The One Thing: The Surprisingly Simple Truth Behind Extraordinary Results

by Gary Keller

FIG. 27 Everything Else dominates your day!

If disproportionate results come from one activity, then you must give that one activity disproportionate time.

FIG. 28 Your ONE Thing gets the time of day it deserves!

FIG. 29 Your time-blocking calendar.

3. Time block your planning time. 1. TIME BLOCK YOUR TIME OFF Extraordinarily successful people launch their year by taking time out to plan their time off. Why? They know they’ll need it and they know they’ll be able to afford it. In truth, the most successful simply see themselves as working between vacations. On the other hand, the least successful don’t reserve time off, because they don’t think they’ll deserve it or be able to afford it. By planning your time off in advance, you are, in effect, managing your work time around your downtime instead of the other way around. You’re also letting everyone else know well in advance when you’ll be out so they can plan accordingly. When you intend to be successful, you start by protecting time to recharge and reward yourself.

Resting is as important as working.

2. TIME BLOCK YOUR ONE THING After you’ve time blocked your time off, time block your ONE Thing. Yes, you read that right. Your most important work comes second. Why? Because you can’t happily sustain success in your professional life if you neglect your personal “re-creation” time. Time block your time off, and then make time for your ONE Thing.

The key to making this work is to block time as early in your day as you possibly can.

My recommendation is to block four hours a day. This isn’t a typo. I repeat: four hours a day. Honestly, that’s the minimum. If you can do more, then do it.

Does he get to do this because he is Stephen King, or is he Stephen King

because he does this?

“Efficiency is doing the thing right. Effectiveness is doing the right thing.” —Peter Drucker

To experience extraordinary results, be a maker in the morning and a manager in the afternoon.

3. TIME BLOCK YOUR PLANNING TIME The last priority you time block is planning time. This is when you reflect on where you are and where you want to go. For annual planning, schedule this time late enough in the year that you have a sense of your trajectory, but not so late that you lose your running start for the next. Take a look at your someday and five-year goals and assess the progress you must make in the next year to be on track. You may even add new goals, re-envision old ones, or eliminate any that no longer reflect your purpose or priorities. Block an hour each week to review your annual and monthly goals.

Seinfeld told him the key was to write jokes (hint: his ONE Thing!) every day. And the way he’d figured out how to make that happen was to hang a huge annual calendar on the wall and then put a big red X across every day he worked on his craft. “After a few days, you’ll have a chain,” Seinfeld said. “Just keep at it and the chain will grow longer every day. You’ll like seeing

the chain, especially when you get a few weeks under your belt. Your only job is to not break the chain. Don’t break the chain.

There is magic in knocking down your most important domino day after day.

PROTECT YOUR TIME BLOCK For time blocks to actually block time, they must be protected. Although time blocking isn’t hard, protecting the time you’ve blocked is. The world doesn’t know your purpose or priorities and isn’t responsible for them—you are.

The best way to protect your time blocks is to adopt the mindset that they can’t be moved. So, when someone tries to double-book you, just say, “I’m sorry, I already have an appointment at that time,

In the end, there are plenty of ways your time block can get sabotaged. Here are four proven ways to battle distractions and keep your eye on your ONE Thing. 1. Build a bunker. Find somewhere to work that takes you out of the path of disruption and interruption. If you have an office, get a “Do Not Disturb” sign. If it has glass walls, install shades. If you work in a cubicle, get permission to put up a folding screen. If necessary, go elsewhere. The immortal Ernest Hemingway kept a

strict writing schedule starting at seven every morning in his bedroom. The mortal but still immensely talented business author Dan Heath “bought an old laptop, deleted all its browsers, and, for good measure, deleted its wireless network drivers” and would take his “way-back machine” to a coffee shop to avoid distractions. Between the two extremes, you could just find a vacant room and simply close the door. 2. Store provisions. Have any supplies, materials, snacks, or beverages you need on hand and, other than for a bathroom break, avoid leaving your bunker. A simple trip to the coffee machine can derail your day should you encounter someone seeking to make you a part of theirs. 3. Sweep for mines. Turn off your phone, shut down your e-mail, and exit your Internet browser. Your most important work deserves 100 percent of your attention. 4. Enlist support. Tell those most likely to seek you out what you’re doing and

when you’ll be available. It’s amazing how accommodating others are when they see the big picture and ...

If, ultimately, you continue a tug-of-war to make time blocking take place, then use the Focusing Question to ask: What’s the ONE Thing I can do to protect my time block every day such by doing it eve...

BIG IDEAS 1. Connect the dots. Extraordinary results become possible when where you want to go is completely aligned with what you do today. Tap into your purpose and allow that clarity to dictate your priorities. With your priorities clear, the only logical course is to go to work. 2. Time block your ONE Thing. The best way to make your ONE Thing happen is to make regular appointments with