This morning I informed my colleagues that I had only one thing on my to-do list. Two of them chuckled, a few of them rolled their eyes, but every one of them assumed I would spend most of my day slacking off. They changed their minds, however, when our boss sent out a mass email this afternoon praising me for resolving a principal issue that my colleagues had been sidestepping all week long.

In my boss’s eyes, the one thing on my to-do list was more important than the fifty other things my colleagues had accomplished during the same time frame.

A Commitment to One Thing a Day

Some people spend 90% of their time organizing their time. Some tackle to-do lists peppered with insignificance that stretch a mile long. And still, there are others who refuse to do anything at all.

As for me, I am committed to doing one thing a day, and that has made all the difference.

The One Thing To-Do List

What one thing will you do today?

Get out a blank sheet of paper and a pen. Write “I will do one thing today!” in big letters across the page. Then list your one thing at the bottom. It should look something like this:

Make your own “I Will Do One Thing Today” to-do list every morning and get it done before you get sidetracked with unimportant stuff.