“When one thing, the right thing, is set in motion, it can topple many things.”

It’s a simple concept: focus on what matters most in your personal and work life, because extraordinary results are directly determined by how narrow you can make your focus.

Fact: A single domino is capable of knocking down a domino 50% larger than itself.

In The One Thing: The Surprisingly Simple Truth Behind Extraordinary Results, author, Gary Keller provides a ‘what if’ diagram to demonstrate the implication of this fact. It starts with a two-inch tall domino. Then,

  • Domino #18 rivals the Leaning Tower of Pisa,
  • Domino #23 towers over the Eiffel Tower,
  • Domino #31 looms over Mount Everest, and
  • Domino #57 almost bridges the distance between the earth and the moon.

You’ve probably heard the phrase, “shoot for the moon.” Why not? The moon is reachable if you prioritize everything and put all of your energy into the ONE most important thing. One domino at a time.

Getting extraordinary results is about creating the domino effect in your life because extraordinary success is sequential, not simultaneous. Linear becomes geometric. You do the right thing and then you do the next right thing. It builds up.

What is your company’s ONE Thing? Or, what’s your ONE Thing? If you don’t know, then your company’s ONE Thing is to find out! Or, your ONE Thing is to find out! What if there was just one thing that could move you from ordinary to extraordinary?

John Manning, author of, The Disciplined Leader: Keeping the Focus on What Really Matters, offers a complimentary perspective. He says you must identify the vital few – The 20% that drives 80% of your success. The vital few are the actions that drive results that matter.

Manning is keen to keep us asking and answering the question, “What do I want?” You must know what you want in order to identify the vital few. Identifying what you want isn’t enough by itself. Discipline, “The consistent application of mindsets and actions that are vital for success,” is essential. Knowing what matters is the beginning. Doing what matters is the process.

For years I have been asking people “What do you really want?” And, having heard the answer, follow up with “Are you behaving as though that’s what you really want?” People who make a difference, do what matters most, most of the time.

What would you do today, if you focused on “the vital few?”

In Other Words…

“Focusing is about saying No.” ― Steve Jobs

“Every great change starts like falling dominoes.” ― B.J. Thornton

“You must be single-minded. Drive for the one thing on which you have decided.” ― General George S. Patton

“The most important thing in life is knowing the most important things in life.” ― David F. Jakielo

In The Word…

“Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” ― Romans 12:2