The ONE Thing: The Surprisingly Simple Truth Behind Extraordinary Results

Part 1 of The ONE Thing outlines misleading ideas that keep people from achieving success. The first myth that Keller dismantles is the idea of equality. Focusing requires prioritizing between choices. It is not enough to simply be busy and to have a to-do list. “Instead of a to-do list,” Keller writes, “you need a success list” (35). To-do lists might grow long, but success lists will be short. Being successful requires recognizing that some things are more important than others and that you must devote energy and attention to those things that will most readily contribute to your goals.

Keller mentions the example of Joseph M. Juran, who cracked a supposedly unbreakable code at General Motors. GM hired Juran to do a study of management compensation. He utilized the ideas of a 19th-century Italian economist, Vilfredo Pareto, who noted that 20% of people owned 80% of land. Juran titled this “Pareto’s Principle,” which is also known as the “80/20 Principle.” This principle maintains that 20% of our effort leads to 80% of our results. Keller proposes that the exact numbers in this principle can shift, but the principle remains the same: A minority of our effort leads to the majority of our success.