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The cover of The ONE Thing

The ONE Thing

Gary Keller, Jay Papasan, 2013

Gary Keller shows how narrowing your focus to the one thing that makes everything else easier or unnecessary, and guarding hours each day for it, produces extraordinary results.

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7 parts, about 21 minutes to read.

Why read it

  • Offers one focusing question that asks for the single action that makes everything else easier or unnecessary
  • Takes apart six common lies about success, including multitasking, a disciplined life, willpower on demand and a balanced life
  • Shows how to time block your key work early, protect it from interruptions and trace a someday goal down to right now

Who it is for

  • Busy professionals whose to do lists keep growing
  • Managers and founders who feel pulled in many directions
  • Readers who want focus without giving up family and health

What the summary covers

  1. One Thing, Then the Next3 min
  2. The Six Lies6 min
  3. The Truth: The Simple Path to Productivity3 min
  4. Extraordinary Results: Purpose and Priority3 min
  5. Time Block Your ONE Thing2 min
  6. Three Commitments2 min
  7. Four Thieves and the Journey2 min

Recommended by

  • Maria SharapovaTennis player who reached world number one in women's tennis

About the authors

  • Gary KellerExecutive chairman of Keller Williams Realty and its holding company kwx
  • Jay PapasanCoauthor of the Millionaire Real Estate series

Read it alongside

  • Puts it into practicePeak

    Gary Keller urges moving from your natural approach to purposeful learning instead of stopping at good enough. Anders Ericsson describes how to practice that way: work just outside your comfort zone with clear goals, a plan and a way to track progress, and aim practice at the component that breaks down first when you push harder

  • Goes deeperDeep Work

    Keller says attention only shifts between tasks and that switching has a cost, larger for complicated work. Newport, citing Sophie Leroy's laboratory studies, explains that attention residue stays stuck on the first task, especially when it was unbounded, and that people carrying it are likely to perform worse on the next

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