If you have ever chased two chickens before, you already know that you never catch one. As obvious as that sounds, it also applies on the other days that we're not chasing poor, feathery creatures.
Take a to-do list, for example. If you're like me, you sometimes feel this gush of motivation on some days and write a long to-do list, only to... well, you know the rest. Focusing on one specific thing, however, the result could be different. Enter, The One Thing by Gary Keller.
You might think it's straightforward what this book is about. You'd be right on that. As a matter of fact, it has its acknowledgements at the back rather than the front. I actually liked that, though I always read the acknowledgements part in books. But the modest 240-page book goes deep into helping its reader think through and see exactly how to get some real productivity.
"To do two things at once is to do neither." [1] As we've already established, I am better off spending an hour or two preparing this review than also looking through my mail and writing some code - for example. Why? Well, I simply could give it my best that way, and I'm more likely to finish it within that time block. This, as expansively explained in the book, is why multitasking isn't as cool as it sounds.
Let's talk about the life you'd rather have. Or maybe the "much better" lives of the people you admire. So much discipline it seemingly might require to attain, but that discipline really is as simple as choosing the right habits and building them one at a time. I quickly related to this as I remembered a few habits I now have that make certain things much easier for me.
I'll tell you this. When someone recently said they wished they could read books and admired how I consistently do it daily, I smiled in my mind. That could not have been said of me a year ago. From just five to ten minutes every morning to going over an hour twice a day despite having even more important things to do didn't happen overnight. My focus grew over time as I chose daily the habit I wanted.
"Odysseus understood how weak willpower actually is when he asked his crew to bind him to the mast while sailing by the seductive Sirens." [2] Willpower isn't always on standby. Some days, maybe, but I learned in this book that it's wiser to do [the demanding] things when you're likely going to have the willpower to - like in the morning, for example.
What does a balanced life look like to you? For me, it's something like being able to give adequate attention and time to everything and everyone that matters in my life. The reality, however, is that it's an ideal. And ideals are impractical. Rather, we're always balancing. When we veer off too much to one side, like work - say we notice - we try to come back, maybe to personal life or interpersonal relationships. Going back and forth, you get the idea. It's a zig-zag thing, and The One Thing addresses how to navigate it.
Speaking of navigation, let's talk about where we're headed. And dreams too. I've heard people say, If your dreams don't scare you, they're not big enough. Well, that to me is what a nightmare is. But really, what's stopping you, me? From thinking big and pushing for our limits. You don't really know your limits - I don't... until we push for big things. Okay, that sounded way cooler in my head. It's much better in the book.
Anyway, let's talk about the top moment for me in this book. Wait, there are two. The Focusing Question is one: "What's the one thing I can do such that by doing it every other thing becomes easier or irrelevant?" It can be applied in different aspects of one's life, but it's how it was broken down in The One Thing that I found even more insightful. And for the second...
How I think of laziness is simply being lost - without purpose. How Gary delves into the connection between purpose, priority, and productivity [and profit], one can see why narrowing things down is important. Narrowing it down is keeping it specific, and you still have to go big. Big and specific.
I can't possibly give all the juice from this book. These are just bits, you know. But it felt like the right time to read it. And I don't want to go into how Ebenezer Scrooge [from the Christmas Carol] came in as a good example. You'd just have to read it yourself to enjoy that, as well as many other anecdotes.
Phew! Way to keep it short, Jay. It sure was worth it anyway, as always. Going to grab myself a cup of tea now.
Images in this post belong to me
Refs
1 - Publilius Syrus
2 - Patricia Cohen