Course: The One Thing
The Simple Path to Extraordinary Results in Life and Work (video, audio, and written training program)
Welcome to The ONE Thing Course – inspired by the best-selling personal + professional development book, The One Thing. I first read this book over 10 years ago, and the Big Ideas I picked up were an absolute game-changer for my life and business. Even today, it continues to inform the way in which I approach goal-setting, productivity, and success. My goal for this program is to share the same insights with YOU—so you can achieve extraordinary results in your own life and work as well.
Ultimately, The One Thing presents us with a simple path to success: Determine the ONE most important priority in each of the major categories of your life — and then work backward from there; chunking down your ONE thing into smaller single things that you can do this year, this month, this week, this day, and in this very moment.
Here’s what you can expect
Each lesson of this program (12 total) will cover one big idea or principle to help you apply The One Thing framework to your own life.
By the time you’re done, you’ll be less distracted, less overwhelmed, and less uncertain about the future.
You’ll also pick up skills that’ll help you become more productive, more purposeful, and more in control of your life + work.
Ready? Let’s dive into your first lesson…
Table of Contents
Lesson 5. A Small Dose of Discipline Turns into a Life-Long Habit
Lesson 7. Prioritize + Be Productive: Goal-Setting To The Now
Lesson 9. The Four Thieves Of Productivity (and How to Eliminate Them)
Lesson 1. What’s holding you back?
You don’t have a time problem.
You have a focus problem.
Most people walk around saying, “I just don’t have enough time to get everything done.”
But it’s not about how much time you have… it’s about how you use it.
We all get the same 24 hours.
Some people crush it. Others stay stuck.
So what’s the difference?
The highest achievers—CEOs, leaders, elite athletes, the best in the world at what they do—aren’t running around trying to do everything.
They’ve mastered the art of focusing on the ONE Thing that truly matters.
Think about your to-do list for a second.
How many things are on it?
10? 20? 30? More?
Now let me ask you this: If you ONLY completed ONE thing on that list today, which one would make the biggest impact?
That’s The ONE Thing.
Most people spend their days juggling dozens of tasks, responding to emails, jumping from one thing to the next… and by the end of the day, they feel exhausted—but haven’t moved anything forward.
Sound familiar?
That’s because not all work is equal.
Some work moves the needle.
Most of it doesn’t.
And once you learn how to identify and execute on the ONE Thing that truly matters, everything else gets easier… or becomes unnecessary.
That’s what this course is about—helping you stop wasting time on the wrong things and start focusing on what actually drives results.
Actionable insights
Your ONE thing right now is to find your ONE thing right now.
Grab a piece of paper (or open up the Notes app on a device).
Write down everything you’re working on right now.
Ask yourself: “If I could only do ONE of these things today, which one would make the biggest positive impact?”
Circle that ONE Thing. That’s your priority, and that’s where your time should go.
This is not about doing more… It’s about doing what matters.
See you in the next lesson, where we’ll be discussing the six lies that stand between YOU and the SUCCESS you deserve.
Lesson 2. Six Lies That Stand Between You + Success
Are you familiar with the old story about the frog in boiling water?
If you put a frog in a pot of boiling water, it’ll jump right out.
But if you put that frog in a pot of room-temperature water, and then slowly, gradually increase the heat, you’ll notice that the frog doesn’t jump…
Even when the water starts boiling, the frog remains—until it boils to death.
This story is used as a metaphor for how folks respond to gradual changes or threats.
Many people don’t react when a threat or challenge is increased in small increments. But if you crank up the heat quickly, most of us jump into action, just like the frog.
I love the moral of this story.
But here’s the thing: It isn’t true. The truth is, if you stick a frog in a pot of water and turn up the heat, it’ll eventually jump out—even if you do it slowly.
Just like most of us have spent much of our lives believing the story of the frog in boiling water, there are also a lot of things about personal + professional success that many of us believe as well…
But what if those beliefs are wrong?
There are six big lies that most people believe about success—six myths that keep you overwhelmed, distracted, and stuck in the cycle of doing more but accomplishing less.
Here they are:
Everything matters equally (Not true—only a few things drive real results.)
Multitasking makes you more productive (It actually makes you slower and less effective.)
You need to be super disciplined (You don’t—just disciplined in the right areas.)
Willpower is always available (It’s not—you need to protect and manage it.)
Seek a balanced life (Nope—you need to focus on what truly matters at the right time.)
Big is bad (Wrong—you want to think BIG, but take small specific actions.)
In this lesson, we’ll break each of these down so you can get to the truth about SUCCESS.
Lie #1. Everything Matters Equally
Most people treat their to-do list like every task carries the same weight.
Answering emails, organizing files, doing laundry, working on important goals, picking up a ringing phone — they all feel like “work”, so we trick ourselves into thinking they’re equally important.
But they’re NOT.
Here’s the truth:
A handful of actions create the majority of your success.
If you’re spending your time on low-value tasks, you’ll stay stuck.
If you’re focused on high-leverage activities, you’ll create momentum.
Actionable idea:
From now on, treat your tasks like dominoes—find the ONE domino that, when knocked over, makes everything else easier.
Lie #2. Multitasking is Productive
Multitasking doesn’t really exist. When you’re “multitasking”, what you’re really doing is switching between tasks really quickly. And when you do that, stuff falls through the cracks and your effectiveness suffers as a result.
Researchers have discovered that when you jump between tasks, your brain has to reorient itself every time—which means you’re losing time and focus without realizing it.
The highest performers in the world don’t multitask.
They time-block their priorities and go all-in on ONE Thing at a time.
Actionable idea
Stop trying to do everything at once. Close all 400 of your open browser tabs and focus on the one in front of you. Embrace the power of singular focus. Take on ONE task at a time.
Lie #3. You Need More Discipline to Succeed
Ever hear someone say, “If you just had more discipline, you’d be successful”?
Another lie.
You don’t need more discipline… You just need to be disciplined about fewer things.
If you’re constantly relying on willpower to force yourself to do things, you’ll burn out fast.
Instead of focusing on willpower and discipline, focus on creating habits and systems that make your success automatic.
Actionable idea:
Set up your environment so that taking the right action is the easiest option.
If you want to meditate more, create a space for it.
If you want to work out first thing every morning, keep your gym shoes by the door and lay out your workout gear the night before.
Make it easy to take action, and you’ll take more action.
Lie #4. Willpower is Always Available
Ever notice how you’re more focused in the morning, but by the afternoon, you’re drained?
That’s because willpower is finite… Just like a battery, it depletes as you use it.
We start each day with a reserve of willpower, but it slowly drains with every decision we make and every action we take.
So, if you’re using up your willpower on low-value decisions and actions, you won’t have any left for the stuff that actually matters—like your ONE thing.
Actionable idea:
Do your ONE Thing first. Protect your best energy for your most important work.
Lie #5. Seek a Balanced Life
Balance sounds nice, but in reality, it’s a myth.
If you want to do something great, there are going to be seasons of imbalance where you go all-in on what matters most.
Trying to “balance” everything equally just ensures you make mediocre progress in every area.
Actionable idea:
Learn to counterbalance—focus intensely on your ONE Thing, then shift when necessary.
For example, you might have a project at work that pulls you away from spending the time you want with your family for a week or two. A nice way to counterbalance that would be to do something extra special with your family once you’ve finished your project.
Lie #6. Big is Bad
Many folks shy away from ambitious goals, thinking that aiming high is “risky” or “unrealistic.”
But thinking BIG is essential for achieving extraordinary success.
Think about the Wright brothers… They had a vision of making a ton of steel soar through the sky.
Inventing the airplane was an audacious goal. A goal that many people might call “unrealistic.” But they made it happen—and revolutionized the world as a result.
Can you imagine what the world would look like today if they focused on making a better bike instead of inventing the airplane?
Embracing big goals pushes you beyond your comfort zone, leading to growth and new opportunities.
Staying small may feel safe, but it often results in missed potential and stagnation.
Actionable idea:
Big thinking leads to bold actions, which in turn lead to big results. Think BIG, but take small steps daily toward making your big goals a reality. I’ll share more on setting goals later in the program, but try this method for now—to get yourself to start thinking BIG:
Identify an area where you’ve been holding back due to fear or self-doubt.
Set a BIG goal. Challenge yourself to aim higher than you previously thought possible.
Take the first step. Take just ONE step to make progress on this goal today.
Actionable insights
Eliminate the lies that hold you back.
Look at the six lies of success—which one has been keeping you stuck?
Pick ONE and commit to eliminating it today.
This is how you start a positive, upward cycle of success in your life—not by doing more, but by focusing on the right things.
By now, you should understand two key things:
If you’re not as successful or productive as you want to be, it’s not because you don’t have time—it’s because you’re not focused on the right thing—you haven’t tightened your focus. (don’t worry, we’ll work on that as we move along the program.)
The biggest obstacle to success is believing the wrong things about how success works.
Next up, we’ll focus on unlocking the power of The ONE Thing—so you can take this from theory to execution.
Lesson 3. The Focusing Question
As I mentioned at the outset of this program, The One Thing is about creating a simple path to success: You figure out the ONE most important priority in each of the major categories of your life — and then work backward from there; chunking down your ONE thing into smaller single things that you can do this year, this month, this week, this day, and in this very moment. But how do you sort out what’s most important?
You use 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 entire ONE Thing framework revolves around that single question – and the power of organizing every area of your life around ONE Thing (per area).
In case you’re wondering, “Why focus on a question when what we really crave is an answer?” Simple: Questions give us answers. And the quality of any answer is directly determined by the quality of the question that precedes it.
Ask a weak question, and you’ll get a weak answer. Ask a strong question, and you’ll get a strong answer. Ask the most powerful question possible, and the answer can transform your life entirely.
The Domino Effect
Picture a row of dominos lined up.
If you knock over the first one, it hits the next… and the next… And pretty soon, a tiny force has created a massive chain reaction.
Success works the same way.
You don’t need to do everything at once.
You don’t need to tackle the biggest challenge first.
You just need to knock over the first domino. Because once momentum starts, it’s unstoppable.
But to get that momentum going, you’ve got to first identify the ONE thing that matters most in each of the important areas of your life (personal, business, career, health, etc).
Think of these as your long-term or “someday” goals.
Once you’ve figured that out, you want to select your “lead domino“—which is the first action you’ll take toward your ONE big long-term goal.
Then, line up all the other dominoes behind your “lead domino” and start knockin’ ’em down one-by-one—until you’ve arrived at your goal.
Simple right? Actually, yeah it is. But just because it’s simple doesn’t mean it’s easy.
Let me share an example of how this works…
Let’s say you want to scale your business.
You might feel overwhelmed thinking about everything involved with doing that: hiring a team, building systems, automating workflows, etc…
But what’s the FIRST domino?
Ask the Focusing Question to find out:
“What’s the one thing I can do to generate the resources I need to scale my business, such that by doing it, everything else gets easier?”
In this case, the answer might be closing one more high-ticket client.
Because once you do that: You have more revenue. You can reinvest in better tools. You can afford to hire the right people. And suddenly, everything starts moving forward.
The same applies to your health, relationships, career, personal development, and all the key areas of your life…
Just find your first domino, and let the momentum take over.
Now, let’s go a little deeper, by looking at how you can use the Focusing Question to find your ONE Thing at any given moment…
The Success Habit
Anyone who’s spent any length of time around me knows I’m in love with physical fitness. I don’t believe in “off days.” I workout every single day no matter what.
So in 2020, when all the gyms got shut down, I asked myself the following Focusing Question:
