The One Thing: The Surprisingly Simple Truth Behind Extraordinary Results

by Gary Keller

“Going small” is ignoring all the things you could do and doing what you should do.

adding more to your work and your life without cutting anything brings a lot of bad with it: missed deadlines, disappointing results, high stress, long hours, lost sleep, poor diet, no exercise, and missed moments with family

has only one purpose—to ultimately get you to the point.

The key is over time. Success is built sequentially. It’s one thing at a time.

“Things which matter most must never be at the mercy of things which matter least.”

When everything feels urgent and important, everything seems equal. We become active and busy, but this doesn’t actually move us any closer to success. Activity is often unrelated to productivity, and busyness rarely takes care of business.

“The things which are most important don’t always scream the loudest.”

Achievers operate differently. They have an eye for the essential. They pause just long enough to decide what matters and then allow what matters to drive their day.

Instead of a to-do list, you need a success list—a list that is purposefully created around extraordinary results.

Figure out what matters most in the moment and give it your undivided attention.

Success is actually a short race—a sprint fueled by discipline just long enough for habit to kick in and take over.

when you see people who look like “disciplined” people, what you’re really seeing is people who’ve trained a handful of habits into their lives.

The more we use our mind, the less minding power we have.

Time on one thing means time away from another. This makes balance impossible.

Extraordinary results are achieved by this negotiation with your time.

the magic never happens in the middle; magic happens at the extremes.

When the things that matter most get done, you’ll still be left with a sense of things being undone—a sense of imbalance. Leaving some things undone is a necessary tradeoff for extraordinary results.

To achieve an extraordinary result you must choose what matters most and give it all the time it demands. This requires getting extremely out of balance in relation to all other work issues,

Your work life is divided into two distinct areas—what matters most and everything else.

keep striving for your true potential.