In this episode:

why identifying your ‘one thing’ can be so helpful
why focusing on your ‘one thing’ can help you avoid procrastination and distractions
how your ‘one thing’ will help you achieve long-term goals

The ‘one thing’ is a simple concept that comes from the title of a book by Gary Keller. I’ve read my fair share of business and productivity books, and even though I read it a few years ago, One Thing is still a highly relevant and excellent book that will help you reframe your mindset when it comes to productivity and to-do lists.

I am easily overwhelmed when it comes to my to-do list. I have a tendency to overload it with every single I want to do (this is a great braindump or master list, not an intentional to-do list) which leads me to being ‘busy’ and yet feeling like I’m not making any real progress.

The problem with a long to-do list is the lack of priorities. When we ask ourselves what is the one thing that we can do right now that will get us closer to our long-term goals, that will lead to real productivity and will consequently set other things into motion - like a domino effect.

"When one thing, the right thing, is set in motion, it can topple many things"

Being productive, and not just busy, requires us to constantly re-evaluate our priorities so that we are spending our time on the things that matter most and will make the most significant difference.

Is what you're doing in the day-to-day aligned with what you want to do overall? Is it putting you on the right path, is it leading you in the right direction? And is it aligned with your long-term goal?

Identifying and committing to our “one thing” forces us to break down our long-term goal into smaller, actionable steps. It’s easy to get overwhelmed and sidetracked when our goals seem too big or far away, but by concentrating on the next step, the one thing that will bring us a little closer, then we can focus our energy on the right tasks and measure our progress towards our big goals in a different and more sustainable way.

"What's the ONE Thing you can do this week such that by doing it everything else would be easier or unnecessary?"

So whenever you find yourself overwhelmed by your to-do list and big goals, take a step back and ask yourself: what’s the one thing I can do today that will have the biggest impact on my future and take me closer to my goals?

0:00
Hello everyone and welcome back to another episode of the (un)planned podcast. It's still really weird to do the intro but I'm getting used to it so today is episode 4. I did skip last week, I know, but I am back.
Today we are going to talk about being really productive in the day-to-day and the way we achieve that is by identifying what your "one thing" is for that day.
So I know that "one thing" sounds really vague and this concept comes from a book by Gary Keller. I read this in 2019 and I always had in the back of my head that it was a really good book but after going through my notes again and all of the quotes that I saved, I remembered how amazing it was and I really want to re-read it so I highly recommend this book for those of you that are taking on projects and really want to be more productive and changing your mindset when it comes to making to-do lists and identifying your priorities.
1:06
So I want to start with a quote from the book, which I think really captures the concept of "one thing" really well:
"When one thing, the right thing, is set in motion, it can topple many things"
So I know, for a fact, that I'm not the only one that can feel really overwhelmed with my to-do list when there's just so much on there that I know I need to get done but I just don't know where to start. So I have this feeling of constantly feeling behind and feeling like I can never catch up but what Gary Keller is telling us to do in this book is to take a step back and really look at your to-do list. Really look at your priorities.
Are you really spending your time and focusing all of your efforts on the things that really matter or are you just spreading yourself thin and just working on many little tasks that are keeping you busy but you aren't actually being productive?
And we all know that trying to do lots of different things at once spread us thin, we know - well I hope you know - that multitasking doesn't work and yet we still try to do it because it just seems so counterintuitive to focus on doing one thing. Because we're trying to get as many things done as possible.
2:16
But the way Gary Keller has described the power of the one thing in this book is by describing it like a domino effect. When you've identified your priorities and figured out what that one thing is that you need to do that will really lead you to being productive, it will then set other things in motion, it will then topple other things like a domino effect.
And so we constantly need to re-evaluate our priorities and making sure that we're spending our time on the things that matter most. It's so easy to get sidetracked and distracted by this task that we think needs our attention right now but if we take a step back and really look at it... is this the one task that I really want to be spending my time on right now and is this the one task that will get me closer to my goals?
3:02
We should always aim to be productive and not just busy and that doesn't mean spending longer hours doing all the work, it's making sure that we're actually spending our time doing the right things to move the needle, to actually get the right things done. And by identifying the one thing that we really want to get done today or this week, it also helps to avoid distractions and it also helps to avoid procrastination.
Because if we've admitted to ourselves, this is the task that we really need to focus on, then we can't delay by working on all of these other little tasks that keep us busy but aren't really doing anything to get us closer to our goals.
For me personally, I know if I have a really big task that I need to get done, I know in the back of my mind that I need to get it done but because I feel scared to do the task sometimes, to just start, I feel really nervous and intimidated and I don't want to do it wrong. I tend to put off the task which is complete opposite of what I should be doing.
4:01
I should be tackling that task if I'm really scared of it and if it's really important to me.
So if you feel like you're writing all of these to-do lists and you're checking things off the list but you don't feel like you're really moving forward then have a look at what you're actually doing. Is what you're doing in the day-to-day aligned with what you want to do overall? Is it putting you on the right path, is it leading you in the right direction? And is it aligned with your long-term goal?
I actually did a longer Workshop all about setting goals in the day, the week and the month and the year and aligning it all and talking more about how to be productive and write better to-do lists so some of this should be very, very familiar to my Workshop patrons but the idea is that you want to be intentional about what you do.
You want your to-do list to be intentional, you want to make sure you're doing the right things, that you're clear on your purpose, you're clear on your priorities and you're clear on what you actually want to get done to make sure that you are focusing all of your energy on the right tasks. You don't want to waste time doing things that don't really contribute to where you really want to go.
5:03
A lot of the time we don't realise we're not really being productive but a lot of the other times also, we tend to avoid the important tasks, our "one thing", because we are emotionally scared to take on that task and this kind of builds on from episode 2 where I said you need to start before you're ready because if we keep putting off doing the important work, then we'll never really reach our goals.
In my opinion, I think a lot of us can struggle with the big long-term goals because we don't do the work to break down that goal into smaller, actionable steps on the day-to-day and so what we do in the day-to-day doesn't match up with our long-term goal. It's not getting us any closer to it. And we need to break up these bigger goals into a lot of little baby steps.
It's easy to get overwhelmed and sidetracked when the goal is so big but if we keep breaking it down into smaller tasks that you can tackle every single day, then it'll bring you closer and you can measure your progress in a different way.
And like Gary Keller said, when you tackle that one thing, once you start putting your energy towards tackling that one thing that you know you really need to do, then everything else will start to be put into motion and will start to get easier, doors will open.
6:15
But it's not as simple as just identifying your one thing once, and then just focusing on that. We need to constantly re-evaluate what is the most important thing we should be doing today, what is the most important thing this week that we should be doing?
And here's another quote from the book that says:
"What's the ONE Thing you can do this week such that by doing it everything else would be easier or unnecessary?"
If you really want to make progress on your goals and really take steps towards your longer term goals, you really need to identify what are the tasks, what are the things you should be doing today, what are the things you should be doing this week, that will get you closer to where you want.
6:54
And this is not a new concept, I'm sure a lot of people have identified their top 3 priorities for the day or the top 3 priorities for the week but I love that Gary Keller simplifies it down even further and just wants you thinking about that one thing.
So whenever you feel overwhelmed by your to-do list and all the things that you have to do, come back and ask yourself the question of:
What is the one thing that I can do today to make the biggest difference?
And remember this does change every day, every week depending on what you're doing, what your project is, but by doubling down on the thing that you've identified is the most important thing that you should be doing, I believe that that's where you'll see the greatest results.
You don't need to work any longer, or work any harder, I think you just need to work a little bit smarter.
So I help that helps, I would love to know what your one thing is today, or this week, if you would like to share.
Remember you can also send me a question to podcast@plannedbyjysla.com, the link is in the description box below and I will see you next week where I will answer another question.
Thank you so much for joining me this week, and I really hope it was helpful. Bye!