One of the best non-fiction books, let alone productivity books, I have ever read is The One Thing by Gary Keller. This is due to two takeaways I took from the book.
Firstly, the concept of having a focus question and, secondly, the idea of identifying a single priority at any given time.
This focusing question can help you determine what task you should do next, helping you identify what you really want to do with your life and what matters to you.
This question is the main reason, though not the only one, for why I’m looking to make changes to CTNET. I’m still figuring it out. Once I have, I’ll share my ideas with you.
Keep on reading to find out what focusing question has had such a big impact on me and why it is changing the direction of my blog.
What is the focusing question?
The standard form of the focusing question is “What is the ONE Thing I can do such that by doing it, everything else will be easier or unnecessary?”
This form of focusing question aims to help you identify the task that will have the biggest impact or give you the greatest traction towards your goals. It is built on the 80/20 principle, also known as Pareto’s principle.
The 80/20 rule states that there is an inbuilt imbalance between input and output, with 20% of what you do creating 80% of the impact.
Every day, even if I don’t utter this question, I consider which tasks will help me progress most towards my goals.
But the focusing question has an even more powerful form: “What is the one thing I can do in my life that would mean the most to me and the world, such that by doing it, everything else would be easier or unnecessary?”
During the last three years, I have asked myself the focusing question to help me determine what I want to do with my life. But I have been using the standard one, which I have changed based on how I want to be remembered.
Setting My Goals and Objectives
For the last three years, in November, I have been asking myself a modified focusing question with the aim of trying to figure out what I want to do with my life.
For the first couple of years, I wanted to live a long and happy life and be well-regarded by those who knew me when I was gone.
During the summer of 2024, I asked myself a few more questions to try and determine what was important for me.
I think the question that had the biggest impact last year was, “What do I really want?” Part of my answer was, “I want to explore and learn about the world around me and write about those discoveries and journeys, both as a learning aid and to share the knowledge I gain and my experiences along the way. I want to travel the long road in this life.”
That answer fed into my focusing question, and part of my answer to the focusing question was:
I consume as much informative content as I can by consuming and processing the things that intrigue me. Writing can help me process what I have learned into knowledge and share my journey and what I have learned.
At this moment in time, the answer to the focusing question I asked in November is acting as my North Star, and my main objective in life is to navigate myself towards it.
In October and November this year, I will ask myself the same questions to ensure that my North Star hasn’t changed as I learn more about myself and the universe around me.
My goal setting to now process
In the book, Gary Keller recommends asking the focusing question backwards, starting at five years out, to identify the one long-term goal that, were you to achieve it, would have the biggest impact on delivering the life you want.
You would then ask the question annually, monthly, weekly, and then daily. Each step helps to break down the big, frightening goal into more manageable goals.
My process is slightly different. I asked myself the focusing question for five years and, yet again, for a year. I then try to set a measurable goal to measure my progress. Starting at the end of last year, I added quarterly, monthly, and weekly reviews. Some of these are measures of habits, and as long as I hit them, I will reach my annual objectives. While other things will require me to carry out a single action or task, which will help me to navigate towards my north star more effectively.
I try to make all my measures a target that measures my effort and won’t be impacted by things outside my control. For example, my goal is to post 100 pieces of content this year, as the number of people who read my content, such as this blog post, is outside my control.
I review my process regularly by carrying out periodic reviews. Also, as previously mentioned, I check my long-term goals towards the end of each year before I set goals and objectives for the upcoming year.
Conclusion
Productivity isn’t about doing more stuff; it is about doing the stuff that really matters to you and will have the biggest impact on your objectives. That is why you need to bear the focusing question in mind the next time you are wondering what to do next.
If you don’t know what you want to do with your life, that should be your number one priority. How can you work towards something if you don’t?
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Further reading
The One Thing by Gary Keller
The 80/20 principle by Richard Koch