Feb 17, 2020
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What’s The One Thing?
What’s the ONE thing that if you were to get it done, today, this week or this month, you’d be SO much closer to exactly where you want to be?
The premise of the book ‘The one thing’ by Gary Keller and Jay Papasan fits in perfectly with my year of simplifying things and I wanted to share why with you.
First, in the interest of context i’ll take you to what got me thinking about this in the first place.
You know when everyone at the beginning talks about what’s your ‘word’ for 2020?
I didn’t actually tell anyone mine because it was oh so noisy out there ha! I mean every other post if not more on all the socials was ‘what’s your word for 2020?’
And I get the sentiment and I think it’s important when used to the best of its ability but I also kind of feel like many people choose a word for the sake of it.
It’s one of those many actually very useful things that have been turned into something a little bit fluffy...which then stops a lot of people wanting to take part at all.
On the other side it makes people flippantly pick something based on what they outwardly think people want to see or hear and not based on what’s really going to drive them forward. We want to be in a ‘club’ right, no FOMO allowed so we get involved and then forget about it pretty quickly afterwards.
Everyone ELSE seems to have a word so I must have a word!
So I ponder on it for January and work out how I want to make it stick and what I want to change to be able to live by it...because that’s the real point right?!
Working out how you want to live on an unconscious identity level, whatever that is for you.
How we want to show up, what our values are.
It’s all these lovely things rolled into one little word.
But the reason I like it? It’s ONE word.
ONE point of focus to help you make decisions and changes and remind yourself of how you want to show up.
So mine is ‘simplify.’
Nothing big or grand or for anyone but me.
So that’s the theme for me in 2020.
Simplifying things and having one main BIG goal that any other goals all feed into.
Essentially it’s ONE thing.
Then comes the focus, the momentum, the easy decisions, the big changes.
It’s when you make that relentless point of focus you can still have just as much on your to do list BUT...you are ALWAYS making progress.
It feels counter intuitive to only have one thing to focus on.
It FEELS like you would be doing less...but you actually end up doing FAR more!
Simplifying and obeying the ‘one thing’ means you have more focus, more momentum, you prioritise with ease, there is less on your plate and you just get MORE done.
So the premise of the book is that by using this one question everything else becomes easier, so here she is;
“What’s the ONE thing I can do, such that by doing it everything else will become easier or unnecessary?”
So you can see how by using this question it’s all about focus, priority, simplification.
It makes everything else on your to do list obsolete until this one thing is done which also gets rid of that pesky overwhelm gremlin.
I also use it purely as my point of focus that helps with everything I do.
I have one BIG goal for this year which is to get my journal, The Positive Pant Planner, out into the world.
So I always ask what’s the one thing I can do today that’s going to get me closer to that goal.
Because it has already been YEARS in the making.
My episode ‘How to journal for the non dear-diary type’ is my 2nd most popular episode EVER and it was also my very first episode. I also get asked about it ALL the time, I have printables on my website but I haven’t turned them into a hard copy journal yet.
So this has been a long time in the making but i’ve allowed myself to get distracted, listen to too many opinions (don’t go low ticket etc) and generally got in my own way with it by consistently looking at it as more of a nice to have than an essential.
Oh I know...the irony is not lost on me here, I see my own self sabotage riiiiiight there.
The reality is I didn’t prioritise it because it’s easy to prioritise the higher ticket things.
BUT this is my passion, it’s what I believe can help everybody whatever stage they’re at and in all honesty it’s my dream.
I KNOW it will be the best too ;-)
It’s the exact system I used to turn my whole life around from Eeyore on a bad day to now...I still use pretty much exactly the same system...with a few tweaks and improvements.
It excites me, it fires me up, people are asking for it (if you want in on the waitlist DM me or drop me an email hello@franexcell.com with ‘waitlist’ as the subject and i’ll add you to the list!)
SO, why haven’t I done it yet?
Quite frankly there are SO many moving pieces, so many things to think about and work out and cost up and I want a long term relationship with any company I choose and that level of service is hard to find...i’ve got high standards ha!
And quite frankly I just didn’t quite see the bigger picture and how it links in with EVERYTHING I want, I do now.
How did I work that out?
When I start the year I ask myself certain questions in my journal to work out what I REALLY want for the year.
I’ve talked about this a lot, about making sure you’re really doing the things that you LOVE and not compromise for what you think you SHOULD do and The Positive Planner has been on that list for about 6 years…I’ve had the trademark for about 2 years too ha!
Whoops!
BUT by simplifying and adopting the ONE thing rule i’ve made more progress in a month than I have in years.
It IS my priority now, it WILL happen.
I always use this tool with clients too.
It’s super simple and can instantly change the way you’re thinking and looking at things.
What’s the one thing YOU want to achieve this year?
Then every day, what’s one thing you could do today to take you a step closer? It allows you to make big jumps in less time.
So for me the one thing I want is to get my journal into the world so one thing I could do right now to get me closer would be to email people who may be able to help me achieve that.
When you’re in a place when you’re unsure if the chicken or the egg came first leaving you overwhelmed and not knowing your next step, what’s one thing you could do to improve that right now.
Obviously ask people who may already have the answer right?
When you are relentlessly pursuing a focused goal everything starts to become easier.
The things to say no to become obvious, the things to say yes to become obvious.
‘Will this help me achieve my one thing’ if the answer is yes, it doesn’t matter how scary it is that answer us yes.
Even if you struggle saying no to people, when you ask this question it becomes magically easier to say it.
You really can use this in all areas of your life too. If you have a goal in each key area, health, finances, business/career, friends/family, love life, environment, personal development and fun you can have ONE thing in each area.
I have many other ‘things’ involved in my ONE thing. But it’s the umbrella to everything.
I will still have multiple revenue streams.
I will still do all the things I enjoy like the podcast, I will still do the speaking gigs and the consulting and the Proactive Pants Mastermind, and the 1:1 clients but they ALL link back into that ONE thing that creates structure and cohesion across everything...and even though there’s still a lot on my plate it doesn’t FEEL like it because I see how it all clicks together.
Exciting right?
It feels more fun!
It feels lighter.
It feels focussed.
I don’t have to do it all in one go but as long as I keep that focus on my ONE thing it’s all going to happen and I FEEL it.
So what’s the ONE thing for you?
What’s your BIG one thing and what’s one thing you could do today that could make all the difference?
Remember to ask yourself “What’s the ONE thing I can do, such that by doing it everything else will become easier or unnecessary?”
And go check out the book in all its glory. The One thing by Gary Keller and Jay Papasan.
If you know that now is the time to start changing things for yourself and want to explore this further, have any questions or want some accountability to make sure you’re doing the things you need to then please book in a free discovery call so we can see what needs to happen to get you from where you’re at right now, to the successful business owner you know you can be!!
Fx