The One Thing: My 7 Key Takeaways From This Book

In one of my past blogs, I shared five of my most recommended books. Those books did not only prove beneficial in my journey to career growth but also my endeavor for a well-rounded life. A book can indeed hold a great power through the influence it can cast upon its readers. The book, The One Thing by Gary W. Keller and Jay Papasan, for instance, brought me a lot of realizations that I consider to be helpful takeaways that I readily applied. 

1. Everything is not equally important. This piece of wisdom reminded me to identify what matters most and focus on those first. Even the things or people on top of our list of priorities follow a hierarchy. One is just more important than the other, albeit not less significant. 
2. Developing good habits slowly and steadily leads to success. This served as an affirmation that it is fine to be at a slow pace because people have individual ways and times of coping. This is an encouragement meant to keep us wanting to keep trying and keep moving forward surely, even if it meant going at a minimum speed. 
3. Doing the right thing and not doing everything right. When we do everything right, it does not always mean that we are doing the right thing. We need to muster the courage in ensuring that we stick to what is right even if it means we have to go against what the majority dictates. This is one of the most important lessons that we should never forget when we tread our way through life because, without our integrity, we are nothing. 
4. Multitasking consumes a lot of time. Doing a lot of tasks at the same time does not save us time, contrary to a popular belief. When the mind is not focused, it does not function well. At the end of the day, we only manage to get every task started but, more often than not, not a single one gets done or most have lousy results.
5. Going big in everything you do. For any task to be successful or completely feel rewarding, we need to give our best in the process. While it does not guarantee success all the time, it leaves little room for regret on our part. Giving our best in everything we do would not lead to future what-ifs. 
6. Striving to always live a balanced life makes you stressed. Trying hard to do everything to achieve balance does not produce the best results. Wanting to achieve balance does not only lead to overthinking; it also causes fatigue. Again, we have to learn to put the most important things first, complete them and work our way down. 
7. Holding yourself accountable for the results you get in life is a sign of maturity. It is convenient to blame outside forces when we experience difficulties or failures in life, but this does not contribute to our growth as a person. As being capable of thinking and deciding, we should be responsible for our actions. We should know that each action we decide to take has corresponding results. A mature person does not blame others. 

It is amazing that with only 240 pages, I found myself learning valuable lessons from this book that could get me through a lifetime. With its practical lessons, one can easily navigate through them and apply those lessons immediately. 

Have you read this book yet? What lessons did you learn from it?