175–176, 179–183, 189
power of, 143–144
relationship of priority, productivity and, 132–134, 146–147, 173
Purposeful (“P”) approach, 175–176, 179–183, 189
Q
Quality Control Handbook (Juran), 37
R
Relationships. See also Personal life
emotional energy from, 200, 201
Focusing Questions and, 115–116, 118, 219
regrets about, 213
and support for ONE Thing, 202–204
Richtel, Matt, 51
Rowling, J. K., 90
S
Sanders, Colonel, 17
Saying yes, 191–195
Seinfeld, Jerry, 169–170
Seligman, Martin, 142
Shiv, Baba, 65–66
Small & Broad questions, 122
Small & Specific questions, 121–122
Small-focus question, 106–107, 110. See also Focusing Question
Stretch answers, 123, 125, 126, 128. See also Great Answers
Success. See also Lies about success; Priority; Productivity; Purpose
attention and, 51–53
as built sequentially over time, 16, 210–211
Carnegie on, 102–103
and ceiling for achievement, 86
clenching versus unclenching as way to, 98–101
clues of, 17–24
counterbalancing and, 79–83
domino effect and, 16
extremes and, 76–77
failure as part of, 93–94
Focusing Question and, 102–128
and going big, 87–93, 208–209
going small for, 9–11, 41, 209–210
and Great Answers to Focusing Questions, 119–128
habits and, 55–60
and inequality of efforts for results, 32–42
as inside job, 214–216
leap of possibility and, 86–87
lies getting in the way of, 29–31
ONE Thing as secret of, 6–11, 24
productivity of successful people, 158
as short race fueled by discipline, 55
willpower and, 61–71
Suzannes Diary for Nicholas (Patterson), 81–82
T
Thieves of productivity
environment as not supportive of goals, 202–207
fear of chaos, 195–198, 206
Good Samaritan Experiment, 190–191
inability to say no, 191–195, 206
poor health habits, 198–201, 207
Three-Foot Rule, 194–195
Time. See also Time blocking; Time management
balance and, 77–79
for habit formation, 58–59, 60
multitasking and sense of, 50
success built sequentially over time, 16, 210–211
willpower and timing, 62–65, 69–71
Time blocking
Accountability Cycle and, 176, 183–189
calendar for, 163, 169–170, 200, 201
commitments needed for, 175–189
domino effect and, 170
mastery and, 175, 176–179, 188–189
and moving from “E” (Entrepreneurial) to “P” (Purposeful), 175–176, 179–183, 189
of ONE Thing, 160–163, 165–168, 173–174, 178, 200, 201
of planning time, 168–170
in productive day, 160–162
protection of time block from distractions, 170–174
purpose of, 159
reminders for, 171–172
support for, 172, 173
of time off, 164
in typical day, 160
Time management. See also Time blocking
and productivity generally, 157–158
to-do lists, 34–36, 38, 41–42
To-do lists, 34–36, 41–42
Top Five Regrets of the Dying, The (Ware), 213–214
Truthiness, 28–30
Tuhabonye, Gilbert, 21–22
Twain, Mark, 28, 103, 212
V
Van Halen, Eddie, 177
Victim role, 184–186
Visualization of outcome and process, 152
W
Walton, Sam, 19, 90
Ware, Bronnie, 213–214
Whitehead, Lorne, 13–15
Willard, Nancy, 104
Willpower
brain and, 66–67
default judgment and low willpower, 68–69
lie of, 61–71
as limited but renewable resource, 65–66, 71
Marshmallow Test with toddlers, 63–64
nutrition and, 66–67, 71
research on, 63–68
timing and, 62–65, 69–71
“won’t” power versus, 69–70
Winfrey, Oprah, 20, 205
Work. See also ONE Thing; Priority; Productivity; Purpose; Success
Focusing Questions on, 116, 220–221
reinventing careers, 89–90
Work-life balance, 74–75, 75, 214–216. See also balance
Work-life counterbalancing, 79–83
Written goals, 154, 155, 187–188
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
When we were putting this book together, we agreed to do our best to organize it using the principles of The ONE Thing. Most books follow the Chicago Manual of Style’s traditional guidelines and have a half-title, title, copyright, endorsements, author bio, foreword, acknowledgments, dedication, and epigraph pages all before you ever get to the table of contents and the actual text. Really?
It all got tossed out the window. In terms of advocating for you, the reader, we felt this was the ONE “design” Thing we could do to improve your experience. As a result, the acknowledgments ended up in the back of the book. In reality, if you were to reorder the book in terms of what’s most important to the authors, this section may well have fallen just inside the front cover.
We began outlining this book in the summer of 2008 and submitted the first full draft to our publisher on June 1, 2012—a four-year journey we certainly couldn’t have navigated without help. Lots of it.
Family comes first. Without the love and support of my wife Mary and son John, this book wouldn’t be what it is. My writing partner, Jay, is equally thankful for the love and encouragement from Wendy and his kids, Gus and Veronica. Spouses, especially wise, literate ones like ours, get the largely thankless job of reading all the rough drafts rife with flaws and riddled with errors that eventually become a finished book.
We also benefited from a great support team. Vickie Lukachik and Kylah Magee loaded us up with so much research it took us close to half a year to digest it. Valerie Vogler-Stipe and Sarah Zimmerman did their ONE Thing and kept our plates and calendars free so we could stay focused on the book. The rest of our team, Allison Odom, Barbara Sagnes, Mindy Hager, Liz Krakow, Lisa Weathers, Denice Neason, and Mitch Johnson, also stayed on their ONE Thing so we could do ours.
My Keller Williams Realty partners and senior leaders each lent their ideas and support along the way: Mo Anderson, Mark Willis, Mary Tennant, Chris Heller, John Davis, Tony Dicello, Dianna and Shon Kokoszka, and Jim Talbot. Thanks guys! You rock! Our marketing team, led by Ellen Marks, worked extensively on the design of the book, including all the ways you likely heard about it: Annie Switt, Hiliary Kolb, Stephanie Van Hoek, Laura Price, the super-talented designers Michael Balistreri and Caitlin McIntosh, as well as Tamara Hurwitz, Jeff Ryder, and Owen Gibbs on our production team, and the web team of Hunter Frazier and Veronica Diaz. Cary Sylvester, Mike Malinowski, and Ben Herndon coordinated our IT work inside and outside the building with partners like Feed Magnet and NVNTD. Anthony Azar, Tom Freireich, and Danny Thompson worked with our vendor partners as well as with our partners in the field to make sure we got the book in as many hands as possible. Special thanks
to Kaitlin Merchant of KW Research and Mona Covey, Julie Fantechi, and Dawn Sroka of KWU for their work pre- and post-publication.
We also had the benefit of working with a publisher that truly gets The ONE Thing and lives it, Ray Bard of Bard Press. He assembled an excellent team that advised, supported, and encouraged us when we were writing and later, during the editing, pushed us to the edge to make it as good as it could be. Our extended publishing team includes managing editor Sherry Sprague, editor Jeff Morris, copy/ production editor Deborah Costenbader, Randy Miyake and Gary Hespenheide of Hespenheide Design, proofreader Luke Torn, and indexer Linda Webster.
Publicist Barbara Henricks of Cave Henricks Communications and social media pro Rusty Shelton of Shelton Interactive provided early feedback and led the media campaign. We also had a group of veteran readers who, with some select members of our team, provided feedback on our early draft: Jennifer Driscoll-Hollis, Spencer Gale, David Hathaway, Robert M. Hooper, Ph.D., Scott Provence, Cynthia Robbins, Robert Todd, and Todd Sattersten.
Thanks to the super-responsive researchers, professors, and authors who answered our questions on a variety of topics: Dr. Roy Baumeister, a Francis Eppes Eminent Scholar at Florida State University and Social Psychology Area Director; Dr. Myron P. Gutmann, Directorate for the Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences at the National Science Foundation; Dr. Eric Klinger, Professor of Psychology Emeritus at the University of Minnesota, Morris; Dr. Jonathan Levav, Associate Professor of Marketing at Stanford University; Paul McFedries, author of the unique website wordspy.com; Dr. David E. Meyer, Professor of Psychology in the Cognition and Perception Program at the University of Michigan and director of the University of Michigan’s Brain, Cognition, and Action Laboratory; Dr. Phyllis Moen, McKnight Presidential Chair in Sociology at the University of Minnesota; Erica Mosner at Historical Studies-Social Science Library at the Institute for Advanced Study; the super-helpful Rachel from Bronnie Ware’s website; Valoise Armstrong at the Dwight D. Eisenhower Library; Dr. Ed Deiner, author and Professor Emeritus in the Department of Psychology at the University of Illinois; and James Cathcart, Senior Leadership Consultant at Franklin Covey. We’re also grateful to The Keller Center in the Hankamer School of Business at Baylor University and Casey Blaine for her research on multitasking early on in our journey. And last, I’d be remiss if I didn’t thank my business coach Bayne Henyon for his insights all those years ago that changed the way I looked at things and reshaped the way I worked.