Have you ever watched people whose careers and lives seem to be driven by one central passion and wondered how they do it? In The One Thing, entrepreneur Gary Keller explains how to make that happen in your life – if you’re willing to take the journey.
The first step is to identify what your “one thing” is. Are you a writer? Or an organizer? Or do you start businesses? What field are you interested in? At first, the answers seem obvious, but upon further introspection, many of these answers aren’t so clear. Deciding who you are – that is, learning self-knowledge – is a key first step to your journey.
Next, you need to learn time management. Especially at first, life is usually not amenable to big dreams. We have responsibilities and tasks to do that get in the way of pursuing our one thing. Keller recommends deliberately blocking off several hours each day to the one thing.
He cites writer Stephen King as an inspiration. He blocks off about four hours to write each day. What’s impressive is that he started this habit while working a full-time job as a young man when his schedule was not centered around writing. As he mastered his trade and his life, more freedoms came. You don’t have to quit your “day job” to pursue your one thing; you just have to structure your time enough around engaging in the task.
I also found Keller’s comments about “work-life balance” thought-provoking. He says that balance should not be the goal. Rather a “counterbalance” of pursuing both life and work ambitions should be a goal. I might describe this perspective as a work-life synergy. At times, either end of the spectrum might predominate, but we just can’t stay at one end or the other too long lest we neglect the other end.
His overall goal is to master the one thing. He cites the famous 10,000-hour challenge to master complex tasks as a guide. Mastery takes time and deliberate effort. Both have to win priority – that is, first place – in one’s life. Mastery begins as a youth, but often adult life overwhelms our attempts at mastery. Blocking off time and not letting interruptions dominate are key steps to achieving mastery over a domain.
I personally recommend the audiobook version of this book as an option for those inclined to learning by listening. Music is incorporated in the display, and the overall project displays good technical mastery itself. I enjoyed listening to it as I went about my weekend chores.
Overall, this book offers more than inspiration: it offers a plan to make your life more deliberate and more structured around what matters most to you. The “one thing” doesn’t have to be something that inspires awe. Rather, it can be any task that you want to intensify your focus to master. Maybe more mastery is only a few steps away if you’re willing to walk along the journey…
The One Thing: The Surprisingly Simple Truth About Extraordinary Results
By Gary Keller with Jay Papasan
Narrated by Timothy Miller & Claire Hamilton
Text copyright (c) 2013
Bard Press
Audio copyright (c) 2013
Rellek Publishing Partners, Ltd.
ASIN B00FPVS27W
Length: 5:28
Genre: Psychology, Business
www.amazon.com