What is the one thing that is most important now?

I find the lead domino and whack away until it falls.

I apply the principle that extraordinary results are sequential, rather than simultaneous (the domino effect).

I gain knowledge over time, I gain skills over time.

I build success sequentially, one thing at a time.

I ponder what my one passion is, and turn it into my one skill. My passion leads to disproportionate time practicing or working at it, which eventually translates to skill, when improved leads to better results, which lead to more enjoyment and passion, repeating .

I acknowledge the one person that is mentoring me now.

I get to the heart of the matter.

I enjoy abundance and all the information and choices it brings, and I start by choosing the one thing now because the path to more is through less.

Johan Von Goethe said, "Things that matter most must never be at the mercy of things that matter least."

In the world of achievement everything does not matter equally.

I continually hone an eye for the essential, working from a clear sense of priority.

From my to do lists, I pull out the prioritized and vital few tasks from the large stack of all the trivial many, forming a success list. from that! I narrow to the 20%, and again to the 20% until the intent of success, my one thing is clear.

I apply the Pareto principle where 20% of the efforts produce 80% of the results. it is the inequality of effort principle.

My success list is short, as an organized directive.

I apply the idea that success is a short race, choosing the right habit, and then a sprint fueled by discipline just long enough for habit to kick in and take over at 66 days.

I build one habit at a time in 66 day iterations. I can then build on that habit or pick a new one. Over time I build up a collection of good habits.

I treat willpower like a device battery, I monitor it and am careful about when to use it. I do what matters most when my willpower is at full charge for the day.

I leave some things undone as a necessary trade-off for extraordinary results.

I choose what matters most and give it all the time it demands. I get out of balance for a time with infrequent counterbalancing. in my personal life I counterbalance in short iterations. in my professional life I go out of balance for long periods.

Success is sequential rather than simultaneous. I build one habit at a time.

I use my reserves of willpower in focused way on a full tank of energy. Eating right helps.

I think big. I imagine what life looks like with my big question answered. I study people who have already achieved it. I look for their models, systems, habits, and relationships.

None of us knows our limits. No one knows their ultimate ceiling of achievement, I so go big, taking leaps of possibility. Believing in big frees me to ask different questions, to follow different paths, and try new things.

Success requires action. Action requires thought. Big thinking drives succeeding big. Time is equal for all. Effort varies.

What I build today will either empower or restrict me tomorrow.

I adopt a growth mindset and learn from mistakes.

Great questions are the path to great answers.

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

The question moves our towards a specific action, the first domino. "Can do" beats intention. "Doing it" is action. I alternate zooming in and out between big picture "macro, and small focus micro. I start with the big stuff and see where it leads me, before zooming small.

After asking a great question, I find a great answer. My great answers come in 3 categories:

Doable means I have the knowledge and skill now to do it. Stretch means within my reach at the farthest end of my range. I will have to do additional research and study what others have done to come up with this answer. It is potentially achievable and probable, depending on my effort. Possibility is at the outer limits of achievement. By extending myself to find it, I expand and enrich my life for the better. This is necessarily outside my comfort zone. A big answer is never in plain view, nor is the path laid out for me. A possibility answer exists beyond what is already known and being done. After researching for clues and studying the highest achievers, I benchmark and trend. I ask "Has anyone else studied or accomplished this or something like it?" These people become the benchmark, the current high water mark for all that is known and being done.

With "stretch" the benchmark was my maximum. For "possibility" answers, the benchmark is my minimum. to establish trending, I look for the next thing I can do in the same direction, or as necessary, in an entirely new direction. New answers require new behavior.

I make my life about bringing meaning and purpose to my everyday actions. This makes me happier.

I ask myself what drives me to discover my purpose and refine my big why. Pending an answer, I pick a direction. Time brings clarity.