The ONE Thing: The Surprisingly Simple Truth About Extraordinary Results

by Gary Keller

The Focusing Question collapses all possible questions into one: “What’s the ONE Thing I can do / such that by doing it / everything else will be easier or unnecessary?” PART ONE: “WHAT’S THE ONE THING I CAN DO... This sparks focused action. “What’s the ONE Thing” tells you the answer will be one thing versus many. It forces you toward something specific. It tells you right up front that, although you may consider many options, you need to take this seriously because you don’t get two, three, four, or more. You can’t hedge your bet. You’re allowed to pick one thing and one thing only. The last phrase, “can do,” is an embedded command directing you to take action that is possible. People often want to change this to “should do,” “could do,” or “would do,” but those choices all miss the point. There are many things we should, could, or would do but never do. Action you “can do” beats intention every time. PART TWO: “...SUCH THAT BY DOING IT... “But those Woulda-Coulda-Shouldas all ran away and hid from one little Did.” —Shel Silverstein This tells you there’s a criterion your answer must meet. It’s the bridge between just doing something and doing something for a specific purpose. “Such that by doing it” lets you know you’re going to have to dig deep, because when you do this ONE Thing, something else is going to happen. PART THREE: “... EVERYTHING ELSE WILL BE EASIER OR UNNECESSARY?” Archimedes said, “Give me a lever long enough and I could move the world,” and that’s exact...