How Do I Choose What to Do??

Who is ready to get a little bit better? Here we go… let’s get extremely practical today because I know if you’re watching this video, if you’re hanging out with me, YOU are a high achiever, you want to get stuff done and you want to get a lot done. And not just a lot, you have a long list and sometimes you get overwhelmed and you get opportunities. You got that opportunity because the harder you work, the more success you create, and the more opportunities keep coming… and it is piling up and piling up. You have family demands, work demands, taking care of your health and all of a sudden you are overwhelmed. You are like, what should I do, how do I pick what to do? How do I prioritize my time and my schedule… Some of you are even asking the question of how do I do it all?

That last question is pretty simple to answer, how do you do it all? You don’t because you’re human and time is a finite commodity. You do not have unlimited time. Let’s go to the question we can answer a little bit better, which is… What should I do? How do I pick what I should do? How should I prioritize my time? I am going to answer this with a resource: The One Thing by Gary Keller. You should do the one thing that makes everything else easier or even unnecessary. He talks about the question: What is the one thing that by doing makes everything else on my list easier or obsolete. Because if I do this one thing, I don’t even have to do that or this or that. I just did this one thing and there was a ripple effect of that one thing. 

If you look at your business, what’s the one thing that you should do? It is not beautifying your facility because that is not moving the ball forward. It is not team building exercises because that isn’t moving the ball forward. Now, truthfully for some of you team building is something that you need to address because you have got a toxic culture and you really need to address that… because if you don’t, it is going to shoot you in the foot and your business is going to go completely under. Some of you might think the one thing could be creating revenue, the one thing could be building your team (finding the right whos (another book for reference is Who Not How) BUT you have got to determine what is the one thing. 

There are some of you that may have found the one thing for your business, but maybe you are looking at your relationship and saying, what is the one thing that would make everything else easier or unnecessary. Maybe your marriage is teetering on the brink, maybe you are in a committed relationship or maybe you’re single and wondering what is the ONE THING to change your relationship or relationship status? There might be one action of putting yourself in the right kind of environment, putting yourself among the right peers that makes it easier to find that relationship. 

You might be looking at your health and thinking what is the one thing that makes everything else easier and necessary for some of you and it’s not joining a gym… how many of us have joined a gym? The one thing might be getting accountability, right? The one thing might be not eating after seven o’clock in the evening. You want to drop weight? The one thing might be to stop drinking soda, sweet tea… I know on one of my videos, someone said that’s the good stuff, don’t mess with my tea. And I am here to tell you to stop drinking that sweet tea. It is a decision, just one thing. 

Anyways, what is the one thing? Stop trying to do all the things and get focused on one thing. It is a rough question to answer. Some of you it is going to be easy, while others it is going to take some time to process and figure out what that one thing is… The one thing in your business, the one thing in your relationships, the one thing in your parenting, the one thing in your health, the one thing in your spiritual journey, the one thing my personal development… What is the one thing in life that makes everything easier or unnecessary? If you have not read the book, pick up the book because it could be a game changing resource for you. I reference it constantly and I want to give you four practical things to get you to that one thing. 

1. Say “No.”

You are going to have to say, “no.” You are going to have to say it often and more. One of my favorite statements is “every yes has to be paid for with a thousand no’s”. So if you are going to get the one thing, you are going to have to say yes to the one thing that is most important. If you are going to say yes to one thing, it is going to have to be paid for with a thousand “no’s.” That is a hyperbole, with exaggeration, but it has meat to it because you will have to say no to a lot of things. Get ready to say no. 

Listen, it is not your responsibility to make other people happy. I had a client on a call this week in our community and she used this beautiful language. She said, I realized I was living my life; checking things off the list, off someone else’s to-do list. What was she doing… She was saying yes to all the things everybody else told her when she was supposed to say yes to her focus, her one thing. Everyone is not going to agree with your priorities. 

This is what my friend, April Garcia (you should check out her podcast-PivotMe) calls ruthless prioritization. You have to say no in order to be able to say yes to the one thing.

2. Don’t multitask

I know you think you can, but don’t do it. And ladies, I know you say you can multitask better than men, which maybe you can BUT statistically and scientifically it is proven that there is a high cost to task switching. 

If I am doing one thing and I am interrupted by a text or an email or a phone call and I switch tasks… There is going to be a cost because it is going to take me X amount of time to get refocused on the one thing that I was doing to begin with. And your brain cannot actually do two things at the same time.  

I know if you’re going in the subconscious and you’re not doing things you have to think about like folding clothes and listening to a podcast, that’s cool. But what I am talking about is the most important things – like your “One Thing.” That is not something you can multitask. It deserves the priority, the attention, the focus. You cannot multitask on one thing level kind of stuff, because that’s the thing that’s going to move your life, your business forward more than anything else. AND. It. Requires. Your. Undivided. Attention. 

Stop Freaking Multitasking!

You’re robbing yourself of productivity and efficiency. Multitasking is a myth. I know I am going to get some hate mail for saying this BUT it isn’t real. So. Stop. It. 

3. Time Blocking

The One Thing talks a lot about time blocking in the book… so get the book and get another book Deep Work. Time block for the most important activities that you need to do so you can focus on a task because we are not multitasking and our One Thing deserves focus and attention. So you time block for two hours, three, hours and honestly I would recommend what he says in the book… you should be time blocking your best hours of the day for your One Thing. If it is the first two hours of the day or the first four hours, block it and give it your undivided attention so that you can make drastic, radical, progress. If you haven’t time blocked, it is a gift of productivity to your life and you’re going to get more done in less time. 

4. You Need to Be Patient 

I know I’m not talking to the right people about being patient because you all want to get it done, now. Let’s achieve it, let’s cross the finish line, let’s get it done, let’s move faster. I learned this statement from Brand Builders’ Rory Vaden, the founder, Listen, you want to go as fast as you can and as slow as you need to. 

And when we are talking about the one thing, priorities, these are the big rocks, these are the big things that are going to move you forward the most. They are not typically things that move super fast. Some of you might have a one thing that’s short term and you could knock it off your list pretty quickly, celebrate that… but with the big stuff, like you might say I want to have a healthier marriage… you want to be patient with that. If you say I want to be in the best shape of my life, start with walking 10,000 steps a day and do that consistently, knowing it is going to take time. 

I did a video not too long ago about The Compound Effect which is also another great book by Darren Hardish. The compound effect is small actions done consistently over time that creates drastic results. Often your one thing is going to require that kind of process. You have got to be patient.

What is your one thing? Do you need to take some time to think about it or journal about it? If you know what your one thing is, drop a comment below! And which one of these four do you need to focus on? I hope that this served you! I want you to get it all done but in order to get it done, YOU need to pick the most important thing… So what is the one thing that is going to move you forward the most? Pick it, choose it, and make a solid decision and live into it with your behaviors and your actions. Do that and you are going to see results and you are going to get it done! 

I love you guys and this is where you go out there and give your greatness to the world because somebody needs what is on the inside of you!