HTB 010: The ONE Thing That Makes Success Easier with Geoff Woods

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In today’s episode you will hear a special interview with Geoff Woods Vice President of the ONE Thing and how he lost 40% of his income overnight. You’ll also understand why so many of us fail when we think big and act big and what to do instead. Here are some of the awesome things you will hear in this episode:

Find out the keystone habits you want to build and grow your success. Find out how you practically focus on your ONE thing in the midst of the whirlwind. And see how Satori asks Geoff about how he deals with stress and the surprising answers.

So listen here to find out how Satori goes deep with Geoff Woods on what creates badass results in life and business.

What’s up everyone, This is Satori Mateu and welcome to a new episode of Halfass to Badass. In today’s episode we have a special treat for you. I’m interviewing Geoff Woods, the vice president of the One Thing and host of the ONE Thing Podcast. If you haven’t read the book the ONE thing, it’s a great book that I highly recommend and as you listen to the interview you’ll know why.

--Script--

Okay. So welcome Geoff. I'm so happy and excited to have you here on the show. And so before we start, the one question I really liked to ask because we all have different perspectives. What is the difference between a Halfass and a Badass in your perspective?

It would come down to, either a purposefulness or intention, you know, kind of kind of the same thing. When I think of halfass I think of somebody or, or actions that are not purposeful or deliberate, you know, just Kinda, you just kind of doing it. You're just going through the motions versus when I think of a Badass, I think if somebody who's intentional in what they do and why they're doing it.

I love that. I love that. That's beautiful. So let's get into it.

I'd like to know what's your backstory?

Yeah, so I, um, today there's a book called the one thing, which is one of the highest rate of business books of all time. It was written by two guys, Gary Keller, who started Keller Williams. It's the largest real estate company in the world and his co-author Jay Papasan. When they wrote the book in 2013, uh, I don't think they realize that it was going to take off the way that it did, but when it did, they looked up and realized, oh snap, there's something here. But Gary's one thing was being chairman of Keller Williams, Jay's one thing was writing books. They needed somebody who is one thing was the one thing. At that time I was in medical device sales and I had always known that I was destined for more. I wanted to wake up and own a business that made a big impact in the world and deliver real security for my family.

But I had these golden handcuffs on. I had a good Gig, you know, worked 35, 40 hours a week, made good money, had great work life counterbalance things were great, but I was lacking that fulfillment. And, uh, it took two things happening in my life story that really forced me to make a change in the first was a colleague of mine had a stroke. He was 35 at the time. They remember my wife and I, we had just bought a house in Orange County and just had our first child and my wife had made the decision to become a stay at home mom. And I remember looking at my colleague thinking, wow, if what happened to him happened to me, what happens to my family? That was very unsettling. And then the next week, my company needed to make a change to our commission structure in order to remain competitive in the marketplace.

And overnight I lost 40% of my income.

Wow.

And when those two things happened back to back where I'm already going, wow, I actually have to go to work to earn a living. And then the comp plan gets cut and I have zero control over it. It's suddenly when the pain ratchet it up. And as months passed and we just started hemorrhaging cash in the bank accounts, almost hitting zero is when I finally had enough pain in my life to force me to make a change. Cause it's um, it's uncomfortable to go into the unknown. And I heard this Jim Rohn quote that you're the average of the five people you spend the most time with looked at my five. Oh Wow. These are amazing people. I always want them in my life. And the challenge was I was seeking guidance on how to build a business from people who weren't qualified to give it.

I set out on a journey just to upgrade my five. And uh, I met Jay. Pat Has, cause he spoke at our national sales meeting and I approached him when he came off stage and we formed a relationship. And ultimately, uh, my one thing became turning the one thing into our training company. Hmm. Wow. That's very cool. And what, what was some of the, as you were building this thing, I mean, you know, you came into this, like what was the one mental shift that you would have to shift for yourself? Oh yes. In my first 90 days I had a state of the company meeting with my two partners, with Gary and Jay, and this was a defining moment in my life. I was being assessed on three things. There were three things that I had to be able to do exceptionally well otherwise.

Otherwise, I was fired. I had to be able to cast a vision for the company because if Gary and Jay had to do the thinking for me, they didn't need me. I had to prove that I could drive revenue for the business and the test was could I generate $100,000 in 90 days or less out of thin air? And the third was I had to prove that I could recruit and retain amazing talent so that we start with number one, because they were ranked in order of priority. I had to prove that I could cast a vision. So I had to create a business plan and get Gary and Jay to sign off on it. Now you have to little context. I've never been a CEO of a company. I finished sales guy, sold copiers and I sold medical devices and all of a sudden I have to sit down with the chairman of the largest real estate company in the world and sell him on my vision to get him to sign off on it, which was very intimidating and I walked into this room.

I handed Gary and Jay each a copy of my one page business plan. This is a framework that we teach and it's simply one page because it's tough to be on the same page with your organization if your plan literally doesn't fit on the same page and on it were three things, the three major priorities, and if we just accomplish those would make hitting our profit goals possible. We started talking about number one, Gary and Jay asked a bunch of questions about it. I answered him. I said, are we good? They go. Yeah, and so I went on to number two because that's what was next on the list, right? And pretty quickly Gary started asking more questions about number one. I didn't think anything of it at the time. I just go, oh, he must have forgotten something. So I answered the questions. I said, are we good Gary?

He goes, yeah. And so I finished up number two start talking about number three. Gary goes back to number one and at this point I realized something was off. It was like Ben Stiller and meet the parents where he's realizing that he's not at the circle of trust. That's where I was. I answered the questions. I said, are we good? He goes, yeah. I start talking about number three and Gary within 10 seconds stops meeting goes, quick question, do you need to accomplish number three in order to accomplish number two? I said, no. He said, do you need to accomplish number two in order to accomplish number one I said, no. Said the do me a favor. Draw a line between number one and number two we're even better. Rip The page in half. And then he said, what was so profound, Satori, he said, don't even think about number two and number three until you've earned the right to buy mastering number one. Here's why this was so profound, is in that moment I realized my entire career, I had fall trap to the number one life productivity, the lie that everything matters equally. Yes. For you who's listening to this, think about like how you go through your days. Are you really clear on the one thing you can do that would make everything else easier or unnecessary? And until your number one priority is done, do you view everything else is a distraction

answer for most people is now that's where I was and that's when the journey began. Yeah,

I love that. And I obviously I've listened to the podcasts, you know, for a while now. I mean, how long have you been out now? I mean, uh, the one week we launched the one thing podcast, January of,

it's 2017. So hello? Yeah, we're, we've been going at it for awhile now.

Yeah. And that's amazing. So I, I've heard the different constants. W, how would you describe the one thing? Concept. I mean people, I know I have, I hear it everywhere, but he was like, you know when your one thing you want but people don't really seem to understand what's, what's the one thing really like what, how would you describe the concept?

The one thing is the surprisingly simple truth behind extraordinary results for you. Who's listening to this? Have you, have you ever had one of those days where you were so busy and you at the end of the day you looked up and you thought to yourself, I was so busy, did I get anything done? Right? That's ordinary. That's what most people realize. The one thing is understanding that out of everything that's on your plate in any given moment, there is one thing you can do such that by doing it, everything else would be easier or unnecessary. It's like when you line up dominoes, do you knock down each one individually, right? No, you, you line them up. So all you have to do is knock down that lead one. And what happens to Tori? Don't go down. They all go down. So this is about whether it's in your business, in your health, in your relationships, in your spirituality, how do we get clear on what we actually want the goal and based on that, how do we line up our priorities and our actions so that were so clear on that lead dominant, we can just whack away at that one thing until it falls.

Right?

Yeah. And I think what are the different areas of life, right? Whether it's being a parent, right? Parents, right? Running a business, taking care of your health and you think all the different things

that are spinning around a lot of times. So what does one do to folks in as one thing that wasn't, what does it really mean to focus on the one thing? Yeah, sure. What does it mean to focus on the one thing? It starts first and foremost by seeking clarity. I think a lot of people, if you just even asking the question like what's the one thing I can do such that by doing it, everything else would be easier or unnecessary. That's a big question and big questions don't have the immediate answer. It's not like you asking. You're like boom, I got it. They required that you search a little bit. So for starters it actually means that you become the type of person who pushes past that wall of, I don't know. Right. You seek, you seek and you find that answer and once you do, you actually time block it.

You put it on your plan or you put it in your digital calendar. So there is time reserved for you to accomplish that one thing. And when you show up to that time block, you protect it. And that's kind of the framework for the one thing. Identify your one thing, time block your one thing, protect your time block. Right, right. I love that. I think that's so true. Just curious. It's interesting cause sometimes it's going to simplify it. Let's look at it as a parent, right? What's your one thing as a parent for you? Yeah. So for me, and this is, this is me, this is not me projecting onto anyone else. My one thing, the one thing I can do that makes being an extraordinary parent easier is actually being an extraordinary husband. Hmm. I've, and I've understood that for at least in my belief, if I want to raise my children to be the best possible versions of themselves, I have to model what it looks like to be the best partner.

Now selecting. And then what's the one thing he says, and this is, this is where people sometimes get stuck with the one thing is they find an answer like, oh well be an extraordinary husband like up. That's my one thing, right? It's the one thing you can do, do meaning action activity such that by doing it would make being an extraordinary husband easier or unnecessary. And this is where, uh, we can break down a lot of things. There's a lot of things I can do to be an extraordinary husband from being present with my wife, to dating my wife to being on the same page about money, to understanding what each other's goals are. There's a lot of things, but really narrowing it down cause I've done this. My one thing to be an extraordinary husband is 36 date nights a year. I've gotten so clear and if, if we look at my 401 which is a tool that you used to have absolute clarity on your priorities. If you look at number one under the personal section, it 36 date nights this year and I track it. Nice. Like I can tell you I'm seven behind year to date.

Thanks for sharing that. But what's interesting with that, I think that is that when people think about, you know, let's say those 36 they'd nights, right? And they go like, well that seems to kind of stay of four kind of. But it's kind of like you have the flexibility inside of those date nights to do whatever you want to do, right? It says not I'll give it takes away or robs your flexibility or cra or creativity, right? It's just making sure that it actually happens well and to get some more background there. I mean, when I looked at being a great husband, there were certain things in my life there were missing. My wife and I were, we weren't feeling like we were going together. You know, we, we've got two young kids, I'm starting a company. It's a very stressful time and our marriage reflected that.

And so we weren't on the same page about money. We didn't have insight into each other's goals. We didn't really know how to communicate together in a way that, um, we remained connected. Sometimes we would just get charged and emotionally things would, would escalate unnecessarily. There were all these things and last year I thought the one thing for our relationship was to every single Sunday have a family meeting to talk about our finances. Cause it was a major sticking point for us in our marriage. And after going through that for a year, I started to realize that being the money accountability man with my wife didn't actually make her love me more.

Why? Why is it that my wife didn't enjoy those conversations? And I told myself that until we got the money under, uh, under tight lock that then we earned the right to do date nights. But then I figured out going through and failing for a year that if my wife and I had date nights regularly, we would be connected. And if we were connected, we could have better conversations about money. And if we were aligned around money and the rest of our goals, we wouldn't have tension. And then we'd show up as better parents. And you start to see how the dominoes lineup, and I chose 36 cause I said I don't need to do one every week, but I can do three months.

Nice. Nice. That was beautiful. And, I think that when you talk about that, it's kind of even like that. Right?

So when you think of why those date nights, what's the one thing you do to show up presently? Likes to be present. Yeah. So for me it's, it's, it's come down to the, to the cell phone and the technology, you know, am I like tea today? Tonight is date night. So if we were to look at my schedule, I know if I look at my planner or my digital calendar, if I see meetings leading right up to the point that I need to turn off business mode and get into husband mode, I know I'm already setting myself up for failure. Do I have a transition time? Is there a time where I can just really decompress and process everything that happened in our business during the day and mentally prepare myself to walk into the household, the marriage? One of the things I do Satori's when I drive home and I park in our parking lot, uh, I turn off the podcasts.

I put my air pods back in the case because for years I walked into the house listening to a podcast or talking to somebody on my phone being greeted me by my children. And then that was the transition. But there was no transition at all. I turned down the tech, I closed my eyes and I meditated and I start imagining what it's gonna feel like to walk into the house, to embrace my wife, to hug and Kiss my children, to mentally be there and nowhere else. Right? Yeah. That's what I think is a distinction between a half assed or bad ass. Yeah. And, and here's the thing that I would say, um, because this is a huge misunderstanding about the one thing. People will read the book or listen to the podcast or you know, they'll listen to everything you talk about here's story. And they'll be like, well, I want to be a badass.

And they view what that means to be at a level of perfection. But perfection only gets into the way of what's possible. Every single one of us is going to fail on our, on our path of mastery. And the question is not, are you perfect? The question is, are you doing better today than you did yesterday? Yeah. What's your morning routine? My morning routine. How do you prepare your win? Yay. Yeah. So this is what it looks like. Uh, I wake up between five 30 and six every day I go and wake up my daughter so that she can start getting ready for school, come downstairs. I make myself my breakfast. I make the kids breakfast. I'm with the kids and my wife until it's time to walk my daughter across literally across the street. I'm staring at it right now too, so she can hop on the bus to go to school and this is what's kind of cool.

When I switch, when she started taking the bus to school, I realize, oh, I have about an hour to an hour and a half until I have to be at the office. So then I get in the car and I go to the gym. I work out for anywhere from 15 to 15 minutes to an hour. I do a sauna, then I do shower and all that stuff and then I head into the office. Nice. And meditation happens in the Sauna. Oh Nice. That's beautiful. Yeah. And so is that something that you as you want, things that, something that you keep consistent? It is. It is a true routine and habit at this point, and here's what's cool about this is if we looked at my one thing planner from last year, I tracked the number of days I was exercising on average going into at least halfway through the year or eight months into the year, I was exercising on average about four days a month, which I was not happy with.

I wasn't happy with my level of energy. I really wanted to transform my health but really struggled to do it, but this is the cool part about lining up your dominoes. My daughter's starting to go to kindergarten and walk. Just walking her across the street was a natural, I know by 6:40 AM Daphne's getting on the bus. What if I just had my gym clothes ready to go and my lunch packed and I just got in the car and went to the gym? That's what it started with. Can I just get in the car and go to the gym? Not, let's be clear, if I drove to the gym, it parked and then decided, you know what? I actually want donuts for breakfast and went and got a dozen donuts and crushed him. It was still a win. That never happened though because I was in the parking lot.

I went into the gym and sometimes I only worked out for five minutes, but it was so much more about becoming the type of person who went to the gym every day. And because I started going to the gym, I started working out longer. I started doing the sauna, which allowed me to meditate, which allowed me to take a cold shower, which all of a sudden it's like, oh look, they have mouthwash here. I never used mouthwash. And all of a sudden I'm using mouthwash every day and then I'm moisturizing my body. And like now you're just looking at a much more beautiful Jeff. That's awesome. So I assume that piece of that actually keeps you centered. It keeps you focused. And how do you deal with stress? I mean, so many people that are overwhelmed, they're stressed out, had a million plates spinning at all times.

And that talk about this, you know, as part of our precision based growth focus to go deep with things, but how do you deal with stress? And I've been very intentional about this one recently because I've also started to study and the people that I surround myself with have been educating me on what stress actually does to the body. Anytime I'm feeling stressed, it starts by just being present and knowing it. Like we all have this amazing thermometer in our bodies called our feelings and anytime you're not feeling good, your body is saying something is off. And the first thing I do is I just go to breathe. Like just deep breathing. Like in any moment you can pause and even one breath can reset things. Um, it really comes down to that. It's the breath for me. Yeah. There's some other things I do, but like that's, that's the one thing.

Yeah, that's good. I mean I'm the same way. Breath is like so key and something that I, that I learned years ago, which obviously the training martial arts for many years, but this kind of breath that really helped me, it was kinda like, you know, you know the different systems we have that bond or that key, the Chris stress or relaxation. And so breathing in and out like almost like, well you, when you meditate you close your eyes and breathing in and out with the same inhalation as exhalation, the pressure and the temple on the, on geeking out on this. Just stuff like breathing in and out at the same templates, same rhythm in and out is like, it equips, liberates your body and your mind and your nervous system. Yeah. It looks, just sinks it down. So I was at a, a dad's retreat last week. It was a group of entrepreneurs who are focused on being family, men with businesses, not businessmen with families.

Good distinction. And they brought in a guy, a doc his name was named Sachin Patel and he talked about stress and the effect that it has. How um, where the blood flows in your body is where things grow or the, the rejuvenation, the rest and when you're stressed, like it literally shuts blood flow down in certain areas of your body so you're not able to recover the way that you need to after these days. And he said, you know, it's, it's shifting when you're stressed, you're in a sympathetic nervous system to a parasympathetic state and the one thing you need to focus on, it's called the Vagus nerve and it's right like in your throat, which is why breathing is so good for it. He talked about gargling is actually really good chanting ohm like that that vibration actually stimulates the Vagus nerve and just doing that will take you from sympathetic to parasympathetic.

It's either, even when I make those, some of them like even like I can feel the vibration, right. Has a calming effect. Yeah. Vibrates in your chest. You know, the people listening to this, they're like, oh, okay. So I mean we could talk about so many different directions. Is matters so much. I mean to me like this is the most important thing to do is to begin to take control of your focus. Take control of your emotions, take control of your life, period. Um, what are you, I know you talk about power habits. Yeah. What are your three power habits that you believe makes the biggest difference and keeping you productive and efficient in life? Well, let me, let me back it up a little further. There's a quote in the one thing, it's my favorite quote. It's from FML. Xander. People do not decide their futures.

They decide their habits, their habits decide their futures. So that explains why you're asking this question said, Corey, you know that so many of us, we have these dreams, these goals, ambitions for our lives, and we rely on our discipline. We rely on our willpower. But both of those are lies. It's not about being a disciplined person. It's about leveraging your discipline to acquire habits. And your willpower is not always on will call. You know, it's, it's, it's just not always there for you. So how do we get really intentional about forming keystone habits that not only help us in that one area that we set out to intentionally, but it also has this halo effect where it starts to shine down and pay dividends and other areas of our life. And I can only share the habits that I have formed that have helped me, the habits that I have for and may not be the same habits that you need to form.

And we can walk through a little exercise to help you identify what that first keystone habit is that you need to form. But for me, I remember when I first started the company, my partner Jay looked at me and said, Jeff, the fastest way that you can get out of business with Gary and me is to not love the book. And the book is ultimately about habits. So what your first power habit be, and I looked at page one 14 of the book and it shows the seven circles. These are the seven most important areas of your life. And I'll share with you and your spirituality because every single one of us is going to wonder why we're here at some point, right? It's our physical health. Because if you don't have your body, where are you going to live? It's our personal life. The things we do for us personally to make us the best versions of ourselves.

It's our key relationships. That's all the relationships you have. It's your job, meaning your specific role inside your organization, whether it's your company or you're an employee, it's your job. Then there's your business. If you're the owner, then your business is different and if you're an employee, it's how. What's your one thing for the business overall and your finances, spirituality, physical health, personal life, relationships, job, business, finances. Jay said if you could only pick one area to form a habit in first, which would it be? And I listed off four areas that I really needed to form a habit. And he said, Geoff, the book's called the one thing, not the four things. And I said, I get that Jay, but I, I really need to do these two. And he said it, but if he could only choose one, and I said, I think I can do too.

He said, Geoff, it's called the one thing and so I picked business to start. I had just moved my family from southern California to Austin, like the business had to work otherwise it was for nothing and the one thing that I could do that would make everything else in our business easier or unnecessary was for me to develop the habit of thinking in order of priority. You heard the story earlier about the GPS, the three priorities and the number one until you're number one party's done. Everything else is a distraction. How can I become the type of person who, when I just looked at the world I thought in order of priority and the one thing I could do that would make thinking in order of priority easier or unnecessary was could I check my four one one my priorities before I check my email?

Which for those of you who are going, what's this four one one thing? Yeah, yeah, yeah. If you go, if you go to the one thing.com that's what the number one in the URL and you click on the training tab, you'll see there's, we've got a free training on what a four one one is. We also have what a 66 day challenges. That's a challenge that you'd go on to a foreign power habits. They're both there for free and they'll give you a quick training on it, but my four one one reflected my true priorities. I just want to at least look at it and check it before I checked my email, which was everyone else's priorities and I tracked it every day for 66 days and you fast forward about 10 weeks. All of a sudden I stopped feeling the need to check email all the time. All of a sudden I was clear on what my one thing was and I just, I wanted to move the ball on it first and all of a sudden I started getting these amazing results in way less time and my stress plummeted because I didn't see everything that needed to be done. I just saw a bunch of distractions and I was just like, they don't matter. Let me get my one thing done. Yeah. That's engine. You say that. Cause

I, I kind of developed for myself, you know, I hardly check my email anymore people go. “You don't check your email?” I’m like no. I believe that is someone really wants to get in touch with me and it's really, they'll find a way. Right. And the people that I really want to reach me, they have my cell phone. Right. If it's really important. So yeah, I really checked my email. Um, but yeah, that's, that's true. So how did you, how did you identify your core? That place where you're like, okay, how do I sort out what the thing is? Like the thing that's going to be most important? How did you think around it? Um, ask it differently. Okay. So how do you, when you, when you talking about the foreign one, right? Yeah. Like when you got to the point of understanding what, what it was you first started thinking around how to, how to identify them first of all, the areas, right. And yet you, one thing, how did you get to go deeper to know which one we want to focus on?

Yeah, and this is, this is something that we see people struggle with a lot before they start doing training is either a, the, when they're picking their one thing, they're, they're still thinking too big. There's this idea of we have to think big and we have to go small, which is not what most people do. They think big and act big. They think big. Like, oh, I just, um, I just need to build a great business. That's my one thing. Right? But that's still too big of an idea. Like you have to go small to the point that it's a two inch domino that literally with the flick of a finger, it's so easy to knock it over and it's so powerful that it would knock over all the other dominoes. So let's recap. As I told that story, let's actually dissect it. Okay. I started with the seven circles.

I looked at the seven areas and said if I could only pick one, what would it be? And I forced myself to pick one with the loving help of my partner Jay and I picked business. I then asked the focusing question of the book. What's the one thing I can do such that by doing it, everything else would be easier or unnecessary? Well, if my category is business, the one thing is to build a great business and what's the one thing I can do to build a great business? I have to show up as the best possible leader I can show up as well. What's the one thing I can do to show up as the best possible leader? I have to be clear on what matters most. Well, what's the one thing I can do to be clear on what matters most, I have to know what matters most.

What's the one thing I can do to know what matters most? I have to start being able to identify my priorities. What's the one thing I can do to identify my priorities? We already have a model and a system for that. That's what the four one one is. Can I check my four one one before I check my email? Now let's be clear. It doesn't mean that I had to do anything else, but could I at least look at my priorities before I open my inbox and even gave the outside world permission to penetrate mind? Right, right. There's this idea of thinking big and going small. It's actually very simple. Just keep asking, what's the one thing I can do to make that happen? Until you get to something that is so ridiculously simple that you go, I can do that, and then you trust the domino effect by knocking it down every single day. Knowing that over time if the results aren't going to be there after day one, it's not like I'm a millennial, so I did it one day and then I wanted to trophy. Right. I had to trust that over 66 days to really make it a habit. The, the, the, the result would eventually show up. When you were going through that, was that, was that challenging for you? Was that a struggle? I mean, you wanted that trophy. I know that, but you know, it's like when you're going through that, what, what was the obstacle that came up for you?

It, it's, it's the trusting of the domino effect because it's just like, the shape of success is that hockey stick growth, you know, you're doing the right activity and you're succeeding so slowly. It feels like you're failing.

Hmm.

You're succeeding so slowly. It feels like you're failing, you're doing the right actions, but the results just aren't there yet. So it feels like you're failing. It's just like when you start working out for the first time in a long time, like it's painful. It sucks. It's not fun. You look in the mirror and you're like, I'm sorry, I, I'm not getting rid of my washer and dryer there. My wife's not doing laundry on my washboard abs. Right. And we want that instant gratification. Right. We're so conditioned to it being quick, quick, quick. Right. Bingo. So it's, it's, it's really just mentally preparing yourself to understand that, uh, the, the greatest results, extraordinary results. They come over time, not instantly. Yeah. I love that you say that because you know I talked about this a lot. People have said he's fantasy goals, whether these fantasy targets but they're not really clear about what are those actual activities required to achieve that target.

And this, this is so the four one one, I mean we built an entire membership community around this where every month we do calls and help people dissect their foreign ones. And the mistake that we often see is they might be clear on their goals, the results they want. But tell me the last time you got out of a meeting and you thought to yourself, what result am I achieving right now? Say Never. We ask, what should I be doing right now? Actions are the language of our thoughts, not results. Yet we write our goals in the form of results. And when you actually have to say, okay, well what do I specifically have to do to achieve that? We quickly hit that wall of, I don't know, right? That's your opportunity to push and search and just keep asking, well, what's the one thing I could do that would make that easier? And necessary, well, what's the one thing I could do that would make that easier or unnecessary? Right? And you break it all the way down. Yeah. I love that. And I know you talk about me listening to the episode that you guys did on right

around Christmas Day, right? Like how people make this news, newer solutions like 50% of Americans, right? It's crazy. And then what happens at the end of February? Gone right? Gone. That's it is making this huge shift. So I've got a question of you because of all this stuff, right? Cause we have all the, all this things to, to maneuver. How do you practically focus on your one thing in the midst of the whirlwind, all people trying to pull for your attention. Trying to push it. Like I almost look at as long, almost like you're trying to aim for target, right? And somebody comes in from the side and knocks you and I'm like, whoa. Yeah. Well it starts

by thinking big and going small. Hmm. For you who's listening to this? Do you think it's a realistic expectation that if I told you half of your days, we would advise and encourage you to have blocked and protected for your most important work? Do you think it's a realistic expectation that immediately you set the bar for success, that you have four hours time blocked and protected every single day? Zero distractions, zero interruptions? Do you think that's realistic? No. Yes. That's what we, that's what we can aim for and I can tell you over three years of living this, my days look very much like that and that's not where I started. It started by asking the question, can I time block and protect a 10 minute window every day? Can I for 10 minutes not checking email? Can I for 10 minutes, not even allow text messages or phone calls to come to my phone, so I'm even aware of them. Can I for 10 minutes if somebody knocks on the door or asks, do you got a minute? I could say, I'm actually in the middle of something. Can you come back in 10 minutes?

I could say, yes, maybe you can mate. And if you can't say yes to 10 can you do five? Like how do we make it that lead domino that you can do? Because when you do it every day for roughly 66 days, it becomes a habit. And do you think you just stop at 10 minutes? No, no, no. All of a sudden it's 30 minutes. It's an hour, it's two hours, it's four hours. It's the path to getting everything that you want is to get one thing at a time. The cool thing about this domino effect is that when you line up your dominoes and you just knocked down to lead one, it starts out like, like I was really long train. It starts out too slow to even notice it's moving until it's moving so fast. Did it just cannot be stopped. Yeah. So out of everything that you are hearing in this episode, Ask yourself the question, what's the one thing I can do? Yeah, it's such that by it, everything else would be easier or unnecessary. Hmm. Let me give you a final question. I know you gotta go. Interesting. So in what area do you half ass things.

Okay. Eh,

yeah, I'll tell you where I had been half assing things in where I am now being intentional. Okay. I was half harassing my role as a husband and as a parent.

Hmm.

I we um, every year do a, a, a couple of schools setting retreat. You came to it right? And we do this exercise where we asked the question, what are the roles you play in your life? You know, so I wrote down husband, father, son, brother, cousin, nephew, business owner, value creator, uh, employee podcast hosts. Like I wrote down all these roles that I played and then we, um, we rank them in order of priority.

Hmm.

What is the single role that matters most, that makes everything else easier or unnecessary. And ultimately I ranked, um, husband, father, value creator and then I kept ranking them. But we made you draw a line, meaning kind of like Gary did to me that until your number one priority is done, everything else is a distraction. What's the line that no ifs, no ands, no buts. You must show up as these is this version. I drew it after three. So it was husband, father value creator. That was two years ago that I identified that. And over that next period of time, um, every week when I sat down to do my four one one with my partner Jay, cause this is a model for having conversations with the people in your world. Um, Jay from time to time would challenge me and say, are you really showing up as a value creator? Are you really showing up as a husband first as a father? Second is a value creator. Third, you know, are you being the type of person who helps other people get what they want first? And I wasn't,

hmm.

I mentioned earlier the, the, the idea of I was showing up as a business man who had a family rather than a family man and with a business. And that'll change this year. I got really intentional about it to the point that I know and I track with my coach, my date nights, my family for one on ones with my wife, uh, coming into the house. And actually not just allowing myself to sometimes when you feel bored with, I got little kids and sometimes it's not highly stimulating, but to get on their level and to really put myself in their shoes and to play like a kid again, like we're setting the cations that are intentional about being present with the family, not just about good food and good cities. Right. Which is really interesting you say that cause like I think so many people that are listening to this right now and they'd probably thinking like, you know,

I am, I know I know this stuff. Right. I know this is so important and they're still not doing it. But what, what would make the, like, like you said, you, you have these identities for yourself already two years ago. What was the shift that made you actually realize the urgency or relevancy of it? Uh,

I'd say it was, it was my wife's in my relationship. We just asked the question. We looked at where we were and we said, great, if we keep going in this direction, what does that look like over the next five years or 10 years? And we didn't like the answer, we didn't like where it was going. And so you got two choices. You can close your eyes and cross your fingers and hope that things better or you can actually put a plan in place and work the plan. And so we started working on it and get just just one thing at a time over time led to a lot. Yeah. And I want to be clear, we're still on our path of mastery there. Like we're still going down that path and we're being intentional.

Got It. And that's the key thing. You stopped and you made that evaluation. Mm hmm. Yeah. Okay. Geoff, where can people learn more about you and the One Thing community?

Absolutely. So you can go to the one thing.com that's with the number one in the URL for the website. The book is the one thing all spelled out, the o n e thing. Uh, the podcast is the one thing podcast. And if you go to the one thing.com, I would suggest clicking on the training page. You'll see, we've got some great courses there that are the basic principles of the book in 15 minutes or less for free. And if you want to go deeper, we've got foundational trainings and events and corporate training and all that stuff. So it's, it's, there's good stuff there.

Cool. It's a great book, great community. Uh, check it out. You'll love it. Awesome. Geoff, thanks so much for sharing this time with us and I really appreciate it and I think that people are going to be able to get it, has some really great insights and take some time, re-listen to this stuff again, and uh, I'll talk to you next time. Thanks Satori.