One person can make a difference also in a person’s life. For Sam Walton, it was L.S. Robson his father-in-law. For Albert Einstein, it was Max Talmud his mentor. For Oprah Winfrey, it was her father.

There are six lies between you and success:

1. Everything Matters Equally

When everything feels urgent and important, everything seems equal. Activity is often unrelated to productivity, and busyness rarely takes care of business.

According to the authors understanding that equality is a lie is the basis of all great decisions.

“Instead of a to-do list, you need a success list-a list that is purposefully created around extraordinary results.” To-do lists are long and success lists are short.

Pareto’s Principle suggests the 80/20 rule. Richard Kock further defined it by saying “The 80/20 Principle asserts that a minority of causes, inputs, or effort usually leads to a majority of the results, outputs or rewards.” In the world of success, things aren’t equal.

2. Multitasking

According to research, multitasking is a lie. One researcher found that when multitaskers were tested, they were just lousy at everything.

According to the authors, this is especially dangerous because everyone assumes that you accomplish more by multitasking. It is engrained in our society.

We expect pilots and surgeons to focus on only one thing yet we think it is ok to do our jobs while multitasking.

The authors gave a great example from a Pulitzer Prize-winning series of articles titled “Driven to Distraction.” The writer found that 16% of all fatality crashes were caused by distracted driving plus over 500,000 injuries.

3. A Disciplined Life

The authors believe that you do not have to live a disciplined life to be successful. Instead, you have to be disciplined long enough to form successful habits that will carry you to success. Researchers have found that it takes 66 days of self-discipline to establish a new habit.

Success is about doing the right thing, and not about doing everything right.

4. Willpower is Always on Will-Call

Many of us believe the old saying, where there’s a will, there’s a way, which is a fallacy.

Willpower is important but not something you can control and use when you need it.

The authors compare willpower to the battery on your phone. It gets depleted but can be recharged. The authors provided a long list of activities that drain your willpower. They also suggested that doing what is most important when your willpower is strong should be a priority.

5. A Balanced Life

The idea of leading a balanced life for success sounds great but it is a lie. Instead, purpose, meaning, and significance are what makes a successful life.

The authors described the beginning and evolution of the work-life balance statement.

In your effort to attend to all things, everything gets shortchanged.

The author suggests that we should not stay in the middle, balanced, because the magic happens in the extremes. Therefore, it is better to move between work and life to extremes happen and so does success. They call this “counterbalance.”

6. Big is Bad

Big can be bad, and bad can be big. Big is bad is a lie.

Thinking big is the key to achieving extraordinary results. Avoid incremental thinking that simply asks, “What do I do next?” Ask bigger questions and set bigger goals.

Think big!

The authors describe the Focusing Questions as “What is the One Thing I can do such that by doing it everything else will be easier or unnecessary.” The authors spend a lot of time describing and illustrating this concept.

Ask a great question and find a great answer. To do this you must step outside your comfort zone and push yourself past the doable, the stretch and into the possibility.

You must discover your purpose in life; what drives you; your why.

You can have many priorities but only one priority (One Thing) right now.

The authors suggest blocking 4 hours a day to work on your One Thing. That is not a typo.

There are three commitments to your one thing:

1. Follow the Path of Mastery
2. Move from Entrepreneurial to Purposeful
3. Live the Accountability Cycle

You have to avoid the four thieves of productivity.

1. Inability to say “No”
2. Fear of Chaos
3. Poor Health Habits
4. Environment Doesn’t Support Your Goals

Notable Quotes

“Be like a postage stamp-stick to one thing until you get there.” Josh Billings

“Surround yourself only with people who are going to lift you higher.” Oprah Winfrey

“To do two things at once is to do neither.” Publilius Syrus

“Nobody who ever gave his best regretted it.” George Halas

“If you chase two rabbits…you will not catch either one.” Russian Proverb

“Things which matter most must never be at the mercy of things which matter least.” Johann Wolfgang van Goethe

“The people we live with and work with on a daily basis deserve our full attention. When we give people segmented attention, piecemeal time, switching back and forth, the switching cost is more than just the time involved. We end up damaging relationships.” Dave Crenshaw

“People do not decide their futures, they decide their habits and their habits decide their futures.” F.M. Alexander

Law Enforcement Application

Law enforcement leaders have many responsibilities. Equally important priorities pull us different directions constantly. Because we have to focus on so many things, we can lose sight of what is important.

Instead of focusing on the most important task, the one thing that will propel us toward our goal or move us in the right direction, we focus on a lot of things that keep us slowly slogging forward.

The one thing can be for you as a leader or for your department.

What is the one thing that can have the most impact on crime?

What is the one thing that can help you recruit high-quality officers to the department?

What is the one thing that you can do to help those you work with achieve their goals?

What is the one thing you can do as a leader to advance your career?

There are many important things you can do in response to all of these issues, but what is the one thing you can do that by doing it everything else would be easier or unnecessary?  What is the one thing this day, this week, this month or this year that is the most important thing you can do?

By focusing on the one thing that is the most important thing at the time, you will exponentially move your organization forward and advance your career.