Jay Papasan: The ONE Thing (Interview)

“To achieve an extraordinary result you must choose what matters most and give it all the time it demands. This requires getting extremely out of balance in relation to all other work issues,”

—Jay Papasan, Gary Keller, The ONE Thing • (Get book summary)

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My guest today is Jay Papasan, who’s the co-author with Gary Keller of literally one of my all-time favorite books, “The ONE Thing: The Surprisingly Simple Truth Behind Extraordinary Results.”

And today Jay’s here to talk with us about some of the biggest ideas from the book.

I really enjoyed this conversation; not only because it’s packed with actionable insights on how to improve your life and boost your overall productivity and effectiveness, but also because Jay strikes me as someone who genuinely cares about making a meaningful contribution through his work.

Here’s what you’ll learn about in this episode:

• Why the most successful people in the world — such as elite-level billionaires — abide by what’s known as the “Domino Effect,” and how you can tap into this powerful method to sky rocket your own success.
• How to uncover your own ONE thing (so you can start doing meaningful work that matters).
• How to avoid two of the most common pitfalls of productivity.

Interview: Jay Papasan, co-author of The ONE Thing

EP124 • Play below • Play on iTunes

Show notes

Topics Covered:

• Productivity and how to leverage The Focusing Question ("What’s the ONE Thing you can do such that by doing it everything else will be easier or unnecessary?”)
• The 2 biggest myths of productivity
• Why success is sequential, not simultaneous
• Goal-setting to the now
• Willpower
• Success

Books Mentioned:

• “The ONE Thing” by Gary Keller, Jay Papasan
  • Get the book summary
• “Willpower” by John Tierney, Roy F. Baumeister
  • Get the book summary
• “Managing Oneself” by Peter Drucker
• “Give and Take” by Adam Grant
  • Get the book summary
• “The Defining Decade” by Dr. Meg Jay
• “The War of Art” by Steven Pressfield
  • Get the book summary
• “The Creator’s Code” by Amy Wilkinson
• “The Power of Habit” by Charles Duhigg
  • Get the book summary

Resources:

• Connect with Jay and learn more about the power of The ONE Thing:
  • the1thing.com
  • Twitter: @jaypapasan
• Checkout my notes on The ONE Thing here

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