Instantly 10X Your Ability Focus Using This Simple Question

2 Years ago I started my first blog.

After the initial honeymoon period, I soon realized that there was an insane amount of work that needed to get done. In an effort to do everything, I created massive (100+ item) "to-do" lists.

I even developed to-do lists for all of my to-do's.

The Result?

I felt like I was riding a wave of productivity and doing “way more” than my peers. In reality, I was producing crappy work, doing it fast and getting no where.

Although I did spend 80+ hours designing a logo that I no longer use.

Narrowing Your Focus (watch the 30 second video)

“Curly: Do you know what the secret to life is?

Curly: This (holds up one finger).

Mitch: Your finger?

Curly: One thing, just one thing. You stick to that and everything else don’t mean shit.

Mitch: That’s great, but what’s the “one thing?”

Curly: That’s what you’ve got to figure out.”

— City Slickers

Finding Your ONE THING

Here's the problem, most of us spend our time looking and feeling busy, instead of narrowing our focus and working on the tasks, actions and projects that actually matter.

After reading the biographies of the most successful entrepreneurs, scientists, and athletes of all time (Buffet, Jordan, Schwarzenegger, Weintraub, Branson, Jobs, Einstein, Walton, and Bezos), I made a new realization.

Top performers have a knack for knowing EXACTLY what to focus on.

So.... the next question: How do you know what to focus on?

The Focusing Question:

In his book the ONE THING millionaire real estate mogul Gary Keller of Keller-Williams Realty presents the following question:

The ONE THING GARY KELLER Such That By Doing It Everything Else

It's a simple question that produces extraordinary results.

It works for 3 reasons:

Makes you decide which actions have the most value: Asking the question forces us to focus on the work which produces the greatest result.
Acts like a filter: By narrowing our focus and removing all of the extra noise, we eliminate much of the work that would just keep us busy.
The Domino Effect: When you focus on the highest value work, the smaller stuff can become obsolete and no longer necessary. Take my logo example above.

Feel free to save, share and distribute.

You Can Use It To

Gary Keller used this question to turn Keller-Williams into the largest real estate agency. Warren Buffet and Charlie Munger used this same question (not necessarily the same wording) to grow Berkshire Hathaway at a 22% annualized growth rate. Bill Gates used it to focus Microsoft into the industry leader in PC software.

If it's good enough for these top performers. It's good enough for you.

The Habit Of Focus

Since reading The ONE THING, I've made it a way of life. I ask myself every morning, while at work, when planning my weekly goals for Stop. Start. Do. and before bed.

It can be applied to every area of your life.

Ask yourself: What's the ONE THING I can do such that by doing it everything else will become easier or unnecessary?