The One Thing

There's times when I'm feeling like lots is going on.

When my mind is busy.

When I've got too many ideas on what I want to do.

Often this comes along with a good friend called stress. That's when I like to revisit ideas from The One Thing by Gary Keller and Jay Papasan.

Here are my highlights.

Stop trying to do everything at once

"It's not that we have too little time to do all the things we need to do, it's that we feel the need to do too many things in the time we have"

"When you do the right thing, it can iberate you from having to monitor everything."

Give it enough time

"When you act on your priority, you'll automatically go out of balance, giving more time to one thing over another."

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

In his book he suggests 4 hours a day as target. I like the idea he is making although the time recommendation will most likely need to be adapted to match your current situation.

Turn things into habits

Willpower and discipline are limited and not as reliable as we might want. Be selective and develop a few significant habits over time.

"You can become successful with less discipline than you think, for one simple reason: success is about doing the right thing, not about doing everything right.

The trick to success is to choose the right habit and bring just enough discipline to establish it. That's it"

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