The ONE Thing: The Surprisingly Simple Truth Behind Extraordinary Results

Gary Keller was watching the movie City Slickers when he got the idea that eventually led to The ONE Thing. In the movie, a character mentions that the secret to life is finding one thing of importance and sticking to it. Keller was at a time in his life when he felt like he had hit a wall and was failing to succeed. He had started a real estate business but felt overworked and overextended. Prompted by the line from City Slickers, Keller decided to make changes in his life to focus on what was most important and likely to lead to success. Keller stepped down as CEO of his company and set up a team of people to help him manage the business. These changes heralded a time of unprecedented growth for the company—as much as 40%, year over year. The secret, according to Keller, is to aim high with your goals but “go small” and focus at the same time. Keller has written The ONE Thing to describe this method in detail.