Your ONE Thing

May 29, 2019

I just finished Gary Keller’s The ONE Thing.

It’s a productivity book.

I’ve been into those lately and I’m surprised by how much I’ve learned from this genre. I consider myself an organized person, but some of these concepts (nothing earth-shatteringly new by the way) have made a huge difference.

Because I’ve committed to them.

Sound familiar?

We can think we know a lot about a subject, but being reminded or shown a slightly different way can reinvigorate our efforts.

So it is with food and weight loss.

Almost everyone “knows” what to do.

We know the calorie counts of every diet dressing and nut on the market.

We know how many minutes we have to walk to work off the tortilla chips.

We know home-cooked meals have fewer calories than restaurant ones.

We know planning our food week and logging our food makes all the difference.

It’s in the doing that gets us results.

Keller suggests that we focus our attention on getting just ONE Thing done to completion. But not just any “thing”. The most important thing. The thing that will change everything.

We ask ourselves this question:

“What’s the ONE thing I can do such that by doing it everything else will be easier or unnecessary?”

Huh?

It takes some thought.

It’s asking you to pick the big, hard, potentially scary thing. The thing that you KNOW will make a difference but you’ve been reluctant to actually do.

Once you know what that is, you do it. Period.

For food and weight issues, it would usually be creating a new habit (or getting rid of one).

It can take anywhere from 28-66 days to create a new habit that actually sticks. This is where the commitment and focus come in.

Let’s say your ONE Thing is to start exercising regularly. Great.

You look at your schedule and start blocking off time for the treadmill. So you carve out some time in the morning and your Starbuck’s run doesn’t make as much sense. It has to go. Java at home instead.

Not only are you moving every day, but you’ve slashed calories, saved money and saved some precious will power energy by not having to resist the scone every morning.

That’s how ONE Thing can make other things unnecessary. You don’t have to do anything about your morning scone habit anymore. It’s fixed! Effortlessly.

Establishing a food planning habit is the quintessential example of this. Planning your food week positively impacts so many other habits. Once you know what you’re eating, those difficult choices at Chipotle disappear. No more waiting for dinner ideas, they’re done and waiting for you in the fridge. Etc.

One thing eliminating many. Cool.

What’s your ONE Thing?

Your ONE Thing

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