The one thing
I ran a workshop yesterday on using behavioral science to close the gap between strategy and execution so you can get real results, not just cross your fingers and hope.
And one of the biggest challenges leaders face, even with the best systems and smartest minds in the room?
Choosing the 1 thing worth focusing on.
Whether it's in health, business, personal growth, career, or relationships, trying to do everything at once spreads your energy thin. You end up busy but ineffective. Exhausted, but no closer to meaningful progress.
Great businesses don’t fall into that trap.
They slow down to think.
They search for the main constraint, the one key target, and then focus all their resources there until it’s resolved.
That’s how momentum builds, and most importantly, stays.
People who create real change do the same.
They commit. They simplify. They focus.
The real challenge isn’t knowing we should focus.
It’s having the courage to:
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Identify the one thing - your leverage point, the root issue that unlocks progress across multiple layers.
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Let go of distractions, even the good ones.
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Commit fully.
It's very important, though, to make this decision about one thing not on a hunch but grounded in evidence.
The book Reset: how to change what's not working outlines a few tools for finding your leverage:
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Go and see the work.
Don’t guess. Follow the whole process yourself. Where does it break? -
Study the bright spots.
Where is it working, at least better than elsewhere? Why? -
Rise above silos.
Ask an outsider to look at your system without bias or attachment. Often, what’s invisible to us is obvious to someone else.
As my birthday approaches, I’ve been reflecting on what I want the next decade of my life to be about.
What do I want to build?
What’s the 20% that could give me 80% of the fulfillment I seek?
And most importantly...
What’s the major theme that’s been quietly holding me back, maybe for years, that I finally need to face and fix?
Do you know what YOUR one thing is now?