Have you ever felt overwhelmed by your goals and to-do lists?
Gary Keller’s “The ONE Thing” offers a straight forward approach: success comes from narrowing your focus, not expanding it. We only have so much time in the day.
The Domino Effect of Goal Setting
Think of your goals like dominoes. When you line them up correctly, knocking down the first one creates a chain reaction.
But here’s the key: each domino can knock down another one 50% larger than itself. This means small actions, the right small actions, can lead to extraordinarily large results.
small things + small things eventually lead to bigger things.
Breaking Down Your Goals: The ‘Someday’ to ‘Right Now’ Framework
Keller introduces a powerful goal-setting framework that works backward from your ultimate aspirations to your current actions:
- Someday Goal: Your big, long-term vision (5+ years)
- Five-Year Goal: What needs to happen in five years to be on track
- One-Year Goal: Your milestone for this year
- Monthly Goal: This month’s target
- Weekly Goal: What you need to do this week
- Daily Goal: Your priority for today
- Right Now: The ONE Thing you should be doing in this moment
The Goal-Setting Process
Step 1: Start with the Distant Future
Ask yourself: “What’s the ONE Thing I want to accomplish in life?” Be bold and specific. This becomes your compass.
Step 2: Work Backward
For each time frame, ask the focusing question: “What’s the ONE Thing I can do [in this time frame “this year”] that will make everything else easier or unnecessary?”
Here’s an example of someone who wants to be a Real Estate Investor
- Someday Goal: Build a $10M real estate portfolio
- Five-Year Goal: Own 50 rental properties
- One-Year Goal: Acquire 10 properties
- Monthly Goal: Purchase one property
- Weekly Goal: Evaluate 10 potential properties
- Daily Goal: Contact 5 sellers
- Right Now: Call the most promising lead
Step 3: Power list
Unlike a to-do list that tracks everything, a power list tracks only the things that will move you toward your ONE Thing. It’s about effectiveness over efficiency. Limit your power list to 5 critical tasks.
The idea is if you complete the power list you win the day,
win enough days you win the week,
win enough weeks you win the year
and win enough years you end up winning at life.
Making It Work: The Time Block
- Block Time for Your ONE Thing: The best case scenario is to schedule 4 hours every morning for your most important work. Worst case? do what you can.
- Protect the Block: Treat your time as sacred.
- Keep the Commitment: Show up every day during your time block. REALLY SHOW TF UP.
Common Pitfalls to Avoid
- The Everything Matters Equally Trap: Not everything deserves equal time
- The Multitasking Myth: Focus on one thing at a time
- The Willpower Depletion: Do your ONE Thing early when your willpower is strongest
Putting It All Together
- Choose Your ONE Thing in each time frame
- Time Block your priorities
- Protect your time blocks
- Measure your progress
- Adjust as needed
“take what is useful, ignore what is useless, and add your own flare.”
Remember, success isn’t about doing more things – it’s about doing the right thing, at the right time.
Your ONE Thing should be the lead domino that makes everything else fall into place or become unnecessary.
Joe DiAndrea 