This post will be a review of The One Thing– The Surprisingly Simple Truth Behind Extraordinary Results by Gary Keller and Jay Papasan. I will give a brief background on the book and what led me to this review, followed by the 3 biggest lessons I learned from it. Lets get right in to it.
As a Keller Williams agent, Gary Keller and the concept of The One Thing are not new to me. I know many of you in the real estate industry, regardless of your brokerage, are familiar with Gary Keller and Keller Williams in general. The interesting thing about The One Thing is this is NOT a real estate book. Yes, the theories can be applied to real estate, however, they can be applied to any industry, and thus this makes for a great business read in general.
The first time I read this book, I did so with complete bias. I heard it being talked about amongst colleagues and how the top agents were using it to dramatically increase their businesses. Being growth-minded, and slightly (evil grin) competitive, I wanted to take my real estate business to new levels as well, so I purchased a copy for myself to read. I was so intent on applying the knowledge in the book to my real estate business, that I took in every word to see how I could apply it to my business, and business in general. It wasn’t until the second time I read it for a mastermind session that I picked up on the fact that this book is a blueprint for your life. By adopting the concept of The One Thing to every important area of your life, you could dramatically increase the your health, relationships, and spiritual pursuits as well.
Gary Keller and Jay Papasan do a great job breaking down the concepts into bite sized chunks that can be easily understood. They make great use of charts and graphs, which helps the reader get a well-rounded understanding of the concepts. The One Thing breaks down into 3 parts: The Lies, The Truths, and Extraordinary Results. It concludes with a chapter on putting the concepts of The One Thing to work in every area of your life…a chapter I must have skipped my first time reading the book 🙂
The One Thing starts with Keller talking about how things were not going well for him in his business and that he needed to make a change real fast. He hires a coach to help him figure out why his world is spinning out of control. After consulting, the coach displayed the organizational chart of Keller’s company on the wall. He asked Keller if he knew what he needed to do to turn things around, and when Gary couldn’t answer him, he simply told him that he needed 14 new faces. That’s it. All Gary Keller had to do was find 14 people to place into key spots in the company and everything would turn around. Keller couldn’t believe that just focusing on this one thing, finding the 14 key people would be all it would take to transform his life, but he had faith and jumped in with both feet. What became obvious to him was while he thought he was focused, he apparently wasn’t focused enough. He immediately stepped down as CEO and made finding his 14 his top focus…and now Keller Williams is 134,000 agents strong as of this writing, has become the largest real estate franchise by agent count in North America,and has been declared one of the top 3 training company in the world by Training Magazine.
Top 5 Lessons I learned:
1.) Go Small: Are you a big thinker? I know I consider myself to be a big thinker. I mastermind with other big thinkers and am always trying to surround myself with those that think on a whole different level than myself, such as the guys in Gobundance. At first when I read Gary telling me to go small, I almost put the book down! However the words began to make a lot more sense as I continued to read, and re-read the section. Taking a direct quote from the book, “Extraordinary results are determined by how narrow you can make your focus.” Let that sink in for a moment. The most successful people have the same amount of time in a day as anyone else. Yet, they create disproportionate results compared to Joe Average. Why? Because they focus all their energy, all their time, on just that “one thing” that they need to get them to their goal.
2.) There are 5 Lies Stopping My Success:
1.) The first lie is that Everything Matters Equally. Equality is a lie. The One Thing goes on to state: ” Achievers always work from a clear sense of priority.” Until I understood this concept, I would create a to-do list, and work my way through it. Now, I just pick the 1-3 things that MUST get done today in order for my day to be a success and put all my focus on those things (hint: it always starts with prospecting).
2.) Next up, Multitasking. I used to believe I was a great multitasker. After reading this book, I realize multitasking is one of the biggest myths out there. By focusing on more than one thing at a time, I am just giving myself the opportunity to mess up more than one thing at a time! If you are focusing on YOUR one thing, there is no need to “multitask.”
3.) A Disciplined Life is lie #3. I always thought you needed to be completely disciplined in order to be successful. This was actually a struggling point for me when I was first overcoming negative mind-set issues at the start of my career. The truth is, I have some discipline, we probably all do, but I have never considered myself to be a “disciplined person.” The book goes on to reveal how success is about doing the right thing, not about doing everything right. I realized I just had to be a person of powerful habits, and could use select discipline to develop those habits. (side note: The research in the book shows that it takes approximately 66 days to create a new, successful habit).
4.) Willpower Is Always On Will-Call. I used to feel guilty when I would give in to a lack of willpower after a morning calling session that lasted well past a normal lunch time, in which I would opt for a less-than healthy lunch. Once I read this book I realized that I was letting what mattered most be compromised by not being properly fueled. Willpower is a mental muscle and you need to give it some recovery time. Not to mention, you should never try to conquer your most important tasks when your reserves are low.
5.) A Balanced Life lie is something I struggled with as well. When I was first married, I wanted to make sure I went above and beyond being successful, so that I could provide above and beyond for my family. The problem was too much of my focus went into work and I felt like I needed to have “a balanced life” instead. The book states that “magic happens at the extremes,” and “attend to all things, and everything gets shortchanged.” Instead of trying to live a balanced life, strive for a counterbalanced life by focusing on the things you need to completely in this moment, and then make time for the other important areas of your life and focus only on them during that time.
6.) The final lie is Big is Bad. If you recall, I said earlier there were 5 lies stopping my success. The book lists six, including this one. This is actually one concept I have never struggled with in that I do believe I am a big thinker. Now, what I am realizing after continuously surrounding myself with other big thinkers is that I am not thinking big enough. One of the quotes from the book is “What you build today will either empower you, or restrict you tomorrow.” As that sunk in my brain, I realized that I was on the right track as far as thinking big is a good thing, I just needed to think BIGGER!
3.) Life Is A Question: Before reading The One Thing, I never thought of life as one big question. In fact, I never thought of life as anything more than a series of events that unfolded in front of me, sometimes in direct correlation to my actions, and sometimes left up to the whims of the universe, God, Force, you pick the one that works for you. After reading the book though, I realize life is the answer to the questions we ask ourselves, and “how we phrase those questions determines the answers that eventually become our life.” To make the most out of life, begin by asking yourself the “focusing question.” The focusing question is this: What is the one thing I can do, such that by doing it, everything else will be easier or unnecessary? This question will lead you both to your big picture, as well as small focus.
The focusing question is very powerful. So powerful, I want you to stop and ask yourself it right now. What is the one thing you I can do such that by doing it, everything else will be easier or unneccessary?
It all boils down to this: What is your One Thing?