“The One Thing” by Gary Keller is one of those self help books which can be summarized in just one sentence.

What’s the ONE Thing I can do such that by doing it everything else will be easier or unnecessary?

The One Thing

The main idea of this book is that focusing on one thing, is the best approach to anything in life. The rest of it provides supporting evidence on why you should concentrate all your efforts on a single objective at a time.

What I’ve found most interesting though, are the several well accepted ideas, this book argues against. I personally fell prey to some of these maxims. So this book was sort of an eye opener for me, despite the pretty straightforward central theme.

Here’s a list of 5 such popular ideas and maxims, argued by the author to not be actually true.

Multitasking

Multitasking is a lie.

The term “Multitasking” was first used in the 1960’s to describe computers, not people. The original term was meant to describe tasks performed by alternately sharing a resource (CPU). Over time, however, the context got changed. Multitasking is now interpreted as doing multiple tasks, simultaneously.

A computer just switches back and forth between multiple tasks so quickly, that it gives us the illusion of things being done at the same time. Similarly, a juggler juggling multiple balls is, in reality, catching and throwing just one ball at time.

We as humans can do multiple things at a time, like driving and talking, but we can’t focus on both simultaneously, like a computer could.

You could talk leisurely, but if you had to talk someone through a complex subject, you’d have to stop driving. Also, if you had to drive somewhere quickly in an emergency, you’d stop talking. 

Research has shown that “Multitaskers” were actually less effective and were outperformed on every measure. 28% was the approximate loss attributed to multitasking ineffectiveness on a typical work day.

Multitasking is merely the opportunity to screw up more than one thing at a time

Steve Uzzell

Disciplined Life

The popular notion is that a successful person is a full time disciplined person, whose every action is well thought out and controlled.

While it is true that discipline is necessary to get better at anything, it’s not needed all the time. We just need it long enough to build a habit.

Once the habit is formed, what you need to do becomes what you’re used to doing everyday.

When it comes to fitness, I’ve experienced this first hand. I workout regularly and sometimes even twice a day.

This may make me look like a disciplined person with strong will power on a daily basis. In reality though, I just stuck to working out regularly in my teenage years.

Now, working out has become a part of my daily routine and I don’t think about it at all. I’m just riding out the benefits of my earlier actions.

Success is actually a short race—a sprint fueled by discipline just long enough for habit to kick in and take over.

The One Thing

21 Days To Make a Habit

Once we’ve established that discipline is needed only until something becomes a habit, the next question would naturally be

“How long would it actually take to form a habit?”

Here again, the popular opinion of 21 days is not backed by science. I’ve tried it before to wake up early and it didn’t work. ( Waking Up at 4-30 AM for 21 days )

Results of a 2009 study suggest that it takes an average of 66 days to form a new habit. The actual range was between 18 to 254 days.

Researchers also found an halo effect when it came to habit formation i.e those who sustained the discipline to form one habit, found it easier to do so in other aspects of life as well.

Balanced Life

The notion of work life balance is idealistic, not realistic, argues the author.

Seeking a purposeful goal would need you to live your life, out of balance, from time to time. A meaningful goal would need more time and attention than others. More time on one thing would naturally take away time from another aspect of life.

The reason we shouldn’t pursue balance is that the magic never happens in the middle; magic happens at the extremes

The One Thing

Instead of balance, we should aim to counterbalance work and life. The idea is to never go so far that you can’t find your way back. You can go back and forth between them, without spending too long on either side.

Frog in Boiling Water

Toss a frog into boiling water and it’ll jump right back. But place it in lukewarm water and raise the temperature gradually. It’ll boil to death.

Fable

Have you ever heard this fable?

It’s not true.

Often used to warn against our inability to realize gradual change, this frog-torturing metaphor is not backed by modern science.

The frog will jump out eventually.

Even though I agree with the underlying premise of going down a slippery slope gradually, the actual example used is a false one.

Summary

In a nutshell, the 5 popular ideas that aren’t actually true are as follows

• Multitasking is a lie.
• You don’t need discipline forever, only long enough to make a habit.
• On average, it takes 66 days to form a new habit, not 21.
• A balanced life is not effective, counterbalance instead.
• The frog in boiling water metaphor is not true.

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