The ONE Thing: The Surprisingly Simple Truth Behind Extraordinary Results

Keller retells Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol. In the story, Ebenezer Scrooge is visited by the ghost of his deceased business partner, Jacob Marley, who warns Scrooge to stop living his miserly, bitter life. For Keller, Dickens’s story is a parable about the opportunity to (re)assess your life purpose and make changes to work toward that purpose. Identifying purpose allows you to set priorities and thus become more productive.

Keller also retells the folktale of “The Begging Bowl.” In this story, a beggar asks a king who has boasted of his power and wealth to fill a small bowl with money. Thinking it an easy task, the king agrees. Every time he puts money in the bowl, however, it disappears. The beggar then reveals that the bowl represents human desire. Keller takes this tale as a parable about the insatiability of the pursuit of wealth. Simply seeking wealth will not lead to fulfillment. Being wealthy means having enough to pursue your purpose, but wealth alone will not provide that purpose. Keller concludes by encouraging readers to stick with their chosen purpose and give themselves time to achieve success.