Welcome back to Working towards our Purpose. This is episode 46, and in today's episode, we're going to talk about the one thing that you can do to get more done. What's the time that we have? So little bit of a bonus episode this week. This is the second episode of the week, and I was feeling like I wanted to talk about another topic this week. So here I am recording another podcast, and hopefully it's helpful. So, as I always like to start
these podcasts off with a positive thing. Since the last time of recording, the first positive thing that kind of comes to mind is my mom brought me a bunch of summer squash and tomatoes the other day. And, yeah, it just reminded me of working in farmer's markets and the abundance of produce that there is at this time of year. So she ended up getting a bunch of produce from one of her friends that had a
garden, and it was too much for her. So then she was able to kind of pass it down to me, and I'm probably going to end up passing it to one of my friends and just kind of a. A really cool cycle of, like, somebody, you know, producing something, growing something, and then being able to share it with other people. So I think that's a really cool thing. I was able to make a bunch of tomato sauce yesterday, which was nice. Had some pasta for dinner, and yeah, just. Just a reminder that abundance is
all around us. So let's get into today's episode. The one thing that you can do with the time that we have to, you know, get. Get more done, be. Be more productive, make progress towards your goals. Um, so I. I read this book called the One Thing, and that's kind of what, like, spawned this. This sort of episode. But I. It reminds me of this time
where somebody that I used to work with, he. He first found my podcast and kind of reached out to me, and I hadn't talked to him in a while, and we ended up getting together and having dinner. And he. I remember him being like, he's still kind of, like, working in the old career that I was. And he was like, you know, what. What can I do to, like, make progress
towards this idea that I have? Like, what can I do? And he was kind of, like, looking for an answer, and I didn't feel like I had an answer because I was still kind of, like, figuring it out at the time, I guess. And I just. I empathized with the feeling of, like, you know, you're working 40 hours a week, you come home, you have limited amount of Time. It's like, what do you do? Where do you start? There's so many things to
do. You know, how do you. How do you get stuff done and actually accomplish something? And, you know, it was my own story, too. Like, I remember spending every single hour that I wasn't at my corporate job just working on Pleasant Podcast, my podcast business, and just trying to do all of the things. And, you know, when you start a business, there's, like, so many things that you have to do that you don't know how to do. Marketing, social media, like, reaching out to people.
Like, you know, even just like, writing copy on your website is like, new. Like, how do I. How do I say what I'm doing in two words or three words or a sentence? Building a website. So, you know, there's so many things to do. But, like, how do you get stuff done? And the answer is, well, you know, I don't have all the answers, but for me, recently, you know, the answer is the one thing. Um, picking one thing that is the most important for you to be doing and
just doing that and ignoring everything else. Um, so, you know, it's kind of a, I guess a bold topic. Picking one thing and only doing that one thing and ignoring everything else and then doing that kind of repeatedly every day. You know, every time you have time to work on something, you only pick one most important thing and ignore everything else. And I think it's.
It's not really used to our nature. We're used to, like, you know, answering all of our emails and getting back to people and making sure that, like, you know, everybody else is happy. And I think with doing the one thing you. You may end up, like, hurting somebody's feelings or ignoring somebody or doing something that, like, maybe offends somebody. But, you know, I think all that stuff kind of, like, goes by the wayside
and it's really not that important anyway. Like, you know, if somebody is upset because you didn't get back to them fast enough in email, I don't know, I think there's. There's more pertinent things to be worried about. So. So, yeah, you know, don't check your email for a couple days and the world's not going to end. So anyways, that's my perspective. But. But to get back to the idea, the one thing, it's where the book started to kind of like, start explaining what this idea meant.
Um, because it is a little bit jarring at first. You're like, it's impossible. I can't just pick one Thing. Um, but, but the author first described like, the 8020 principle. And if you've never heard of the 8020 principle, it's basically 80% of your results come from 20% of your input. And this is something that, like, I heard a while ago and I really resonated with. And if you've, if you've heard about it, um, you know, it, it shows up everywhere. It's like you can apply it to your work
or to personal projects, to, to anything. It's like all of the things that we do, a really big chunk of them, 80% about, really don't affect the outcome at all and really aren't that important for us to be doing. Um, so if you can determine which 20% is actually working, then you can kind of get rid of the 80% that's not working
and only focus on the 20%. And with this one thing idea is it's basically just taking that est step further and saying not 20%, but actually one single thing is the only thing that you need to be doing. So again, very sort of simplistic idea. But what makes it difficult is picking the right thing and being able to pick the right
thing. I think, like, when I think back to, like, first starting Pleasant podcast, I certainly had what's called shiny object syndrome, where I would basically give my attention to whatever was shining. Like, you know, I'd watch a video on YouTube that said, you need to build your email list. And then I would start being like, oh, I need, I need to have an email list. I'd work on that for a couple days. Then I'd, you know, hear another video that I need to have
a CRM. And it's like, oh, now I need to go research CRMs and spend a little bit time on that. I pick a CRM, I buy one, and then I don't use it, or, you know, I never end up using it. And you kind of just put your attention to whatever is like, you know, crying the mo. It's like the squeaky wheel gets the oil type thing. Like whatever's squeaking the loudest. That's where your attention goes.
But what makes this one thing concept really impactful is when you cannot do that, when you can really focus your effort on the thing that actually matters. So this is a little bit different because now you actually have to look at your to do list and decide which thing is the most important thing to do. And that can be difficult. I think I'm probably not alone
in. When I get a block of time, I'll look at my to do list and I'll just start kind of working towards whichever one maybe I feel like doing or which one maybe is top of mind or something. And I won't really look at the to do list and think about, well, which one of these tasks is absolutely the most important thing that needs to get done first. And in doing it that way, you're really kind of like, just prioritizing.
But thinking about it for me in terms of one thing just makes everything so much simpler because it's like, there's only one thing that's the most important thing on this list that's going to lead to my end results or my end goal. So figure out what that thing is and then do that one thing. And, you know, maybe it even changes the way that you make your to do list. Like. Like, I think you really have to think. You really have to spend
time thinking about what you're going to do before you do it. And I know for me that that always kind of feels like a waste of time. And I'm always like, I just have to start to get to work because I only have two hours. I can't. I can't spend time thinking about what I'm going to do. I just have to do it. But when you do, give yourself some time to think about, like, okay, what's my main goal right now? If my main goal is to grow my podcast audience, what's the one thing
I can do to make that happen? Well, by making a podcast every week, that's certainly one thing that I need to be doing, right? If I sporadically make podcast episodes, then that's not going to do good for creating an audience who's, who's used to listening to my podcast. So, you know, thinking in those terms versus, like, you know, thinking about, like, anything else that has to do with podcasting or maybe growing a podcast. So, you know, another thing, too, that this book talks about was how
multitasking is a lie. And I certainly, certainly agree with that. And I think why this one thing works is because you're only focusing on one thing, and it allows you to be able to get into a flow state, which is where you're hyper focused on what you're doing. You're actually making progress on it, and you're tuning everything else out. And by focusing on one thing, you're able to tune everything else out and you're giving yourself the permission to ignore everything else. So
when I'm trying to do this, like, I'll X out of my Email. Uh, I, I'll put my phone somewhere else and I'll only think about the one thing that I'm doing. And if different ideas pop up, like while I'm doing that, I'll try to just write them on my to do list and then forget about them. And, and that's been really helpful for me to make progress on accomplishing these one things. And when you accomplish these one things day after day, that's when you actually start making some momentum
on building something. And I think, you know, that is kind of, I guess the answer maybe that I would tell my friend now is like picking, giving yourself time to pick the most important thing to get to the goal that you want to get to. If it's building a business, you know, what is the most important thing you can be doing? Likely it's not like fussing around with your website or like making social media posts or something else. You know,
it's up to you to decide whatever that is. You know, maybe it is building a website or maybe it is social media. But, but that's another great part about this one thing is that you actually have to trust yourself. And that's why it works too, is that you have to kind of like get rid of all the noise of, of people telling you that you need to do this or you need to do this and really focus in on like, what
your specific goals are. And then you get to like, actually trust in yourself that this is the right thing. And when you are picking One thing, you're 100%, you know, putting all your eggs in one basket and then doing that thing. And I think that's also a really good thing for us to be doing, is trusting ourselves and then seeing what the outcome is. And, you know, maybe it works, maybe it doesn't work, but at least you made progress and you're moving
forward. Because we can get so stuck in, you know, indecision of, of all the things that we have to do. And then you're just, you know, thinking about all these different things that I could be doing, but you're not actually doing any of them. So, you know, finishing things, I think is, is definitely the, the, the way that you get things done. Right? I think we can, we can
kind of all agree on that. And by picking one thing and getting those things done, you're going to start building momentum and then you're going to start making progress towards whatever your goal is. So another thing that, that the book was talking about, it was talking about like successful people and Steve Jobs came up as an example. And the author of the book said that Steve Jobs was really good at being able to pick out the one thing and then focusing on that and then continuing
to build on that. So I think, like, at one time, you'll have to fact check me on the. On the history here, but when he first came into Apple, they had, like, a bunch of different products, and he basically said, like, we're not doing any of these anymore. We're focusing on the one. The iPhone. And then they built the iPhone to what it was. It became this huge popular thing. And then they were able to, like, get a new focus and, you know, work on the ipod or
the iPad or whatever it is. Um, but they were saying that, you know, some of the most successful people are really good at differentiating, like, what's important and what's not important. And I think a lot of the things that we think we should be doing are not important. Um, so. So really practicing, like, what are the important things, and then getting to work on them and doing them. Um, so for me, the past two weeks, I've really been trying to implement this
into, like, my working schedule. And. And I feel like I've gotten more done and I'm able to sort of just really focus on one thing at a time. And. And still it. It's new to me, and it still feels like almost like I'm not doing enough. It's like, oh, you're only doing one thing a day. That's. That's not enough. And, you know, I have voices in my head saying that, but if I can do the one thing, it's like, well, now I just did five. Five things this week, and I made progress towards my goal.
Um, whereas if I didn't, and I sort of bounced back and forth, half did six projects. That's not getting anything accomplished. So for me, it's been really helpful to just stay focused and to prioritize and to kind of give myself the permission to only do one thing a day. And also, you know, something that's helpful for me is like, I'm a morning person, so I'll block my mornings out and I'll do my one thing and getting that one
thing done. You know, sometimes I get it done quickly in the morning, sometimes I don't, and it drags into the afternoon and I have to finish it in the afternoon. But now I have, like, the opportunity to do that. Whereas before I would, like, just, you know, have two things or three things in my day, and then I'd run out of Time, and I wouldn't be able to finish the one thing. Whereas now I'm picking the one thing.
And then when I do get that one thing done, then I can go back to my to do list and pick the next one thing that I can do. So, for example, like today, my one thing was to sit down and record this podcast. So, um, you know, that's the one thing that I'm doing. And, you know, if I'll go. If all goes to plan, I will have it finished by, you know, noontime and have everything scheduled. And then at noontime I can have some lunch and then I can go pick my next thing that I want to do
in the afternoon. But only focusing on one thing at a time. Like, I'm not, like, you know, I'm not thinking, what's the next thing I'm going to do while I'm working on the podcast? I'm finishing this podcast first, and then I can go look at my next thing. So. Doing one thing at a time. Um, another thing I remember from the book is that, you know, multitasking, go lie and. And there was some science behind your brain only
actually being able to do one thing at a time. And when you are doing two things at a time, it just kind of bounces back and forth between doing two things. So it'll do one thing for a little bit and then bounce back to the other thing and do that for a little bit and then bounce back to the other thing. So your, your efficiency is, you know, immediately cut in half at least. So when you are able to focus your brain on one thing, likely you'll get more
done faster. And, you know, I think that's really helpful when, when we have limited amount of time to, to work on our projects, maybe we're starting a side business or starting something new. I think that this concept can be really helpful in being able to get more done with the limited amount of time that we have. So. So, yeah, you know, maybe I encourage you to start, you know, thinking
about the things that you have to get done in this way. What's the one most important thing that you can do to make everything else sort of not important at that time? And yeah, that's, that's kind of all I got for you today. Hopefully this one thing concept works for you. Give it a try. Let me know. And then one last thing,
one last call to action for this episode. If you haven't given me a review yet for this podcast and it's been helpful for you, I just would ask that you could go ahead and give me a five star review if you believe that in Spotify they make it really easy. And yeah, I'll talk to you on the next episode. As always, thank you for listening.