The ONE Thing

Hosted by Keller Podcast Network

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593

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Nov 2026

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About the show

Discover the surprisingly simple truth behind extraordinary results. Learn how the most successful people in the world approach productivity, time management, business, health and habits with The ONE Thing. A ProduKtive® Podcast.

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60 recent

November 9, 202627 min

The Secret to Avoiding Burnout: Put Your Vacation on the Calendar First

You built your business for freedom. So why does taking a vacation feel impossible? Most leaders know they need a break, but they're the last people to take one. They tell themselves they'll rest when things slow down, when the project is finished, or when the business can run without them. But that day never comes. Jay Papasan shares a lesson he learned from Gary Keller, who would block weeks of vacation on his calendar before knowing where he was going. His reasoning? He knew he was going to need the rest. In this episode, Jay explains the idea of putting "boulders in the stream," scheduling time off first so work has to flow around it. He shares why working longer hours eventually makes us less productive, how to plan vacations that actually allow us to disconnect, and why rest needs to become part of your strategy for success. What You'll Hear in This Episode - Why the people who need vacation the most are often the least likely to take it - How Gary Keller plans his calendar around rest and his most important work - Why putting "boulders in the stream" makes it easier to protect your time off - How working more than 50 to 55 hours a week can hurt your productivity - Why leaders need to rest like race car drivers and take regular pit stops - How Jay and Wendy plan their vacations and bucket-list experiences years in advance - How to start scheduling rest on a daily, weekly, quarterly, and annual basis Chapters: [00:00] Why High Achievers Are Running on Empty [02:03] The First Thing You Should Put on Your Calendar [04:24] Gary Keller's Secret to Planning Vacation [08:49] The Hidden Cost of Never Taking Time Off [11:23] Rest Like a Race Car Driver [17:21] How to Plan Your Year Around Rest [24:26] The Challenge: Put a Boulder in the Stream Links & Tools from This Episode: • The ONE Thing Operating System • The ONE Thing Summit & Goal Setting Retreat • Free Resources Produced by NOVA 

November 2, 202629 min

The Secret to Deep Learning, and How to Learn Anything Fast

You've read the books, listened to the experts, and taken all the notes. But when someone asks you to explain what you've learned, you suddenly realize you don't understand it as well as you thought. What if the fastest way to learn something was to teach it? Jay Papasan shares one of his favorite strategies for mastering new ideas: stepping to the front of the classroom. Drawing on lessons from Richard Feynman, Warren Buffett, and his own experience writing The ONE Thing, Jay explains why teaching reveals the gaps in your knowledge and forces you to think more clearly. You'll learn the four steps of the Feynman Technique, how the curse of knowledge makes experts harder to understand, and why committing to teaching something regularly can help you become a better leader. In This Episode, You’ll Learn:  - Why teaching someone else can be one of the fastest ways to learn something yourself - How the four steps of the Feynman Technique help simplify complicated ideas - Why the curse of knowledge makes it difficult for experts to communicate clearly - How to Find Opportunities to Teach Something - Why regularly teaching a subject can help you stay accountable to mastering it - How to become a better leader by learning to explain ideas others can understand Chapters: [00:00] The Fastest Way to Learn Anything [07:38] How Teaching Keeps You Learning [14:17] What is the Curse of Knowledge [17:32] Explain It Like I’m 11 [19:58] Why AI Advice Feels So Personal [26:40] Challenge: Go teach something Links & Tools from This Episode: • Sign up For The ONE Thing Summit TODAY • The ONE Thing Operating System • Free Resources Produced by NOVA 

October 26, 202641 min

Stuck in Meetings All Day? Your Team May Be Broken (And How to Fix It)

You can have a team full of talented, hardworking people and still struggle to get anything done. Everyone's busy, calendars are packed, and somehow the important work keeps getting pushed aside. What if the problem isn't the people on your team, but the way you're working together?  Psychologist and bestselling author Ron Friedman spent five years studying what separates high-performing teams from everyone else. After surveying more than 6,000 workers, he discovered that the best teams aren't necessarily made up of more productive individuals. They've learned how to work together differently. Ron joins Jay Papasan to share insights from his new book, Superteams. They discuss why individual productivity habits can create team-wide bottlenecks, how to make meetings worth attending, and why the best brainstorming starts before anyone enters the room. They also break down the three ingredients of workplace trust and what turns a group of coworkers into an actual team. In this episode, you'll learn: - How to tell if you're on a super team or a dysfunctional one - Why turning off notifications doesn't predict a high-performing team - The meeting rule that kills any meeting without a decision to make - One sneaky flaw in Google's famous study of psychological safety - Why brain writing beats group brainstorming - Three things that turn a group of people into a real team Chapters: (00:00) What 6,000 Workers Said About Their Teams (02:42) Productivity Can't Save You on a Broken Team (06:00) The Weak Link Theory of Teams (10:14) No Decisions? No Meeting. (21:26) Can You Have TOO MUCH Collaboration? (34:14) The Recipe for a Dysfunctional Team Links & Tools from This Episode: • The ONE Thing Operating System • Superteams: The Science and Secrets of High-Performing Teams by Ron Friedman • The Best Place to Work by Ron Friedman • Ron Friedman’s Website • Free Resources

October 19, 202644 min

580. The 4 Biggest Mistakes Couples Make When They Set Goals Together

Most couples spend plenty of time talking about what needs to happen this week. Far fewer create space to talk about what they want their life to look like years from now. For more than 20 years, Jay and Wendy Papasan have stepped away together for an annual goal-setting retreat. What started as a weekend away from two young kids has become one of the rituals they credit with helping them get aligned around their family, finances, businesses, health, relationships, and future. In this episode, they walk through how to create your own retreat, from getting out of your normal environment and preparing the right information to dreaming 10 years ahead and working backward into five-year and one-year goals. They also share what happens when partners disagree, why one person shouldn’t dominate the conversation, and how regular check-ins keep goals from disappearing after the retreat ends. In This Episode, You’ll Learn: How to prepare for and run a goal-setting retreat with your partner The big mistakes to avoid What to say to a partner who is just not into this The magic of setting a goal you have no clue how to hit How to navigate a goal disagreement How to keep these goals top of mind through the year • Join us for the FINAL The ONE Thing Summit and Goal Setting Retreat: the1thing.com/summit Chapters: [00:00] 21 Years of Setting Goals Together [05:26] Getting Your Partner On Board [13:15] The Goal Setting Retreat Process [20:18] How to Think Big TOGETHER [23:37] When Your Goals Don’t Match [29:27] The Biggest Goal-Setting Mistakes [41:49] Challenge: Put Your Retreat on the Calendar Links & Tools from This Episode: • Join us for the FINAL The ONE Thing Summit and Goal Setting Retreat: the1thing.com/summit • Wendy Papasan Website • Free Resources

October 12, 202654 min

Stop Spending The Best Hour of Your Day on Email | Cyril Peupion | Ep. 579

You answer email faster than you did a year ago. The pile is still there tomorrow, now with Slack and WhatsApp too. Your inbox is a battle you can't win, and you're paying for it with your sharpest hours. Cyril Peupion, author of Less Achieves More, has spent 20 years teaching the busiest executives at companies like Microsoft and American Express how to get more done. The usual response to a pile like that is to throw more hours at the problem. Cyril coached a leader living it: two young kids she wasn't seeing, a husband complaining about her crazy hours and traveling, and, by her own account, health that sucked. She told him she'd resign in six months. Six months later she had already hit her target for the year and stopped working weekends. She was painting and playing piano again. In this episode, you'll learn: How to get a handle on your email and DMs  Why Cyril deletes 90% of the email he receives How many of your last 10 emails will matter long term Why we bias towards more instead of less Why working over 50 hours a week makes you worse Chapters: [00:00] Why Doing More Is Making Work Harder [08:29] Why You Keep Trying to Add More [16:19] When You Should END Your Work Week [28:32] How to Get on Top of Your Email [32:55] Connect Your Tasks to Your Time [37:34] Stop Checking Email All Day [47:49] Challenge: Put Your Tasks on the Calendar Links & Tools from This Episode: • The ONE Thing Operating System • Less Achieves More by Cyril Peupion • Cyril Peupion’s Website • Free Resources Produced by NOVA 

October 5, 202637 min

Stop Trying to Find Your Purpose. Ask This Question Instead | Tom Rath | Ep. 578

StrengthsFinder 2.0 author Tom Rath on why the hunt for purpose makes people anxious, and the questions he asks instead. His new book is named after it: What's the Point? You've been told to find your purpose since high school. You're still waiting for it to show up. The word is the problem. Most of us hear it and tense up, as if purpose has to descend from the heavens on a sunny day every ten years. Tom's books have sold more than 10 million copies. Five months before his newest book launched, he called his publisher and dropped its working title, Purpose Unlocked, worried readers would be too intimidated to read a book called Purpose. At 15, Tom was diagnosed with a life-threatening genetic condition. His life expectancy was about 40. So he set out to pack a whole career and a whole family into those years, in case he didn't get any overtime. At 40, he realized about 90% of what he'd been doing was trying to live up to other people's expectations. He's convinced most people reach the end of their careers without ever seeing the work they'd have been best at. In this episode, you'll learn: How to make purpose practical enough to use every day Why 30 minutes on strangers' emails is 30 minutes less with your kids The patient photo that made radiologists more thorough Why your kids should see 50 jobs before picking one A miserable job can be worse for you than no job at all What to try before you quit a job you hate Chapters: [00:00] What’s the Point of Your Work? [04:23] The Question That Changes Your Day [11:15] Define Success by Contribution, Not Comparison [15:59] The Myth of One Big Purpose [18:21] Stop Letting Kids Choose Careers by Default [26:59] 3 Ways to Fix a Job You Hate [33:28] Challenge: Ask “What’s the Point?” Links & Tools from This Episode: • The ONE Thing Operating System • What’s the Point? by Tom Rath • How Full Is Your Bucket? by Tom Rath and Donald O. Clifton • StrengthsFinder 2.0 by Tom Rath • Free Resources Produced by NOVA 

September 28, 202630 min

Before You Set New Goals, Decide What to Let Go Of

How to simplify your busy life before setting new goals. You raised your hand for a committee years ago, and now it’s just draining time and energy every week. It’s out of alignment - and it’s almost goal-setting season. That work project that seemed like a great idea at the time is still eating your week, and nothing new fits. Before you add another goal to the list, you have to pause and find the space for it. On August 1st, Jay Papasan left Keller Williams after almost 26 years, and he’s still in what he calls a season of addition by subtraction. Are you living your own definition of success, or someone else’s? If you’re a doer, it’s easy to keep doing and never look up to check your direction. Make some space and you’ll feel lighter, Jay promises, even before you know what’s coming into it. In this episode, you’ll learn: The 5 questions Jay uses to free up time for his ONE Thing Why chasing a resume line is holding you back What your calendar can say about your true values How to know if you’ve set the wrong goal How subtraction can create more room for meaningful work Chapters: (00:00) Leaving Keller Williams After Almost 26 Years (06:26) Whose Definition of Success Are You Living? (12:14) 5 Questions to Decide What to Subtract (21:10) What’s Changing at The ONE Thing Links & Tools from This Episode: • Goal Setting Retreat and ONE Thing Summit • Changes to The ONE Thing services • Free Resources

September 21, 202641 min

15 Truths for Business & Life: Inbox Zero, Hustle Culture & More

Winners never quit. Clear the inbox. Outwork everyone. You've followed rules like these for years without checking them. Charlie Munger kept a latticework of mental models so he'd make better decisions. Jay Papasan keeps his own in a notes document he carries around. About 88 entries so far, written down so he's less likely to keep repeating the same mistakes. You're most likely to hurt yourself, Jay warns, when you're anchored to a truth that may not be true. So he puts fifteen of his own on the table, then one he's abandoned. He expects you to disagree with a few. The ones that make you angry, he says, are probably the ones you need to think about. Until you learn the lesson, life keeps teaching it. In this episode, you'll learn: Why winners actually DO quit Why inbox zero is one of the least productive things you can do What you really give up when you lean on AI for everything Why a christmas bonus disappears so quickly How to avoid the #1 worst financial habit How to build your own list of mental models from mistakes Chapters: [00:00] 15 Hills I’m Willing to Die On [03:56] Build Careers, Not Just Jobs [12:43] Play Up and Grow Faster [16:28] Winners Quit Strategically [22:53] The Money Rules That Matter [30:46] Hustle Culture and Inbox Zero [38:47] Your Weekly Challenge Links & Tools from This Episode: • The ONE Thing Operating System • Jay’s interview with Oliver Burkeman • Free Resources Produced by NOVA 

September 14, 202632 min

Why Your Business Feels Unpredictable (and how to fix it) w/ Jordan Freed

You work all day and your results still swing month to month. One month you're unstoppable, the next the pipeline is empty and you can't understand why. Jordan Freed says your business has a first down: one repeatable action that makes everything after it predictable, and most of us have never named ours. In this episode, Jay sits down with Jordan Freed - head coach at The ONE Thing and Jay's own former coach. He says he has never coached a real estate professional who hit their listing number every single month and missed the rest of their goals. Just in time for football season, Jay and Jordan break a business down into first downs, first dominoes, and false starts. Jordan's clients are ambitious, and the ambition trips them: they rush from one thing to the next and nothing gets completed. Jay has watched the same people run hot until they burn out, then swing back the other way. Most people never stay consistent long enough to see the other side. Jordan describes it: home to the kids at 5:00 with everything done and the evening already mapped out. In this episode, you'll learn: How to break your business down into something predictable Why your first domino is usually smaller than the action you think you need How false starts create distraction and inconsistency Why ambitious people tend to rush past the real starting point How long-term consistency creates breakthroughs Why predictable success does not have to come at the expense of your health, family, or relationships Chapters:  (00:00) Why Your Business & Life Feel Unpredictable (02:19) How Tom Brady Made History (and what we can learn from it) (08:00) Guesswork Is an Invitation to Distraction (14:21) It Just Takes Longer Than You Think… (18:26) When You’ll Finally See Progress (22:46) How to Truly Be “Done” After Work (26:52) Jordan's 90-Day Challenge Links & Tools from This Episode: • The ONE Thing Operating System • Jordan Freed’s Website • Connect with Jordan on LinkedIn • Free Resources Produced by NOVA

September 7, 202629 min

Success Is Boring (and how to show up anyway)

You know what you should be doing every day. But most days you find a reason to make them tomorrow. Then the year ends looking exactly like the last one. Motivation was never going to carry you through work this boring. The people who show up every day set it up so that skipping costs them something. Jay Papasan edited Mia Hamm's book at HarperCollins. The story that stuck with him had nothing to do with the World Cup. It was wind sprints alone in a park in the off-season heat, and the note her coach left under her windshield wiper. Being number one in your market gets built the same way, out of a few thousand hours nobody sees, and you are wired to avoid every one of them. Willpower runs out long before the work does. Jay has watched three plain strategies carry people through the hours everyone else skips. You only need one. In this episode, you'll learn: Three ways to keep doing boring work after motivation and willpower run out Who else pays when you let yourself off the hook Why the best sales scoreboards track activities, not just sales The goal-setting chain from five years out down to what you do today The first domino: the action that has to happen before the one you keep skipping Which of Gretchen Rubin's four tendencies explains how you respond to expectations Chapters: (00:00) What Mia Hamm's Coach Caught Her Doing Alone (02:15) Why You'd Rather Be Shocked Than Sit Still (04:56) Strategy #1: Make It Bigger Than Yourself (08:09) Who Else Pays When You Skip the Work? (10:15) Strategy #2: Think in Five Years, Act This Week (13:05) The Step Before the Step You Keep Skipping (17:17) Strategy #3: Accountability Without a Boss (20:20) Upholder, Questioner, Obliger, or Rebel? (24:55) Very Few People Will Do This Every Day Links & Tools from This Episode: • The ONE Thing Operating System • Chris Dixon's episode about using the 411 • The Four Tendencies by Gretchen Rubin • Free Resources Produced by NOVA 