“What’s the ONE Thing you can do this week such that by doing it everything else would be easier or unnecessary?”
The following are notes and highlights taken from the wonderful book: The One Thing by Gary Keller.
This is a book about focus and how selecting the right thing to focus on can change your life. It covered a wider range of topics, especially towards the end, than i was expecting. Branching out into things like: habits, time blocking, general productivity, planning and even some short suggestions relating to health and fitness.
Below i’ve selected and collected notes and quotes from the book based around three central topics:
1. Multitasking
2. Habits and Willpower
3. Time Blocking
I felt that his view and information on multitasking summarises the main theme of the book nicely. Which is that you should only be focusing on one main thing and not splitting your time and focus between many.
The books discussions of habits and willpower were also fascinating. I believe the first time I read this book was when i was introduced to the concept of willpower as a finite daily resource. There may have been other books that covered this earlier but this was definitely my first intro to the concept.
Time Blocking was actually a concept that I missed my first time through the book and only now on a second go through did I realise just how important this can be. Possibly due being a struggle in my own life right now, it was great to learn coping strategies and what to prioritise.
If any of the below notes and highlights appeal to you I highly encourage you to check out the full book and as always if you have a suggestion for a book for me to review please leave a comment below.
Multitasking is dead
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“Though multitasking is sometimes possible, it’s never possible to do it effectively.”
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• There is just so much brain capability at any one time. Divide it up as much as you want, but you’ll pay a price in time and effectiveness.
• The more time you spend switched to another task, the less likely you are to get back to your original task.
• Bounce between one activity and another and you lose time as your brain reorients to the new task. Those milliseconds add up. Researchers estimate we lose 28 percent of an average workday to multitasking ineffectiveness.
• Chronic multitaskers develop a distorted sense of how long it takes to do things. They almost always believe tasks take longer to complete than is actually required.
• Multitaskers make more mistakes than non-multitaskers. They often make poorer decisions because they favor new information over old, even if the older information is more valuable.
Habits And Willpower
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“Success is actually a short race—a sprint fueled by discipline just long enough for habit to kick in and take over.”
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• The results suggest that it takes an average of 66 days to acquire a new habit.
• Don’t be a disciplined person. Be a person of powerful habits and use selected discipline to develop them.
• Build one habit at a time. Success is sequential, not simultaneous. No one actually has the discipline to acquire more than one powerful new habit at a time. Super-successful people aren’t superhuman at all; they’ve just used selected discipline to develop a few significant habits. One at a time. Over time.
• Give each habit enough time. Stick with the discipline long enough for it to become routine. Habits, on average, take 66 days to form. Once a habit is solidly established, you can either build on that habit or, if appropriate, build another one.
• Build one habit at a time. Success is sequential, not simultaneous. No one actually has the discipline to acquire more than one powerful new habit at a time. Super-successful people aren’t superhuman at all; they’ve just used selected discipline to develop a few significant habits. One at a time. Over time.
• Give each habit enough time. Stick with the discipline long enough for it to become routine. Habits, on average, take 66 days to form. Once a habit is solidly established, you can either build on that habit or, if appropriate, build another one.
• Think of willpower like the power bar on your cell phone. Every morning you start out with a full charge. As the day goes on, every time you draw on it you’re using it up.
WHAT TAXES YOUR WILLPOWER
• Implementing new behaviors
• Filtering distractions
• Resisting temptation
• Suppressing emotion
• Restraining aggression
• Suppressing impulses
• Taking tests
• Trying to impress others
• Coping with fear
• Doing something you don’t enjoy
• Selecting long-term over short-term rewards
• So, if you want to get the most out of your day, do your most important work—your ONE Thing—early, before your willpower is drawn down.
• do your most important work—your ONE Thing—early,
• Don’t spread your willpower too thin. On any given day, you have a limited supply of willpower, so decide what matters and reserve your willpower for it.
• Monitor your fuel gauge. Full-strength willpower requires a full tank. Never let what matters most be compromised simply because your brain was under-fueled. Eat right and regularly.
• Time your task. Do what matters most first each day when your willpower is strongest. Maximum strength willpower means maximum success.
Time Blocking
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“When you gamble with your time, you may be placing a bet you can’t cover. Even if you’re sure you can win, be careful that you can live with what you lose.”
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To achieve extraordinary results and experience greatness, time block these three things in the following order:
1. Time block your time off.
2. Time block your ONE Thing.
3. Time block your planning time.
• The key to making this work is to block time as early in your day as you possibly can. Give yourself 30 minutes to an hour to take care of morning priorities, then move to your ONE Thing.
• 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.
• Block an hour each week to review your annual and monthly goals. First, ask what needs to happen that month for you to be on target for your annual goals. Then ask what must happen that week to be on course for your monthly goals. You’re essentially asking, “Based on where I am right now, what’s the ONE Thing I need to do this week to stay on track for my monthly goal and for my monthly goal to be on track for my annual goal?”
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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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 know when they can access you.
• 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.
• Time block your ONE Thing. The best way to make your ONE Thing happen is to make regular appointments with yourself. Block time early in the day, and block big chunks of it—no less than four hours! Think of it this way: If your time blocking were on trial, would your calendar contain enough evidence to convict you?
• Protect your time block at all costs. Time blocking works only when your mantra is “Nothing and no one has permission to distract me from my ONE Thing.” Unfortunately, your resolve won’t keep the world from trying, so be creative when you can be and firm when you must. Your time block is the most important meeting of your day, so whatever it takes to protect it is what you have to do. The people who achieve extraordinary results don’t achieve them by working more hours. They achieve them by getting more done in the hours they work. Time blocking is one thing; productive time blocking is another.
