Q&A WITH GEOFF WOODS

Q: How did you connect with Gary Keller and Jay Papasan and The ONE Thing?

• I was in medical device sales, selling a device that saved lives.

• I was where a lot of other people have been, where things in life were good, but yet you feel like something’s missing.

• 2 things in my life happened that forced me down a new road:

— A colleague of mine had a stroke at age 35.

— My company changed my commission structure, reducing my income by 40%.

• Jim Rohn: “You’re the average of the 5 people you spend the most time with.”

• I remember standing in my kitchen and asking “Who are my 5?”

• They were all FRIENDS, but none of them were MENTORS.

• I went to a National conference where Jay Papasan was the guest speaker.

• At the end of his message, I ran over to him to introduce myself.

• By this point, The ONE Thing had become one of the most popular business books in the world, and Jay and Gary were actively hunting for someone to partner with them to run a company based on promoting and teaching The ONE Thing.

Q: Explain the concept of The ONE Thing.

• The ONE Thing is the surprisingly simple truth behind extraordinary results.

• This is for people who want to achieve something extraordinary.

• This resonates with the Cutco audience.

• Problem: Most people go through their days spending their time, not investing it.

• Not many people hold their time to the same standard that they hold their money to.

• Changing the way people view their time, so they wake up and invest it with the expectation of a return, personally and professionally.

Q: How do people know if they’re living in this manner?

• 3 Cs:  Clarity, Control, Community

• Most people actually lack clarity about what matters most.

• Looking out 20 years, how will you know if you’re successful in your life?

• There’s an opportunity to SEARCH for those answers.

• Once you have the clarity, then you can start to feel the sense of control of your time.

• When you get the clarity, and you have control, what most people miss is an element of community.

• An environment that supports your goals

• People surrounding you that hold you to the high standard of investing your time vs. passively spending it

• We are always training the people around us (on how to respect our time), but most people are training them by default and not by design.

Q: Tell us about “The Domino Effect.”

• A domino can topple another domino that’s 50% larger than itself.

• Think big, go small.  Start with a 2-inch domino.

• A little effort can create a massive amount of energy.

• Little things can have really big reactions.

• Big goals don’t come by doing everything.

• View the stuff that’s on your plate like dominoes:  Stand them up, line them up, and get clear at what the first one is, then whack away at that one thing.

• When you knock that down day after day after day, over time, extraordinary things become possible.

Q: In the book, it is mentioned that “extraordinary success is sequential” and that “all things do not matter equally.”  Please expound.

• Cool story about this … In my first 90 days working with Gary & Jay, I was tested on 3 things … that I could cast a vision, that I could drive revenue, and that I could recruit talent.

• I had to submit my “GPS,” a one-page business plan.  It’s tough to be on the same page if your plan can’t fit on one page.  GPS = Goal, Priorities, Supporting Strategies.

• Gary & Jay asked about my priorities.  “Do you need to do #3 in order to do #2?  No.  Do you need to do #2 in order to do #1?  No.  Then don’t even think about #2 or #3 until you have EARNED THE RIGHT to, by mastering #1.

• Before that, I treated everything like it mattered equally.

• Until my #1 priority is done, everything else is a distraction.

• Do what matters most before you can earn the right to do something else.

Q: I heard you say, “People do not decide their futures.  They decide their habits, and their habits decide their futures.”  What do you feel are some of the most important habits that are universal for success?

• This is my favorite quote from The ONE Thing, and is from F.M. Alexander.

• There are certain habits that are keystone habits.  Gratitude is one that comes to mind first.

• One of the most profound habits that I’ve formed is the habit of priority, really understanding what matters most.

• The book was almost called “The Success Habit” because asking yourself “What’s my one thing?” IS the most important success habit.

• When day after day after day, you are clear about what matters most, you unleash extraordinary results in your life.

• A lot of people struggle to say no, and they need to get clear on what they should be saying yes to.

• When Steve Jobs took over Apple, he shut down 340 out of 350 active initiatives, and dictated that Apple needed to say yes to focusing on 10 of their top initiatives.

Q: Let’s talk about to actually implement this. What are the steps for implementation for anyone who’s listening?

• Identify your one thing, time block your one thing, protect your time block.

• What’s the one thing I can do, such as by doing it, everything else becomes easier or unnecessary?

• We already all know how to protect our time block … think about going to a movie … most of us devoted 2 hours to one thing.

• We know how to say yes to a film, but we don’t know how to say yes to ourselves.

• Two hours is even too big as a starting point.  Start with 5 minutes, then  after you normalize that, expand that to 10 minutes, 15, 30 … 

• The path to getting everything you want starts by getting one thing at a time. Think big, go small, trust the dominoes will fall.

Q: You’ve described, Geoff, that when you probe for your one thing, there’s a gravity of years of habits or beliefs that holds you back.  What would be a key to overcoming that gravity that is pulling you down?

• This is very much a mindset of mastery.

• A lot of us have formed beliefs and habits that were protective and served us for a period of our life, that may no longer be serving us.

• I think there’s something to acknowledging where something that may have served you in the past may now be limiting you.

• Being the type of person who follows a path of mastery is being a person who never arrives.

• You are constantly asking “Where am I the master?” And “where am I still the student?”

• Warren Buffet:  “The habits of our lives are like chains that are too loose to be noticed until they are too tight to be broken.”

• When you experience gravity, ask yourself about the one thing you CAN do to move forward.  Is this the lead domino?

Q: Can someone apply this concept to one area of life such as health & fitness while simultaneously applying it to another area like finances?

• Page 114 in the book is “the 7 circles”  … spiritual life, physical health, personal life, key relationships, job/career, business ventures, finances.

• You can aim the focusing question at all 7 circles, and the answers might be different.

• The mistake is to believe that you can move the needle in all of them simultaneously.  It’s sequentially, ONE AT A TIME.

• Make your stand around one area.

Q: If people want to dive into this concept more, what resources can you provide?

• One Thing Podcast

• The1Thing.com

• Couples Goal-setting retreat coming up in November 2020

Q: As you look into your own future, how do you aspire to change people’s lives through your work or through your influence?

• I feel really honored that I get to say that I wake up every day and live my purpose.

• Sharing ideas that change what people think is possible is why I’m here.

• We literally change the way people view time.

• We help individuals and entire organization start investing their time.

FINAL THOUGHTS:

• The Focusing Question:  What is the one thing I can do that by doing it, everything else will be easier or unnecessary?

• Ask yourself “Why,” “What else?” and “What comes before that?” as you probe for your one thing.

• Extraordinary results are determined by how narrow you can make your focus.

• Make a stand around one area.  What’s most important in your life?

• Start small.

• Identify your one thing, time block your one thing, and protect your time block.

• Gaining clarity, developing control through small habits daily, and developing community, an environment that supports your goals.

• You make the doing part easy by probing for the one thing.  

• A rocket uses 70% of its fuel in the first few minutes of flight, because it has to overcome gravity.

• Overcome the gravity of old habits, old beliefs. 

• Don’t ever let yourself get caught in the trap of being stuck who you were, if that’s at the expense of who you want to be.

• Mastery never arrives.  It’s important to always be learning, and always be developing.  This keeps us motivated to evolve and to change.

• Geoff’s 5 people were friends, not mentors.  Who are the mentors that you can get around more in your life?

 

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