The One Thing Part 5

FOR MY JOB...

What's the ONE Thing I can do to ensure that I hit my goals... ?

What's the ONE Thing I can do to improve my skills... ?

What's the ONE Thing I can do to help my team succeed... ?

What's the ONE Thing I can do to further my career... ?

FOR MY BUSINESS...

What's the ONE Thing I can do to make us more compet.i.tive... ?

What's the ONE Thing I can do to make our product the best... ?

What's the ONE Thing I can do to make us more profitable... ?

What's the ONE Thing I can do to improve our customer experience... ?

FOR MY FINANCES...

What's the ONE Thing I can do to increase my net worth... ?

What's the ONE Thing I can do to improve my investment cash flow... ?

What's the ONE Thing I can do to eliminate my credit card debt... ?

BIG IDEAS.

So how do you make The ONE Thing part of your daily routine? How do you make it strong enough to get extraordinary results at work and in the other areas of your life? Here's a starter list drawn from our experience and our work with others.

Understand and believe it. The first step is to understand the concept of the ONE Thing, then to believe that it can make a difference in your life. If you don't understand and believe, you won't take action.

Use it. Ask yourself the Focusing Question. Start each day by asking, "What's the ONE Thing I can do today for [whatever you want] such that by doing it everything else will be easier or even unnecessary?" When you do this, your direction will become clear. Your work will be more productive and your personal life more rewarding.

Make it a habit. When you make asking the Focusing Question a habit, you fully engage its power to get the extraordinary results you want. It's a difference maker. Research says this will take about 66 days. Whether it takes you a few weeks or a few months, stick with it until it becomes your routine. If you're not serious about learning the Success Habit, you're not serious about getting extraordinary results.

Leverage reminders. Set up ways to remind yourself to use the Focusing Question. One of the best ways to do this is to put up a sign at work that says, "Until my ONE Thing is done-everything else is a distraction." We designed the back cover of this book to be a trigger -set it on the corner of your desk so that it's the first thing you see when you get to work. Use notes, screen savers, and calendar cues to keep making the connection between the Success Habit and the results you seek. Put up reminders like, "The ONE Thing = Extraordinary Results" or "The Success Habit Will Get Me to My Goal."

Recruit support. Research shows that those around you can influence you tremendously. Starting a success support group with some of your work colleagues can help inspire all of you to practice the Success Habit every day. Get your family involved. Share your ONE Thing. Get them on board. Use the Focusing Question around them to show them how the Success Habit can make a difference in their school work, their personal achievements, or any other part of their lives.

This one habit can become the foundation for many more, so keep your Success Habit working as powerfully as possible. Use the strategies outlined in Part 3: Extraordinary Results, for goal setting and time blocking to experience extraordinary results every day of your life.

12 THE PATH TO GREAT ANSWERS.

"People do not decide their futures, they decide their habits and their habits decide their futures."

-F. M. Alexander The Focusing Question helps you identify your ONE Thing in any situation. It will clarify what you want in the big areas of your life and then drill down to what you must do to get them. It's really a simple process: You ask a great question, then you seek out a great answer. As simple as two steps, it's the ultimate Success Habit.

FIG. 17 Your one-two punch for extraordinary results.

1. ASK A GREAT QUESTION.

The Focusing Question helps you ask a great question. Great questions, like great goals, are big and specific. They push you, stretch you, and aim you at big, specific answers. And because they're framed to be measurable, there's no wiggle room about what the results will look like.

FIG. 18 Four options for framing a Great Question.

Look at the "Great Question" matrix (figure 18) to see the power of the Focusing Question.

Let's take increasing sales as a way to break down each of the quadrants, using "What can I do to double sales in six months?" as a placeholder for Big & Specific (figure 19).

Now, let's examine the pros and cons of each question quadrant, ending with where you want to be-Big & Specific.

FIG. 19 Four options for framing a Great Question ill.u.s.trated.

Quadrant 4. Small & Specific: "What can I do to increase sales by 5 percent this year?" This aims you in a specific direction, but there's nothing truly challenging about this question. For most salespeople, a 5 percent b.u.mp in sales could just as easily happen because the market shifted in your favor rather than anything you might have done. At best it's an incremental gain, not a life-changing leap forward. Low goals don't require extraordinary actions so they rarely lead to extraordinary results.

Quadrant 3. Small & Broad: "What can I do to increase sales?" This is not really an achievement question at all. It's more of a brainstorming question. It's great for listing your options but requires more to narrow your options and go small. How much will sales increase? By what date? Unfortunately, this is the kind of average question most people ask and then wonder why their answers don't deliver extraordinary results.

Quadrant 2. Big & Broad: "What can I do to double sales?" Here you have a big question, but nothing specific. It's a good start, but the lack of specifics leaves more questions than answers. Doubling sales in the next 20 years is very different from attempting the same goal in a year or less. There are still too many options and without specifics you won't know where to start.

Quadrant 1. Big & Specific: "What can I do to double sales in six months?" Now you have all the elements of a Great Question. It's a big goal and it's specific. You're doubling sales, and that's not easy. You also have a time frame of six months, which will be a challenge. You'll need a big answer. You'll have to stretch what you believe is possible and look outside the standard toolbox of solutions.

See the difference? When you ask a Great Question, you're in essence pursuing a great goal. And whenever you do this, you'll see the same pattern-Big & Specific. A big, specific question leads to a big, specific answer, which is absolutely necessary for achieving a big goal.

So if "What can I do to double sales in six months?" is a Great Question, how do you make it more powerful? Convert it to the Focusing Question: "What's the ONE Thing I can do to double sales in six months such that by doing it everything else will be easier or unnecessary?" Turning it into the Focusing Question goes to the heart of success by forcing you to identify what absolutely matters most and start there. Why?

Because that's where big success starts too.

2. FIND A GREAT ANSWER.

The challenge of asking a Great Question is that, once you've asked it, you're now faced with finding a Great Answer.

Answers come in three categories: doable, stretch, and possibility. The easiest answer you can seek is the one that's already within reach of your knowledge, skills, and experience. With this type of solution you probably already know how to do it and won't have to change much to get it. Think of this as "doable" and the most likely to be achieved.

The next level up is a "stretch" answer. While this is still within your reach, it can be at the farthest end of your range. You'll most likely have to do some research and study what others have done to come up with this answer. Doing it can be iffy since you might have to extend yourself to the very limits of your current abilities. Think of this as potentially achievable and probable, depending on your effort.

High achievers understand these first two routes but reject them. Unwilling to settle for ordinary when extraordinary is possible, they've asked a Great Question and want the very best answer.

FIG. 20 The Success Habit unlocks possibilities.

Extraordinary results require a Great Answer.

Highly successful people choose to live at the outer limits of achievement. They not only dream of but deeply crave what is beyond their natural grasp. They know this type of answer is the hardest to come by but also know that just by extending themselves to find it, they expand and enrich their life for the better.

If you want the most from your answer, you must realize that it lives outside your comfort zone. This is rare air. A big answer is never in plain view, nor is the path to finding one laid out for you. A possibility answer exists beyond what is already known and being done. As with a stretch goal, you can start out by doing research and studying the lives of other high achievers. But you can't stop there. In fact, your search has just begun. Whatever you learn, you'll use it to do what only the greatest achievers do: benchmark and trend.

A Great Answer is essentially a new answer. It is a leap across all current answers in search of the next one and is found in two steps. The first is the same as when you stretch. You uncover the best research and study the highest achievers. Anytime you don't know the answer, your answer is to go find your answer. In other words, by default, your first ONE Thing is to search for clues and role models to point you in the right direction. The first thing to do is ask, "Has anyone else studied or accomplished this or something like it?" The answer is almost always yes, so your investigation begins by finding out what others have learned.

One of the reasons I've ama.s.sed a large library of books over the years is because books are a great go-to resource. Short of having a conversation with someone who has accomplished what you hope to achieve, in my experience books and published works offer the most in terms of doc.u.mented research and role models for success. The Internet has quickly become an invaluable tool as well. Whether offline or online, you're trying to find people who have already gone down the road you're traveling, so you can research, model, benchmark, and trend their experience. A college professor once told me, "Gary, you're smart, but people have lived before you. You're not the first person to dream big, so you'd be wise to study what others have learned first, and then build your actions on the back of their lessons." He was so right. And he was talking to you too.

The research and experience of others is the best place to start when looking for your answer. Armed with this knowledge, you can establish a benchmark, the current high-water mark for all that is known and being done. With a stretch approach this was your maximum, but now it is your minimum. It's not all you'll do, but it becomes the hilltop where you'll stand to see if you can spot what might come next. This is called trending, and it's the second step. You're looking for the next thing you can do in the same direction that the best performers are heading or, if necessary, in an entirely new direction.

FIG. 21 The benchmark is today's success-the trend is tomorrow's.

This is how big problems are solved and big challenges are overcome, for the best answers rarely come from an ordinary process. Whether it's figuring out how to leapfrog the compet.i.tion, finding a cure for a disease, or coming up with an action step for a personal goal, benchmarking and trending is your best option. Because your answer will be original, you'll probably have to reinvent yourself in some way to implement it. A new answer usually requires new behavior, so don't be surprised if along the way to sizable success you change in the process. But don't let that stop you.

This is where the magic happens and possibilities are unlimited. As challenging as it can be, trailblazing up the path of possibilities is always worth it-for when we maximize our reach, we maximize our life.

BIG IDEAS.

Think big and specific. Setting a goal you intend to achieve is like asking a question. It's a simple step from "I'd like to do that" to "How do I achieve that?" The best question-and by default, the best goal-is big and specific: big, because you're after extraordinary results; specific, to give you something to aim at and to leave no wiggle room about whether you hit the mark. A big and specific question, especially in the form of the Focusing Question, helps you zero in on the best possible answer.

Think possibilities. Setting a doable goal is almost like creating a task to check off your list. A stretch goal is more challenging. It aims you at the edge of your current abilities; you have to stretch to reach it. The best goal explores what's possible. When you see people and businesses that have undergone transformations, this is where they live.

Benchmark and trend for the best answer. No one has a crystal ball, but with practice you can become surprisingly good at antic.i.p.ating where things are heading. The people and businesses who get there first often enjoy the lion's share of the rewards with few, if any, compet.i.tors. Benchmark and trend to find the extraordinary answer you need for extraordinary results.

3.

EXTRAORDINARY RESULTS.

UNLOCKING THE POSSIBILITIES WITHIN YOU.

"Even if you're on the right track, you'll get run over if you just sit there."

- Will Rogers EXTRAORDINARY RESULTS.

There is a natural rhythm to our lives that becomes a simple formula for implementing the ONE Thing and achieving extraordinary results: purpose, priority, and productivity. Bound together, these three are forever connected and continually confirming each other's existence in our lives. Their link leads to the two areas where you'll apply the ONE Thing-one big and one small.

Your big ONE Thing is your purpose and your small ONE Thing is the priority you take action on to achieve it. The most productive people start with purpose and use it like a compa.s.s. They allow purpose to be the guiding force in determining the priority that drives their actions. This is the straightest path to extraordinary results.

Think of purpose, priority, and productivity as three parts of an iceberg.

With typically only 1/9 of an iceberg above water, whatever you see is just the tip of everything that is there. This is exactly how productivity, priority, and purpose are related. What you see is determined by what you don't.

FIG. 22 Productivity is driven by purpose and priority.

The more productive people are, the more purpose and priority are pushing and driving them. With the additional outcome of profit, it's the same for business. What's visible to the public-productivity and profit-is always buoyed by the substance that serves as the company's foundation- purpose and priority. All businesspeople want productivity and profit, but too many fail to realize that the best path to attaining them is through purpose-driven priority.

FIG. 23 In business, profit and productivity are also driven by priority and purpose.

Personal productivity is the building block of all business profit. The two are inseparable. A business can't have unproductive people yet magically still have an immensely profitable business. Great businesses are built one productive person at a time. And not surprisingly, the most productive people receive the greatest rewards from their businesses.

Connecting purpose, priority, and productivity determines how high above the rest successful individuals and profitable businesses rise. Understanding this is at the core of producing extraordinary results.

13 LIVE WITH PURPOSE.

"Life isn't about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself."

-George Bernard Shaw So, how do you use purpose to create an extraordinary life? Ebenezer Scrooge shows us how.

Cold-hearted, penny-pinching, and greedy, a man who despised Christmas and all things that give people happiness, his last name a byword for miserliness and meanness-Ebenezer Scrooge might have been the least likely candidate to teach us anything about how to live. Yet, in Charles d.i.c.kens's 1843 cla.s.sic A Christmas Carol, he does.

The redemptive tale of Scrooge's transformation from stingy, callous, and unloved to considerate, caring, and beloved is one of the best examples of how our destinies are determined by our decisions, our lives shaped by our choices. Once again, fiction provides us a formula we can all follow to build an extraordinary life with extraordinary results. I'd like to beg your forgiveness, take a little literary license, and quickly retell this timeless tale to show you.

One Christmas Eve, Ebenezer Scrooge is visited by the deceased spirit of Jacob Marley, his former business partner. We do not know if this is a dream or if it's real. Marley wails, "I am here tonight to warn you, that you have yet a chance and a hope of escaping my fate. You will be haunted by three spirits"-from the past, present, and future, as it turns out. "Remember what has pa.s.sed between us!"

Now, let's stop for a second and bear in mind who Scrooge is. d.i.c.kens describes him as a man whose old features are frozen by the cold within him. Tight-fisted, with head down and hand to the grindstone, Scrooge pays as little as possible and keeps as much as he can. He is secretive and solitary. No one ever stops him in the streets to say h.e.l.lo. No one cares, for he cares for no one. He is a bitter, mean, covetous old sinner-cold to the sight, cold to the touch, and cold of heart, with no thaw in sight. His life is a lonely existence, and the world is worse off for it.

Over the course of the evening, the three spirits visit Scrooge to show him his past, present, and future. Through these visits he sees how he became the man he is, how his life is currently going, and what will ultimately happen to him and those around him. It's a terrifying experience that leaves him visibly shaken when he wakes the next morning. Not knowing whether it was real or a dream, but giddy upon discovering no time has pa.s.sed, Scrooge realizes there is still time to alter his fate. In a joyous blur, he rushes into the street and instructs the first boy he sees to go buy the biggest turkey at the market and send it anonymously to the home of his sole employee, Bob Cratchit. Upon seeing a gentleman he'd once rebuffed for pleading charity for the needy, he prays for forgiveness and promises to donate huge sums of money to the poor.

Ebenezer eventually ends up at the home of his nephew, where he begs forgiveness for being such a fool for far too long and accepts an invitation to stay for holiday dinner. His nephew's wife and guests, shocked at his heartfelt bliss, can barely believe this is Scrooge.

The next morning, Bob Cratchit, upon arriving noticeably late to work, is confronted by Scrooge: "What do you mean coming here at this time of day? I am not going to stand for this sort of thing any longer!" Before this wretched news can sink in, the incredulous Cratchit hears him say, "And therefore I am about to raise your salary!"

Scrooge goes on to become the Cratchit family's benefactor. He finds a doctor for Tiny Tim, Cratchit's invalid son, and becomes like a second father to him. Scrooge lives out the rest of his days spending his time and money doing everything he can for others.

Through this simple story, Charles d.i.c.kens shows us a simple formula for creating an extraordinary life: Live with purpose. Live by priority. Live for productivity.

As I reflect on this story, I believe d.i.c.kens reveals purpose as a combination of where we're going and what's important to us. He implies that our priority is what we place the greatest importance on and our productivity comes from the actions we take. He lays out life as a series of connected choices, where our purpose sets our priority and our priority determines the productivity our actions produce.

To d.i.c.kens, our purpose determines who we are.

Scrooge is transparent and easy to understand, so let's revisit A Christmas Carol through the lens of d.i.c.kens's formula. At the place we enter his life, Scrooge's purpose is clearly about money. He pursues a life either working for it or being alone with it. He cares for money more than for people and believes that money is the end by which any means are justified. Based on his purpose, his priority is straightforward: making as much money for himself as he can. Collecting coin is what matters to Scrooge. As a result, his productivity is always aimed at making money. When he takes a break from making it, for fun, he counts it. Earning, netting, lending, receiving, tallying-these are the actions that fill his days, for he is greedy, selfish, and unmoved by the human condition of those around him.