The One Thing
by edavis on 29/06/09 at 8:39 pm
Movies. Is it me or do you find certain movies being more than just entertainment? Do you find yourself watching some of the same movies and scenes time and time again? Are there certain scenes that inspire you to be a better leader, to take a chance, or become a more creative thinker? For me, I love finding those movies that are both inspirational as well as educational.
Believe it or not, one of my favorite movies is City Slickers. The scene that I find myself watching over and over again is where Jack Palance talks with Billy Crystal about finding that “one thing”.
Remember that scene? Did it get you thinking more about what your “one thing” is?
It certainly did with me. In my profession, I find myself wearing multiple hats. During the course of a day, I am an account director, project manager, interactive communications director, business development guy, search engine marketer, marketing manager, editor, social media specialist, counselor, priest, HR manager, and a Web strategist. And by noon on most days, you can add more to the list. So, I find myself asking what my “one thing” is.
And I ask myself this because because I’ve been coming across more people talking about the “one thing”. Jeff Jarvis, in his book What Would Google Do?, states that one of Google’s core tenets is “to do one thing really, really well”.
An article by Anthony Michalski further explores this idea of finding the “one thing”. He provides examples of how legendary people such as Tiger Woods and Bill Gates focused on one thing, ran with it, and didn’t stop until they reached their goals.
More so, Guy Kawasaki writes about doing one thing well in his book Reality Check. In his book, he provides a story about how he was in Hong Kong and visited Tam’s Art Gallery, a store specializing in making “chops” (a stamp with Chinese characters that’s used to prove one’s identity). All they did was make “chops” and they did it very, very well. While there, he was reminded of the most important lesson of branding: doing one thing well.
But why is finding that “one thing” so damn important? Simple. Your “one thing” is what is most important to you. It guides all of your decisions and actions. Everything else feeds into it. It truly is your road map. And once you find it, you don’t deviate from it.
But, as we all know, there be almost too many options out there to explore:
Most of us fritter our time and talents by leaping from one toad stool to another. We never settle on any one. We jump around like lost frogs looking for the next fly to eat.
The smart frog, on the other hand, finds his place and lets the flies come to him. And come they do!
– Anthony Michalski
So, how do you narrow it down to just ” one thing”? And if you found your “one thing”, how did you do it? I would love to learn how others did it.
