The ONE Thing by Gary Keller : Book Summary

THE ONE THING
The Surprisingly Simple Truth Behind Extraordinary Results
By Gary Keller, Jay Papasan • Bard Press • 2013 • 133 pages
Focus: Business • Leadership • Self-Help
Crucial Quotes
“Success is sequential,
not simultaneous”
“Focus is a matter of
deciding what things
you’re NOT going to do.”
“If you chase two
rabbits, you will not
catch either one.”
Big Ideas
1. THE FOCUSING QUESTION
2. USE THE 80/20 PRINCIPLE. THEN GO EVEN DEEPER AND NARROWER.
3. IDENTIFY WHAT’S MOST IMPORTANT & GIVE IT YOUR UNDIVIDED
ATTENTION.
4. A SMALL DOSE OF DISCIPLINE DEVELOPS INTO A LONG-LASTING HABIT.
5. LIFE IS A QUESTION
6. ICEBERG-ING & LIVING BY PRIORITY (134, 147)
7. GOAL SETTING TO THE NOW
8. TIME BLOCKING, MASTERY, AND BEING ACCOUNTABLE
9. THE FOUR THIEVES OF PRODUCTIVITY (AVOID THEM AT ALL COST)
10. IT’S ABOUT THE JOURNEY
11. NO REGRETS
Summary-in-a-Tweet
Think BIG, but focus on ONE SPECIFIC thing at a time. {click to tweet}
Diggin’ these FlashNotes? Get more book summaries at GetFlashNotes.com | The ONE Thing

THE FOCUSING QUESTION
“What’s the ONE Thing you can do such that by doing it everything else will be easier or unnecessary?”
You’ll want to write that down… because the whole entire book is based around that single question, and
the power of organizing every area of your life around ONE Thing (per area).
The Domino Effect
The key to success is figuring out your ONE most important thing in your business/career/life over the
long-run. Think of this as your “someday” goal. Once you’ve figured that out, you need to identify how many
dominoes you need to line up - and then knock down - in order to achieve it. Simple right? … actually, yeah. It
is. But just because it’s simple doesn’t mean it’s easy.
The ONE Thing In Action
American businessman Bill Gates is a great example of The ONE Thing lifestyle in action.
- Bill’s ONE passion in high school was computers.
- This led him to develop ONE skill, computer programming.
- In high school, he got ONE job in the computer programing field.
- Which led to him eventually starting ONE company - Microsoft.
- Bill’s company, Microsoft focussed on ONE thing -- the development and sale of BASIC interpreters
for the Altair 8800,
- which eventually made Bill the ONE richest man in the world for 15 years in a row.
- After Bill retired from Microsoft, he and his wife Melinda formed ONE foundation that focused on ONE
Thing: to tackle some of the world’s “really tough problems” like health and education.
- The majority of the foundation’s money went to ONE area, their Global Health Program -- which had
ONE goal: the use science and technology to save lives in poor countries…
- To do this, they settled on find a solution to the ONE major cause of death -- infectious disease...
- The ONE solution they came up with was vaccination. Because it’s the ONE most impactful thing they
can put their money towards to solve their ONE ultimate focus: to tackle some of the world’s “really
tough problems.” (See how it all ties together?)

USE THE 80/20 PRINCIPLE. THEN GO EVEN DEEPER AND NARROWER.
“...As fast as we were growing, we were still not acknowledged by the top people in our industry. I
challenged our group to brainstorm 100 ways to turn this situation around. It took us all day to come up
with the list. The next morning, we narrowed the list down to ten ideas, and from there we chose just
one big idea. The one that we decided on was that I would write a book on how to become an elite
performer in our industry. It worked. Eight years later that one book had not only become a national
bestseller, but also had morphed into a series of books with total sales of over a million copies. In an
industry of about a million people, one thing changed our image forever.”
In case you’re not familiar with Gary Keller (author of this book), he’s the founder of Keller-Williams Real
Estate. And the quote above is an example of how he dug into the 80/20 Principle to take Keller-Williams to
the top of their industry. Keller tells us we don’t need a To-Do List, we need a Success List -- a list purposely
designed around your highest leverage activities… how do you find your highest leverage activities? By
using the good ol’ 80/20 principle.
How The 80/20 Principle Works
If you haven’t heard of the 80/20 principle (aka Pareto’s Principle), it’s pretty simple: the 80/20 principle
says that the MINORITY of your effort leads to the MAJORITY of your results…
- 20% of your customers usually account for 80% of your profits.
- 20% of your investments usually account for 80% of your returns.
- 20% of your habits usually result in 80% of your success.
It’s not necessarily about the exact numbers (80%; 20%) as much as it’s about the simple truth behind them,
which is this: a SMALL percentage of what you do accounts for a LARGE percentage of the results you
experience.
So what are those handful of things that you can extract from your to-do list that would have the BIGGEST
impact on your results? Figure out those high-leverage activities, and you’ve just turned your to-do list into
a success list.
And once you’re done doing that, Keller recommends that you take your success list and whittle that down
even further - taking the 20% of the 20% of the 20% until you’ve gotten it down to the vital few.

IDENTIFY WHAT’S MOST IMPORTANT & GIVE IT YOUR UNDIVIDED ATTENTION.
“...what’s happening when we’re actually doing two things at once? It’s simple. We’ve separated them. Our
brain has channels, and as a result we’re able to process different kinds of data in different parts of
our brain. This is why you can walk and talk at the same time. There is no channel interference. But
here’s the catch: you’re not really focused on both activities. One is happening in the foreground and
the other in the background. If you were trying to talk a passenger through landing a DC-10, you’d stop
walking. Likewise, if you were walking across a gorge on a rope bridge, you’d likely stop talking. You
can do two things at once, but you can’t focus effectively on two things at once. Even my dog Max
knows this. When I get caught up with a basketball game on TV, he gives me a good nudge. Apparently,
background scratches can be pretty unsatisfying. Many think that because their body is functioning
without their conscious direction, they’re multitasking. This is true, but not the way they mean it. A lot of
our physical actions, like breathing, are being directed from a different part of our brain than where
focus comes from. As a result, there’s no channel conflict. We’re right when we say something is
“front and center” or “top of mind,” because that’s where focus occurs--in the prefrontal cortex.
When you focus, it’s like shining a spotlight on what matters. You can actually give attention to two things,
but that is what’s called “divided attention.” And make no mistake. Take on two things and your attention
gets divided. Take on a third and something gets dropped.”
I love this… how often do we allow other people to pull us away from what we KNOW is most important?
How often do we allow the buzz, the bing, the flash from our cell phone sitting on our desk DIVIDE our
attention from what matters most?
Answer: more often than we think.
Shut down your phone or put it on silent — not vibrate — when you’re working.
Turn off the notifications from your email app when you’re working.
Put up a sign of some sort (more on this later) on your desk to prevent people from disrupting your focus.
And develop the right disciplines today, so you can turn them into habits tomorrow…
A SMALL DOSE OF DISCIPLINE DEVELOPS INTO A LONG-LASTING HABIT.
“In any discussion about success, the words “discipline” and “habit” ultimately intersect. Though seperate in
meaning, they powerfully connect to form the foundation for achievement — regularly working at
something until it regularly works for you. When you discipline yourself, you’re essentially training
yourself to act in a specific way. Stay with this long enough and it becomes routine — in other words, a
HABIT.”
In other words, when you see people that seem like they’re super DISCIPLINED, what you’re really
observing is people who conditioned a handful of HABITS into their lives.
Selecting Disciplines & Turning Them Into Habits

“Success is actually a short race — a sprint fueled by discipline just long enough for habit to kick in and
take over.”
So here’s the trick if you want to create a habit — you’ll need to use your will-power/discipline juice in the
beginning. This is hard. But keep at it. According to research, it takes, on average, 66 days to develop a
discipline into a habit. This number might vary for you depending on your situation, but remember that it’s
not something that you can do over-night. But it is possible. And once you turn a discipline into a habit, you
become better at it AND it becomes easier to execute.
LIFE IS A QUESTION
“You may be asking, “Why focus on a question when what we really crave is an answer?” It’s simple.
Answers come from questions, and the QUALITY OF ANY ANSWER IS DIRECTLY DETERMINED BY THE
QUALITY OF THE QUESTION. Ask the wrong question, get the wrong answer. Ask the right question, get
the right answer. Ask the most powerful question possible, and the answer can be life altering.”
The power of Keller’s Focusing Question — What’s the ONE Thing you can do such that by doing it everything
else will be easier or unnecessary? — is that it puts you in a position to take control.
Here’s a 3-part break-down of The Focusing Question: “What’s the ONE Thing I can do / such that by doing it /
everything else will be easier or unnecessary?”
I. What’s the ONE Thing I can do… This first part of the Focusing Question is about taking action… it’s
not the ONE thing you “should do”, or “could do”, or “would do” — but the ONE Thing you CAN do. The
word “can” implies action, as opposed to others, which imply intention.
II. … such that by doing it… this part of the question lets you know you’re about to get specific. It
means that you’re about to take action on something that actually has a purpose.
III. … everything else will be easier or unnecessary? this final part of the Focusing Question is about
LEVERAGE. It says that when you do this ONE Thing, everything else you could do to accomplish your
goal will now be either doable with less effort or no longer even necessary. For example: hiring an
assistant to handle your calls and emails is a levered action that frees up the time you used to put
into calls and emails, thus making it easier for you to focus on growing your business.
Crucial Quotes

“How we phrase the questions we ask ourselves determines the answers that eventually become our
life.”
ICEBERG-ING & LIVING BY PRIORITY (134, 147)
Every organization wants the two P’s - Productivity and Profit, but most organizations haven’t got a clue that
there are two additional P’s that come first, and serve as foundation for the second two. Those two P’s are
Purpose and Priority.
Take a look at this drawing of an iceberg:
See how Purpose is the foundation? Purpose comes first because that’s what the best people and
organizations are made of.
After Purpose, comes Priority. You should only have ONE at a time.
Productivity and Profit are the RESULTS of a business/team/organization being run by people who have a
Purpose — not because their boss told them to — but because they really give a damn.
And when you have a strong Purpose, you can become clear about your highest Priority.
When you’re clear about those two, you’ll become a more Productive person. And when you become a
Productive person, you produce more value in the marketplace. And the only way to produce real and
consistent value in the marketplace, is to Prioritize your activities based around your most important goals
(yearly, monthly, weekly, and daily). And when you Prioritize based on what’s most important to you — then
you’re driven by Purpose.
… And by-golly, when you’ve got this pattern down-pat, you do indeed, begin generating Profit. Cha-ching!

So how do you do all this without killing yourself? I’m glad you asked…
GOAL SETTING TO THE NOW
“By thinking through the filter of Goal Setting to the Now, you set a future goal and then methodically
drill down to what you should be doing right now. It can be a little like a Russian matryoshka doll in that
your ONE Thing “right now” is nested inside your ONE Thing TODAY, which is nested inside your ONE Thing
this WEEK, which is nested inside your ONE Thing this MONTH… it’s how a small thing can actually build up
to a big one… You’re lining up your dominoes.“
Here’s how you want to “line up your dominoes” within the context of your professional life (by the way, it’s
the same thing for your personal life or any other area of improvement):
- SOMEDAY GOAL: what’s the ONE thing I want to do someday?
- FIVE-YEAR GOAL: Based on my Someday Goal, what’s the ONE thing I can do in the next 5 years?
- ONE-YEAR GOAL: Based on my Five-Year Goal, what’s the ONE thing I can do in this year?
- MONTHLY GOAL: Based on my One-Year Goal, what’s the ONE thing I can do this month?
- WEEKLY GOAL: Based on my Monthly Goal, what’s the ONE thing I can do this week?
- DAILY GOAL: Based on my Weekly Goal, what’s the ONE thing I can do today?
- RIGHT NOW: Based on my Daily Goal, what’s the ONE thing I can do right now?
Now all you need to do is knock each domino down until you’ve hit your Someday Goal. Should keep you
pretty busy, eh?
TIME BLOCKING, MASTERY, AND BEING ACCOUNTABLE
Michelangelo once said, “if the people knew how hard I had to work to gain my mastery, it wouldn’t
seem wonderful at all.”
In his book “Mastery”, George Leonard tells a story about Jigoro Kano, the founder of Judo, and how he was so
dedicated to the concept of Mastery that when he was on his death bed, he asked his students to bury him in
a white belt. Think about that — one of the most accomplished martial artists of his time and beyond, asks to
be buried with a white belt to symbolize his new journey in his next life and beyond. THAT’s Mastery. For
more on Mastery, checkout the FlashNotes book summary on Leonard’s book.
Go From “E” To “P”
Keller says that most people have an Entrepreneurial “E” mindset, and that in order to be more productive
and effective at what we do, we should adopt a Purposeful “P” mindset.

To give you an example of “E” to “P”, imagine you’ve just been asked to go chop some firewood. An “E” would
grab an axe and start chopping away. While a “P” would leave the axe behind and look for a chainsaw instead.
Be Accountable
“Accountable people achieve results others can only dream of. When life happens, you can be either
the author of your life or the victim of it. Those are your only two choices—accountable or
unaccountable.”
I know a lot of folks that are great at blaming others but terrible at taking ownership of their lives. Let’s not
be that. Let’s take responsibility for our outcomes. Because when we do that, we put ourselves in control.
Let’s take a super simple example: let’s say you’re at work and and now that you have read these notes, and
you have decided that you’re going to time block your most important one thing for any given day, and you
get it all setup and you start getting to work and then all the sudden - somebody comes down the hallway
lingers over your desk starts asking you questions that don’t really matter or requesting that you go out on a
break with them - - what do you do? Do you tell them “yes” or do you tell them “no”? Answering “ yes” when
you know you should be focusing on your ONE Thing, puts your co-worker in control. Answering “no” puts
you in charge. Even better, setting up your workspace so that people know not to interrupt you in the first
place REALLY puts you in control.
Suggestion: make a sign that says “until I’m done with my ONE Thing, nothing else matters” and post it up so
that it’s visible to any potential interrupters. Add whatever else you need to add to ensure they know not to
screw with you while you’re working.
Actionable Insights
- People who write their goals down are 39.5% more likely to succeed.. People who write their goals
AND share their progress with people that they’ve chosen to hold them accountable, are 76.7% more
likely to achieve them. Wowzers! Double your effectiveness. Share your goals + progress. Do it!!!
- Nugget of wisdom to repeat to self: “I am the author of my destiny.”
THE FOUR THIEVES OF PRODUCTIVITY (AVOID THEM AT ALL COST)
“One-half of knowing what you want is knowing what you must give up before you get it.”
1. Inability to Say “No”
2. Fear of Chaos
3. Poor Health Habits
4. Environment Doesn’t Support Your Goals

Inability to Say “No”. As a rule of thumb, Keller recommends that we avoid saying yes to most things unless
they’re connect to our ONE Thing. If you’re afraid of saying no to someone because it might hurt their
feelings, come up with a way to say it that you’re comfortable with. Here’s Seth Godin on saying no: “you can
say no with respect, you can say no promptly, and you can say no with a lead to someone who might say yes.
But just saying yes because you can’t bear the short-term pain of saying no is not going to help you do the
work.” Love it.
Fear of Chaos. Shit happens. Messes occur. Wives (and husbands) get angry. These things happen. But it
doesn’t mean you should give up on your ONE Thing. Chaos is natural. In fact, the more you focus on your
ONE Thing, the more of it you might get. That’s okay. Protect your precious time blocks and remain
productive. In time, you’ll learn to deal with the chaos in your own unique way. But don’t let chaos control
you. YOU control the chaos… by focusing on your ONE Thing.
Poor Health Habits. Keller says that “Personal energy mismanagement is a silent thief of productivity” and I
couldn’t agree more (checkout the FlashNotes on “The Power of Full Engagement” for a deeper dive on this
subject). Your health and your success are intertwined with one another and depend on each to survive and
thrive. For maximum energy management and productivity, plan your days include the following:
- 1. Meditate/pray for spiritual energy.
- 2. Eat right, exercise, and sleep sufficiently for physical energy.
- 3. Spend time with friends and family for emotional energy.
- 4. Set goals, plan, and calendar for mental energy.
- Time block your ONE Thing for business energy.
Environment Doesn’t Support Your Goals. Did you know that if one of your close friends becomes obese,
you’re 57% more likely to do the same? Crazy, eh? This is because the people we see and 1 spend time with
most tend to set our standards (see: The Law of Averages). Raise your standards and listen to Oprah’s advice:
“Surround yourself only with people who are going to lift you higher.”
1 “Connected: The Surprising Power of Our Social Networks and How They Shape Our Lives” by Dr. Nicholas A. Christakis and
James H. Fowler

IT’S ABOUT THE JOURNEY
“...at any moment in time there can be only ONE Thing, and when that ONE Thing is in line with your purpose
and sits atop your priorities, it ill be the most productive thing you can do to launch you toward the best
you can be. Actions build on action. Habits build on habit. Success builds on success.”
“I want you to do something. I want you to close your eyes and imagine your life as big as it can possible
be. As big as you have ever dared to dream , and then some. Can you see it? Now, open your eyes and
listen to me. Whatever you can see, you have the capacity to move toward. And when what you go for
is as vast as you can possibly envision, you’ll be living the biggest life you can possibly live. Living large is
that simple.”
Did you do what Keller said above?
If not -- what are you waiting for? Go for it! I can wait…
When I did it the little exercise above, I saw myself hosting an internationally syndicated talk show (sort of
like Oprah) but with an empowering twist (sort of like a Tony Robbins seminar)... My vision for the show is
that it enables viewers to watch and learn from my guests -- who are the most inspiring, passionate,
purpose-driven people on the planet (authors/entrepreneurs/entertainers/philanthropists/etc. etc)...
There are no boundaries as to who can come on my show and who cannot. The only requirements are that
they’re willing to talk about why they do what they do, and how they went from being “ordinary” people to
“extraordinary [insert profession here]”. In short, I’m all about inspiring people to inspire themselves.
Coupled with my love for teaching, coaching, and connecting with people -- the biggest life I can possibly
imagine (global talk show) brings all of these elements together in a way that allows me to bring massive
value to the world and have the greatest impact on the highest number of people possible…
My journey is built on making the aforementioned dream a reality. And in my mind, it already is. What about
yours?
Your Journey toward extraordinary results will be built above all else on faith
“It’s only when you have faith in your purpose and priorities that you’ll seek out your ONE Thing. And
once certain you know it, you’ll have the personal power necessary to push you through any hesitancy
to do it. Faith ultimately leads to action, and when we take action we avoid the very thing that could
undermine or undo everything we’ve worked for--regret.”
NO REGRETS
Keller mentions an excerpt from a book written by Bronnie Ware titled “The Top Five Regrets of the Dying”.
Without further ado, here they are:
1. “I wish that I’d let myself be happier”

2. “I wish I’d stayed in touch with my friends”
3. “I wish I’d had the courage to express my feelings”
4. “I wish I hadn’t worked so hard”
5. “I wish I’d had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.”
Print that out and put it on your desk.
BONUS NOTES + CRUCIAL QUOTES
“Life isn’t about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself.” - George Bernard Shaw
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
GARY KELLER • Professionally, Gary’s ONE Thing is teaching. He excelled as a real estate
salesperson by teaching clients how to make great buying and selling decisions. As a real estate sales
manager, he recruited agents through training and helped them build careers the same way. As
co-founder and chairman of the board, he built Keller Williams Realty International from a single
office in Austin, Texas, to one of the largest real estate companies in the world by using his skills as a
teacher, trainer, and coach. Gary defines leadership as “teaching people how to think the way they
need to think so they can do what they need to do when they need to do it, so they can get what they
want when they want it.” An Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year and finalist for Inc. Magazine’s
Entrepreneur of the Year, Gary is recognized as one of the most influential leaders in the real estate industry. He has also helped
many small business owners and entrepreneurs find success through his bestselling books The Millionaire Real Estate Agent, The
Millionaire Real Estate Investor, and SHIFT: How Top Real Estate Agents Tackle Tough Times. A book, after all, is just another way to
teach, but one with an infinitely large classroom. As a business coach and national trainer, Gary has helped countless others
realize extraordinary results by focusing on their ONE Thing. Unsurprising to those who know him, Gary’s single greatest
achievement is the life he’s built with his wife, Mary, and their son, John.
JAY PAPASAN • Jay is the executive editor and vice president of publishing at Keller Williams Realty International.
Professionally, Jay’s ONE Thing is writing. He attempted to write his first book on an electric typewriter in junior high. At least one
high school teacher thought his short stories had promise and circulated one to the entire school. Jay paid the bills in college by
working in a bookstore. He got his undergraduate degree in writing and later, his master’s. After graduation, Jay took a job in
publishing. During his years at HarperCollins in New York, he worked on bestselling titles like Body-for-Life by Bill Phillips and Go
for the Goal by Mia Hamm. More recently, in the ten years he’s worked with Gary, Jay has coauthored ten award-winning or
bestselling titles, including the Millionaire Real Estate series.

Outside of work, Jay co-owns a successful real estate investment business and sales team with his wife, Wendy. They enjoy life in
Austin, Texas, with their children, Gus and Veronica.2
DEAN BOKHARI
Author + Founder of FlashNotes.com
Host of The Meaningful Show{Listen on iTunes here: http://bit.ly/1m6v5jD}
Dean Bokhari believes that everyone deserves to live an optimal lifestyle.
He believes we can change the world by doing meaningful work that serves
the greater good.
Dean teaches people and organizations how to inspire + empower people in a positive way. He is the founder of
MeaningfulHQ, a consulting firm in Orange County, CA.
With a bold mission to change the world through Leadership - Dean and the Meaningful crew are teaching leaders how
they can move the world forward and move their organizations forward - at the same time.
He speaks five languages and holds a B.S. in Political Communication from Virginia Commonwealth University, where
he also studied Philosophy. He currently resides in Brea, CA with his wife, Amna, where he is also an active supporter of
resource-based economic systems and global sustainability efforts.
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The ONE Thing by Gary Keller : Book Summary

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The ONE Thing by Gary Keller : Book Summary