Relentless Prioritization and Focus Are Necessary

• "When everything feels urgent and important, everything seems equal. We become active and busy, but this doesn't actually move us any closer to success. Activity is often unrelated to productivity, and busyness rarely takes care of business."
• "The things which are most important don't always scream the loudest."
• "Live with purpose and you know where you want to go. Live by priority and you'll know what to do to get there."
• "Be like a postage stamp--stick to one thing until you get there." -Josh Billings
• "Extraordinary results are directly determined by how narrow you can make your focus."
• "Leaving some things undone is a necessary tradeoff for extraordinary results."

What's Your ONE Thing?

• "What's the ONE Thing you can do this week such that by doing it everything else would be easier or unnecessary?"
• "Until my ONE Thing is done, everything else is a distraction."
• "If you want to get the most out if your day, do your most important work - your ONE Thing - early, before your willpower is drawn down. Since your self-control will be sapped throughout the day, use it when it's at full strength on what matters most."
• "To experience extraordinary results, be a MAKER in the morning and a MANAGER in the afternoon." That is, do your own creative work early in the day. This kind of work generally requires large blocks of time to think and brainstorm new ways to execute your own projects. Use the afternoon for meetings and overseeing your team.

Other Things to Bear in Mind

• "People do not decide their futures. They decide their habits and their habits decide their futures." -F.M. Alexander
• ”Be careful how you interpret the world; it is like that." -Erich Heller

Application to My Life

Keller and Papasan urge the reader to prioritize only ONE Thing in each area of life that makes everything else unnecessary or less important. You'll find my list below. What's yours?

• Marriage ONE Thing: Go on a date night with my wife Kaylyn every week
• Personal ONE Thing: Read 60+ books every year
• Physical ONE Thing: Play basketball at least once per week and work out 2+ times every week
• Spiritual ONE Thing: Read the Bible 4+ times every week
• Leadership ONE Thing: Meet with one of my four mentors every month over coffee or lunch
• Financial ONE Thing: Update our budget spreadsheet at least once per month
• Travel ONE Thing: Take one international vacation and one other vacation every year
• Work ONE Thing: Spend 15-30 minutes each day sorting/prioritizing the new software development requests that have come into our team