The One Thing by Gary Keller with Jay Papasan

Written by Gary Keller and Jay Papasan, The One Thing Book is packed with practical strategies that you can immediately apply in business and life. I found this Wall Street Journal #1 Best Seller simple and quick to read. Its message is  straightforward. Gary Keller is the founder of Keller Williams Realty, which is the largest real estate brokerage in the world.  Jay Papasan is a co-author of several best-selling books, and also is a leading broker at Keller Williams Realty.  Now, Keller and Papasan, along with Jeff Woods, built upon their success with The One Thing book by expanding into a personal development and training company. Their website contains various paid services like training and workbooks, but also contains some free stuff.

Pareto Principle

The foundation for the book is the Pareto principle. Many of us have heard of it. If you have not, it says that 80% of our achievements come as a result of 20% of our efforts. The book then takes that principle one step further and coaches you in how to boil down that 20% of your efforts to “The One Thing”, in each important area of your life. The book also teaches some effective strategies (like time-blocking) to help you avoid the distraction of all of the relatively unimportant things encountered throughout each day, and instead focus your time and energy on those tasks that will actually lead to you accomplishing more of your goals.

Recently I was sharing my enthusiasm for the book with my son Kevin (who is a young accountant), and the next week Kevin told me how he had been listening to The One Thing free podcasts. And, he was pretty excited because he had already been employing some of the strategies from the podcasts in his daily work life. Since then I have been enjoying the podcasts in the car on my daily commute to work. There are more than 150 The One Thing podcasts all available free online.  Several I have listened to I thought were very solid.  I particularly like those where the narrator, Jeff Woods, interviews a highly successful entrepreneur.  And, you can get a free digital copy of the book by subscribing to the podcasts.

So, in summary, while the principles and strategies in the book are simple, they are also very valid and effective.  If you check out The One Thing book or podcast, let us know what you think. Thanks for reading this review – I hope you like The One Thing!

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