Inspiration and Life
The Best Advice You Can Find on Improving Your Life
This will change your life forever
Are you one of the fortunate few who seems to get a lot done, easily accomplishing what you want? Or are you, like many, struggling to get through each day?
What if there were a straightforward lesson we could learn from some of the most successful and significant people to have ever lived? What lesson? The best you will ever find! Read on to learn more!
One thing
The lesson we can learn from those who accomplish much in life is simply this — they knew their one thing and how to use it as the lens through which they focus everything they do. Imagine focusing all of your effort on one thing with no distractions. I bet you would get it done. It may take a day, ten years, or a lifetime, but that intense focus will produce the result you want, which will be amazing!
If only you could focus that intently on your one thing. You do know what your one thing is, don’t you? If not, do not be dismayed. You can apply the one thing principle to any “one thing,” big or small, short or long term. If you try it on anything, you will discover its great value and potential to change the outcome of your very life!
Fortunately, those who came before us left plenty of information on how to achieve that one thing. But what about the demands of life constantly pulling at you?
Let’s look at the reality of getting things done in life. You know you can do one thing very well when you put all your time and effort into it. You also know when you attempt to spread your effort between two things, you may accomplish them given time or come up short with one or both. When you distribute that same time and effort between three goals, your chances of achieving diminish further. Make that four things, and — well, you get the picture.
While working on one thing can generate far better results, life doesn’t always cooperate when we’re trying to focus. We suddenly have more than one urgent task thrust upon us, plus email to attend to, phone calls, drop-ins, office chat, meetings, and so on.
Have you ever gotten to the end of a day and wondered where it went, feeling like you accomplished nothing? This seems to be the new normal for too many of us.
For years I came into the office one or two hours early each morning and many times on Saturdays because I could get so much work done when no one was there. Unfortunately, I did this at the expense of spending time with my family. That was not a good trade at all.
Focus
To focus on one thing, you must avoid attempting to multitask, period! You always get far better results when you give your undivided attention to the task at hand. Also, eliminate all distractions, as they can be as bad or worse than multitasking.
You don’t learn to play an instrument very well unless you focus on it. This is true with almost everything in life. Some sources claim to become an expert at anything requires spending 10,000 hours doing or studying it — that’s a lot of effort in one direction!
Every year you spend about 2,000 hours at work (forty hours a week at fifty weeks a year.) Many of us spend considerably more than that. What are you becoming an expert at in exchange for that huge outlay of time? I’ll let you think about that one for a bit.
“Do not many of us who fail to achieve big things … fail because we lack concentration — the art of concentrating the mind on the thing to be done at the proper time and to the exclusion of everything else?” John D. Rockefeller (1839–1937)
To learn more about the serious drawbacks of attempting to multitask, check out this brief article: Why You May Want to Stop Multitasking
What do you need?
It is good to ask yourself, “What do I really need in my life?” Considering the mortality rate on earth continues to stand at 100 percent — meaning we all eventually die — what is it that will make you thankful for the life you will have lived?
We should all take the question of what we need very seriously, as we only get one shot at this life. What if you could discover the one thing that matters most to you? You could begin your journey in that direction rather than aimlessly wandering through life, chasing whatever, hoping for the best. Imagine what you could achieve!
Wandering in the wrong direction steals your time, life, and what you might accomplish. To move forward intentionally, purposely, toward what will enrich your life, you must deliberately make the best use of this precious resource of time.
It is essential to understand your needs versus your wants. You will find more about the subject in this brief article: Do You Want It or Do You Need It?
Who is following you?
It’s important to consider who is following you if you want to create a life that makes a difference. Most people want someone they can get behind. If you have a strong enough purpose, focus on your one thing, and have discovered what makes life truly meaningful, others will want to help. They will get behind and follow you, and the impact you make while on this earth, both now and after you leave, will be far more significant.
After all, who follows someone with no clear direction and purpose in life, wandering around aimlessly day after day? Sure, some may, but do you want to be responsible for that?
What about those who see you and your life and want to follow your example? What about those you love? Wow — this is heavy stuff, isn’t it? This is reality.
For more about leading and following, check out this brief article: How to Become the Leader in Your Life
Responsibility
All of us — especially those in leadership — have a profound sense of responsibility to others. How we live our lives, who we are, and who we are becoming influences them — whether we want it to or not.
What we do and don’t do, the direction we travel, and the words we write and say impact others. We have a responsibility to be purposeful about these things. Allowing distractions from what is essential reduces your purpose and meaning. The hard truth is it’s irresponsible to let too many distractions continue unchecked.
To learn more about the benefits of responsibility, check out this brief article: How Responsibility Can Add Enormous Power into Your Life
Reality
Finding that one thing in life is not a game. It is very real and will make a substantial difference in how your life will turn out. Facing reality will lead you to the one thing you can focus on that will make the most significant difference in what you do, who you are, and who you’re becoming.
Always be able to face reality, seeing it for what it is. You must do things in life differently and avoid the mistakes too many people make. As Robert Fritz once said, “Reality is an acquired taste.” To not see life’s reality, you must lie to yourself or remain ignorant. That is no way to live, is it?
Let’s look to the past at a few examples of people who knew their one thing in their own words.
Thomas Edison, the prolific inventor, once stated:
“My desire is to do everything within my power to further free the people from drudgery and create the largest possible measures of happiness and prosperity.” Thomas Edison (1847–1931)
Mother Teresa touched not just the lives of the people of Calcutta, India, but around the globe. She said:
“Spread love everywhere you go. Let no one ever come to you without leaving happier.” Mother Teresa (1910–1997)
Steve Jobs, a world-class entrepreneur, famously said:
“Apple is about people who think ‘outside the box,’ people who want to use computers to help them change the world, to help them create things that make a difference, and not just to get a job done.” Steve Jobs (1955–2011)
Billy Graham preached to live audiences of more than 210 million people in 185 countries. His estimated lifetime audience, including radio and television, topped 2.2 billion people!
Graham, a friend to many celebrities and presidents — was chosen as one of the ten most admired men in the world a record-breaking fifty-nine times in the Gallop poll. He said:
“My calling is to preach the love of God and the forgiveness of God and the fact that He does forgive us. That’s what the cross is all about, what the resurrection is all about, that’s the gospel.” Billy Graham (1918–2018)
Abraham Lincoln, our country’s sixteenth President, said:
“I am not bound to win, but I am bound to be true. I am not bound to succeed, but I am bound to live up to what light I have. I must stand with anybody that stands right, and stand with him while he is right, and part with him when he goes wrong.” Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865)
To learn more about reality in life, check out this brief article: How to Deal With the Realities of Life to Become a Winner
Your one thing
From the above quotes, it is easy to see these famous people chose an underlying principle of serving others rather than material goods. If you examine almost every other significant person of character in history, you will find more of the same. Now that is something to think about long and hard!
Once you find your one thing, align your life and everything you do with it. Use that one thing as your aiming point. Whatever you do, do it to move toward the desired outcome of your one underlying principle.
Carefully consider those things that move you away from your goal or throw off your trajectory. Do not act on these things. Stop the distractions that pull you off course as soon as you recognize them.
Your journey will be one step at a time in the right direction, always moving forward. Taking one step left, right, or backward comes at a cost. Missteps use up that most precious resource: your time.
Now, this may sound contradictory, but guess what? You can refine and better define your one thing over time. It might even change! Then again, it might not. Be open to the idea that what you find as your one thing today could evolve into something else over time.
The key point is that simply finding your one thing will define your path. You may find that it takes you in a very different direction than the path you have traveled thus far.
Final thoughts
Uncovering the one thing in life that matters most will shape how and what you see, giving you a clearer vision. This one thing will guide your questions, thoughts, and actions.
Like a magnifying glass focusing the sun’s rays on a single spot, your results will be proportionate when you focus more intensely on what truly matters. Life will have more purpose and become more meaningful.
You waste and lose time without that one thing in your vision and heart.
Strive to find your one thing. Don’t give up until you know what it is — I assure you it will be worth the effort. After all, this is your life, and you only get one shot at it! Don’t allow your valuable time and passion to slip through your fingers. Choose a life that will make a difference to those you love and the world!
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Bill Abbate Leadership Writer and Editor in ILLUMINATION
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