THE ONE THING FOR COLLEGE STUDENTS

The simple path to higher grades, less stress, and an active social life

2

WHY WE CREATED THE ONE THING FOR COLLEGE STUDENTS

The principles in this workbook are based on the teachings of the book The ONE Thing. Shortly after The ONE Thing authors, Gary Keller and Jay Papasan released the book in 2013, they started to receive calls, letters, and emails from all over the world from people who had implemented the book and found life-changing success. Some of the most interesting feedback came from college students—young adults who had picked up the book in an airport, or been given it by a mentor or a parent, and found that its principles not only applied to them, but significantly amplified their collegiate success all while lessening their stress.

Recognizing an opportunity to connect with this audience, we set out to learn more. We reached out to our networks to talk to and learn from 15 current college students and recent grads about how they use The ONE Thing’s principles. What we learned inspired us. These young adults were achieving extraordinary results without sacrificing their sanity, health, relationships, or passions.

We created this workbook to share what they taught us. Our intent is to give you a suite of tools you can use to achieve better grades, in less time, with less stress. We’d love for you to pick up The ONE Thing book and read it as well, but it’s not required to reap the benefits of the teachings and exercises of this guide.

We express our gratitude to the

following people for their guidance and

inspiration in creating this resource:

Aaron Ludin, University of South Florida

Adam Chain, Pennsylvania State University

Clark Nowlin, Baylor University

Corey Lynn Morton, University of Maine

Danielle Walker, Baylor University

David Dziuba, Rutgers University

Hogan Hudgins, Baylor University

Ian Connors, George Washington University

Jim Hartman, University of Texas

Katherine Rosenthal, Fitchburg State University

Katia Husemann, Bond University

Kim Zuroff, North Dakota State

Mustafa Wahid, Loyola University

Parker Fair, Wheaton College

Sam Sawyers, Elon University

Samantha Wilkins, University of Maine

Stephanie Voong, Syracuse University

3

GO SMALL TO HAVE A BIGGER LIFE

Clark Nowlin, a student at Baylor University, found himself regularly gripping his fists to get through his days. He worked hard. Really hard. And yet he always felt stressed out and like he couldn’t get everything done that he needed to.

His junior year, that changed. After attending a workshop taught by Gary Keller (author of The ONE Thing), Clark started putting the principles of the book into practice. He took a look at his college life and reevaluated it. He stopped trying to do so many things at once and started focusing on the habits that would drive his success and prioritized his time. As a result, he ended up spending less time studying while getting better grades, having more time for his friends, and lowering his overall stress level. He went small to have a big life.

What advice have you heard about what it takes to be successful at college? Lots of caffeine, little sleep, a ramen-diet, a love of multi-tasking, and a gift for formatting three pages of writing into a six-page paper? Truth be told, many students graduate top of their class by bearing down and barreling through. You could too. But, it sounds exhausting and thankfully there’s a better path. By focusing on your ONE Thing, you can actually accomplish more by doing less.

If everyone has the same number of hours in a day, why do some people seem to get so much more done than others? How do they

do more, achieve more, earn more, have more? The answer is they make getting to the heart of things the heart of their approach. They go small. Extraordinary results are directly determined by how narrow you can make your focus.

“Going small” means ignoring all the things you could do and doing what you should do. It’s recognizing that not all things matter equally and finding the things that matter most. It’s realizing that extraordinary results are directly determined by how narrow you can make your focus.

YOUR ROAD MAP

As a student, perhaps this sounds unrealistic. After all, you’re likely juggling a lot of different balls—classes, social commitments, work, internships, athletics, family, your health, etc. By using this workbook and implementing The ONE Thing’s principles into your life, you’ll learn to:

• Cut through the clutter

• Achieve better results in less time

“Since being introduced to The ONE Thing, my life has improved both personally and professionally. Business-wise, my sales have already surpassed my numbers from last year. Personally, my relationships have never been better, and academically my grades have improved drastically.”David Dziuba, Rutgers University

“I use the techniques for better time management and to obtain a balance in various areas such

as academic, extracurricular, physical, and social.”

~ Katia Husemann, Bond University

4

• Build momentum toward your goals

• Dial down the stress

• Overcome feeling overwhelmed

• Revive your energy

• Stay on track

• Master what matters to you

This workbook is a road map to propel you through your college career—to help you take on college confidently, be successful at school, and have a social life—all with less stress!

STEP 1 PURPOSE

Big lives start with big dreams for your future. Some students start college with crystal-clear post-graduation goals. Many, however, don’t have it all figured out just yet. And that’s okay—in large part, this is exactly what the college years are for. Think about your goals for the future without limitation—much as George Dantzig inadvertently did:

Arriving late to his statistics class, a young George Dantzig copied down two problems left on the blackboard that he assumed was homework. A few days later, he returned with his homework, and apologized to his professor for returning the work so late, explaining that the problems seemed a little harder than usual. Six weeks later, his professor came to his door and told him excitedly, “I have just written an introduction to one of your papers. Read it so I can send it out right away for publication.” Searching for explanation, Dantzig asked his professor what he was talking about, to which he replied that the two “homework” problems on the board were actually two famous unsolved problems in statistics—it was the first time Dantzig had any idea that the problems were special in any way. Perhaps even more interesting, Dantzig had only taken a few statistics courses prior to solving the problem.

Dantzig went on to become a famous mathematician and the inspiration behind the main character in the movie Good Will Hunting. Dantzig acknowledged that he gave permission for his story to be published in a book by a minister he had met on a plane. Dantzig recalled the book’s portrayal:

“Schuler’s published version was a bit garbled and exaggerated but essentially correct. The moral of his sermon was this: If I had known that the problems were not homework but were in fact two famous unsolved problems in statistics, I probably would not have thought positively, would have become discouraged, and would never have solved them.”

Source: Donald J. Albers, Constance Reid, and George B. Dantzig. The College Mathematics Journal. Vol. 17, No.4 (1986) pp. 292-314

“If we don’t know who we are, we will fall to average. Figuring out who you are and how you

want to live is important.” Parker Fair, Wheaton College

“Build your own dreams, or someone else will hire

you to build theirs.”Farrah Gray, author, Reallionaire

5

EXERCISE: MY SOMEDAY GOALS

Your Someday Goals

Think about yourself in the future. Your life is amazing and everything you’ve hoped for yourself has come true. Allow your mind to consider this perfect life, blocking out all the negative thoughts that may creep in and limit your imagination. On the next page, document your vision of your future.

1. Start by identifying the key areas of your life that make it so fulfilling (to get you started, we’ve filled in some of the popular areas in life that people often focus on).

2. In each of these key areas, write down how you envision your perfect future:

• What are your hopes and dreams?

• Who will you be?

• What will you do?

• How will you make an impact?

• What goals have you achieved?

If the areas we’ve identified don’t resonate with you, feel free to choose others that suit you better. If you need some additional choices, here are some ideas: personal growth, fun and recreation, romance, and physical environment.

Your College Vision

Now, take a shorter snapshot. Repeat the same exercise with the end-goal being college graduation—what do you want out of the next few years of college? Does it align with your future self goals?

“Don’t be afraid to think big. Figure out where you see

yourself in the future and how to get yourself on that path.”Jim Hartman, University of Texas

6

7

8

PURPOSE, PRIORITY, AND PRODUCTIVITY DRIVE EXTRAORDINARY RESULTS

There is a natural rhythm to our lives that becomes a simple formula for implementing the principles of The ONE Thing and achieving extraordinary results: purpose, priority, and productivity.

The work you did on envisioning your future self serves as your purpose—you may be able to distill your purpose down to a succinct statement, or, maybe it’s a looser set of ideals and goals. Either way, figuring out your purpose is necessary for determining who you want to be and what you want to do in the future, and knowing this lets you set your compass. It drives your priority, which in turn drives your actions.

Think of purpose, priority, and productivity as three parts of an iceberg.

With typically only 1/9 of an iceberg above water, whatever you see is just the tip of everything that is there. This is exactly how productivity, priority, and purpose are related. What you see is determined by what you don’t.

Let’s work through how to identify and protect our priorities and drive our productivity.

STEP 2: PRIORITY

THE DOMINO EFFECT

At some point in their lives, everyone has set up a row of dominoes and, with one flick of a finger, watched the amazing chain reaction. Knock over the first domino and the rest follow. But, did you know that one regular-sized domino can actually knock over a chain of progressively larger dominoes?

It’s called a geometric progression, and was first tested in the 1980s.

“My sophomore year of college, I had my son. I now had to figure out how to get all this work done in 1/25th of the time. I figured out my priorities quickly.”Katherine Rosenthal,

Fitchburg State University

9

During the experiment, a physicist successfully knocked over a line of dominoes where each was 1.5 times larger than its predecessor. By the end, the last domino toppled was about three feet tall—or the size of a headstone.

In The ONE Thing, Gary uses this domino metaphor to showcase the path to extraordinary results. Just like with the geometric progression, when you line up your dominoes correctly, it’s actually the smallest thing that does the most. So when you determine what your first domino is and knock it over, the impact of your action will create a higher level of success.

Do you see the implication? Not only can one knock over others but also others that are successively larger. Getting extraordinary results is all about creating a domino effect in your life.

In order to find your first domino and begin to whack away at it, you must first put aside the lies about success.

THE LIES THAT DERAIL AND MISLEAD US

The challenge we face when forming our success strategies is the lies that we have internalized: “I just have too much that has to be done.” “I’ll get more done by doing things at the same time.” “I need to be a more disciplined person.” “I should be able to do what I want whenever I want.” “I need more balance in my life.” “Maybe I shouldn’t dream so big.” Repeat these thoughts often enough and they become the lies about success that keep us from living The ONE Thing. With the college and grad students we talked with, these were the four misconceptions we most commonly heard:

1. Everything matters equally

2. Multitasking is effective

3. I need a disciplined life

4. Willpower is always on will-call

If we’re going to maximize our potential, we’re going to have to make sure we put these lies to bed.

10

LIE #1: EVERYTHING MATTERS EQUALLY

Papers, exams, reading, extracurricular activities, work, social events—do you ever feel like you have too many things that must get done all at the same time? When everything feels urgent and important, everything seems equal. Yet doing more doesn’t mean you’re being more productive.

Traditional to-do lists aren’t reflective of what must be done and what should be done first for maximum productivity. They don’t build day after day so that you get one step closer to your end goals.

Despite this, to-do lists are hard to let go of, because each time we do check off an item we feel like something is getting accomplished. Experts say that some people feel a relief of guilt about getting things done and others believe checking off a to-do provides a short rush of endorphins. Feel-good list-makers will be happy to know the idea is not to do away with lists, but to craft a more focused list of action items.

The Success List

Achievers have an eye for the essential. They pause just long enough to decide what matters and then allow what matters to drive their day. Achievers work from a clear sense of priority.

So what should we use in place of a to-do list? Letting go of a to-do list can be difficult if you fail to realize that a success list will help you get more done. A success list enables you to be more focused and driven by priority. Success lists are built on the 80/20 Principle, which states that 20 percent of efforts or actions tend to produce 80 percent of results. Following this proven principle, clearly everything isn’t equal, and success requires fewer actions than most people realize.

The benefits of a success list include:

• A clear direction

• Focus on what must be done

• Organized to-dos based on priority

“Not everything is equal—I can’t spend the same amount of time on Beginners Golf as Biology.”Hogan Hudgins, Baylor University

11

• Ensured productivity

• Decreased stress

The key is to think about where you want to go, not what you’re doing right now.

To-do lists tend to be long: success lists are short.

How to evaluate your 20 percent:

Which classes are most critical for your major and/or for you to learn for your career goals?

Which assignments are worth more to your class grade?

What are the nonnegotiables? (work shifts, classes you must attend, etc.)

How to know if it’s in your 80 percent:

Does it directly relate to your goals for the future? If not, it’s the 80 percent.

What to do with the 80 percent:

• Don’t do it

• Do it only after the 20 percent is done

• Do a topline approach, and just cover the basics (attend the class, read the study guide, vacuum your dorm room’s floor, etc.)

“Before I read the book, if I had five assignments due at the end of the week, I’d just knock

them out. Now, I focus my time on what’s most important and spend more time there.”

Adam Chain,

Pennsylvania State University

12

EXERCISE: YOUR 20 PERCENT

Think forward to the next week. Make a master list of all the things you can think of that you want to get done—from cleaning to schoolwork to social life.

Now, circle the things on the list that are directly related to your Someday goals and College years goals you identified in the first exercise. This is your 20 percent.

Up until now, have you been giving this 20 percent the time, attention, and focus it needs to drive your results? Or have you madly been crossing things off your to-do list and patting yourself on the back for each checkmark?

A Note on Balance

Inevitably, when everything no longer matters equally, we may feel as if certain things are out of balance. A balanced life is a lie. When you try to treat everything as equal, it prevents you from making extraordinary time commitments to anything—hindering extraordinary results. When you focus on what is truly important, something will always be underserved. No matter how hard you try, there will always be things left undone at the end of your day, week, month, or semester. When the things that matter most get done, you’ll still be left with a sense of things being undone—a sense of imbalance. Leaving some things undone is a necessary tradeoff for extraordinary results.

“College kids can stress themselves out easily—focus on what matters!”

Samantha Wilkins, University of Maine

13

LIE #2: MULTITASKING IS EFFECTIVE

The idea of multitasking as an ideal way of getting multiple things done at college has become so mainstream that busy students have bought into it without considering its effect on results. Students study while sitting in lectures, write papers in the dining hall, read in-between helping customers at work. But, recent research has found that multitasking not only decreases the quality of work being done, it also slows us down.

It’s an Issue of Focus

When you try to complete two tasks at once, it’s been proven that neither task is going to get your full attention. Lack of attention leads to problems. Problems lead to things having to be redone. Therefore multitasking can actually increase your workload instead of reducing it.

Humans are capable of doing two things at once, but our brains aren’t able to focus on more than one thing at a time. The prefrontal cortex controls focus, which is a finite resource. When we do two things at once, we are dividing and watering down our focus. That’s why researchers now say multitasking fails on various levels. Not just for some, but for the vast majority of people. Studies from psychologist David Strayer found that 97.5 percent of people failed multitasking tests, and concluded that there is no way to increase your ability to multitask. In fact, additional research out of Stanford University found that chronic multitaskers actually performed worse than occasional multitaskers.

It doesn’t help that there are more things competing for our attention these days. There were already enough distractors before emails, smartphones, and social media came into play! Each time we are distracted, our brains have to refocus. The same is true each time we switch back and forth between two tasks. The more complex the tasks are, the longer it takes to recover from the switch. Ultimately, we end up wasting time, not saving time.

Furthermore, the work that we produce while multitasking is of lower quality. Continually producing work that is just acceptable, okay, or subpar isn’t what any person strives for. Yet, when we multitask, that is the result we get. The more people multitask the worse they get at filtering out irrelevant information and refocusing when they switch between tasks. That means the longer you hold onto the multitasking lie, the less productive you’ll actually be.

14

Kicking the Multitasking Habit to the Curb

Getting out of the habit of multitasking is easier said than done. The longer you practice multitasking, the more difficult it is to focus on ONE Thing at a time. Some multitaskers have even developed a dopamine rush from switching between tasks, have lower gray matter density as a result, and can feel bored without multitasking.

Distractions happen, but how you are able to minimize them and recover from them is what really matters. A good first step is to focus your environment to eliminate the distractors. Shut off your phone and isolate yourself from others. Do whatever you can to put focus on the single task at hand. In The ONE Thing, we refer to this as “building a bunker”—creating a physical environment that allows you to focus.

EXERCISE: IDENTIFYING DISTRACTIONS

Take a look at what you identified as your 20 percent in the previous exercise. How do you currently get those things done? What distracts you from getting them done? How will you eliminate those distractions?

My 20 percent Common distractionsSolutions for eliminating distractions

15

LIE #3: I NEED A DISCIPLINED LIFE

If you have ever worried that a lack of discipline is holding you back, you’ll be happy to know that being highly disciplined isn’t a requirement for success. In fact, you can become successful with less discipline than you think, for one simple reason: success is about doing the right thing, not about doing everything right.

Good Habits, Not Discipline, Lead to Success

The trick to success is to choose the right habit and bring just enough discipline to establish it. We call this “selected discipline.” Discipline by itself doesn’t produce results. It’s how you use discipline to train yourself to act or approach things in your life that makes a difference. People that appear to be highly disciplined actually just practice good habits. They understand that discipline and habits go hand-in-hand. And rest assured, all areas of your life don’t need to be met with the same level of discipline—just the areas that matter the most.

Don’t just double down on your discipline. Success is about recognizing the most important habit that will help you achieve your goals and using enough discipline to develop that habit into a natural behavior. When you focus on doing the most important thing, everything else tends to be easier.

The good news is, even if you’re not “disciplined,” you probably have enough self-control to practice selected discipline and create good habits. And once the habit is established, it requires much less discipline to maintain. Discipline can then be reallocated to create the next good habit.

Manage Discipline for 66 Days to Create a Good Habit

Research from the University College of London showed that 66 days is the average time it takes to create a habit. At the onset, the majority of your discipline will need to be reserved for this habit, but as you work your way through the challenge, you’ll notice that less and less is needed while the results will continue to grow. We recommend working on one habit at a time—super-successful people aren’t superhuman at all; they’ve just used selected discipline to develop a few significant habits. One at a time, over time.

“44 percent of the wealthy wake up three hours before they have to

work vs. 3 percent of the poor.”Tom Corley, richhabitsinstitute.com

16

EXERCISE:

You’ve now spent time imagining your future and your shorter-term vision for how college will put you on that path. You’ve identified the “20 percent activities” that are most critical right now, and how you will protect them from distraction.

Now ...

1. What is the one habit that would have the greatest impact on you hitting your most important goal? Use the 66-day calendar found at the end of this guide, or track it in your existing calendar.

My Habit:

2. Give yourself some accountability to maintain this habit. Some ideas: print out the calendar and put it up on the wall for all to see. Post daily to Instagram/Facebook, ask a group of friends to start a 66-day challenge with you, and hold each other accountable.

My Accountability Plan:

Not sure? Just pick one and work through the experience of building a habit. It could be as simple as going to bed by 11 P.M. on all weekdays, to flossing daily, to doing five minutes of meditation each morning.

LIE #4: WILLPOWER IS ALWAYS ON WILL-CALL

Having the ability to call on your willpower whenever you might need it is a lie. The truth is, willpower has a limited battery life but can be recharged with some downtime. It’s a limited but renewable resource.

Everyone accepts that limited resources must be managed, yet we fail to recognize that willpower is one of them. We act as though our supply of willpower were endless. As a result, we don’t consider it a personal resource to be managed, like food or sleep.

Stanford University professor Baba Shiv’s research shows just how fleeting our willpower can be. He divided 165 graduate students into two groups and asked them to memorize either a two-digit or a seven-digit number. Both tasks were well within the average person’s cognitive abilities, and they could take as much time as they needed. When they were ready, students would go to another room where

17

they would recall the number. Along the way they were offered a snack for participating in the study. The two choices were chocolate cake or a bowl of fruit salad—guilty pleasure or healthy treat. Here’s the kicker: students asked to memorize the seven-digit number were nearly twice as likely to choose cake. This tiny extra cognitive load was just enough to prevent a prudent choice.

The implications are staggering. The more we use our mind, the less minding power we have. Willpower is like a fast-twitch muscle that gets tired and needs rest.

Clark Nowlin saw this play out in his own life. In his sophomore year of college, Clark was having trouble focusing and found his grades going down. He was diagnosed with ADHD and prescribed medication. The meds worked and he found better focus. However, after reading The ONE Thing, Clark realized he had a deficiency of willpower, not a deficiency of attention. Now he plans his time around what’s important and finds he has less stress, higher grades, and more time for his friends—and he no longer needs medication to drive his focus. In hindsight, he realized that he was simply borrowing willpower to get stuff done.

Research concludes that willpower is a mental muscle that doesn’t bounce back quickly. If you employ it for one task, there will be less power available for the next unless you refuel.

One of the real challenges we have is that when our willpower is low, we tend to fall back on our default settings. This begs the question: What are your default settings? If your willpower is dragging, will you grab the bag of carrots or the bag of chips? Will you be up for studying for that exam or down for any distraction that drops in? When your most important work is done while your willpower wanes, your default programming will define your level of achievement. Average is often the result.

So how do you put your willpower to work? Think about it. Pay attention to it. Respect it. You make doing what matters most a priority when your willpower is at its highest.

What taxes your willpower:

• Implementing new behaviors • Taking tests• Filtering distractions • Doing something you don’t enjoy• Resisting temptation • Selecting long-term over short-term rewards• Suppressing emotion • Trying to impress others• Restraining aggression • Coping with fear• Suppressing impulses

“I always thought you could just drink three more cups of coffee and accomplish whatever you need to. I realized through the

book’s teachings that there is a point where you need to stop and refuel because

your willpower—like your cell phone—has a battery life.”

Danielle Walker, Baylor University

18

EXERCISE: PLAN YOUR IDEAL DAY

1. First, evaluate your fuel gauge. Where is your willpower greatest?

2. Take a look again at your critical “20 percent activities” from page 12. Plan those into your day when your willpower is greatest.

6:00:30

7:00:30

8:00:30

9:00:30

10:00:30

11:00:30

12:00:30

1:00:30

2:00:30

3:00:30

4:00:30

5:00:30

6:00:30

7:00:30

8:00:30

9:00:30

10:00:30

11:00:30

12:00:30

19

3. Now, ask yourself:

• Is the habit I chose to focus on supporting this ideal day?

• Is there anything I can do now to better support this ideal day in the future? (start planning classes into chunks, going to bed and getting up earlier, etc.)

STEP 3: PRODUCTIVITY

THE SUCCESS HABIT: THE FOCUSING QUESTION

So far in this workbook, we’ve shared some powerful tools you can use to prioritize your time in a way that supports your vision for your life and your college experience. But the Focusing Question is the most powerful of all. It’s a way of life. The driver of productivity. You can use it to find your most leveraged priority, make the most out of your time, and get the biggest bang for your buck. Ask yourself at the beginning of each year, each semester, each week, each day: What’s the ONE Thing I can do such that by doing it everything else will be easier or unnecessary?

The Focusing Question can direct you to your ONE Thing in different areas of your life. This is especially helpful when you’re juggling many different balls related to your personal life, your social life, your school work, your job, your athletics, etc.

“There’s a misconception about scheduling, that it doesn’t allow

for spontaneity. I disagree—because I plan everything and it’s taken care of, I have more time for spontaneity. It’s easy

for me to say yes to something spontaneous because I know the other stuff is taken care of

and I can be fully present.” Ian Connors,

George Washington University

“We make things complicated for ourselves. I’ve come to realize that it’s actually easy ... I just have

to focus on that ONE Thing.”Stephanie Voong, Syracuse University

“I use the Focusing Question to stay well-prioritized. Any time I start to feel overwhelmed or have too many things piling up, I simplify it down and consider what the ONE Thing is I can do right now to progress.”Sam Sawyers, Elon University

20

Here are some examples of Focusing Questions you might ask yourself:

What’s the ONE Thing I can do to minimize my college debt ...?

What’s the ONE Thing I can do to improve my relationships with my friends ...?

What’s the ONE Thing I can do to improve my skill at ?

What’s the ONE Thing I can do to achieve my health goals ...?

What’s the ONE Thing I can do to achieve my GPA goal ...?

What’s the ONE Thing I can do to relieve my stress ...?

21

GOAL SETTING TO THE NOW

To get intentional about your future, live by priority. And to stay focused on those priorities, use “Goal Setting to the Now” to drive your productivity. By thinking through the filter of Goal Setting to the Now, you set a Someday Goal and then methodically drill down to what you should be doing right now. Your ONE Thing “right now” is nested inside your ONE Thing today, which is nested inside your ONE Thing this week, which is nested inside your ONE Thing this semester ... It’s how a small thing can actually build up to a big one. You’re lining up your dominoes.

Connect today to all your tomorrows.

22

EXERCISE:

1. Choose one of the categories you included in your Someday Goals exercise on pages 5-6.

2. For that category, work through the Goal Setting to the Now questions:

23

TIME BLOCKING

Time blocking is a way of making sure that what has to be done gets done. It is the process of going to your calendar and blocking off all the time you need to accomplish your ONE Thing. If it’s a onetime ONE Thing, block off the appropriate hours and days. If it’s a regular thing, block off the appropriate time every day so it becomes a habit. Everything else—other projects, email, calls, school works—must wait. Each and every day, ask the Focusing Question for your blocked time: Today, what’s the ONE Thing I can do for

my ONE Thing such that by doing it everything else will be easier or unnecessary? When you find the answer, you’ll be doing the most leveraged activity for your most leveraged work.

This is how results become extraordinary.

If there was ONE Thing we learned from talking to college students as we researched this project, it would be this: they all carefully planned their time and time blocked. They planned for future goals, and then, each week, they time blocked 30 minutes to an hour every Sunday to plan out their week. They shared this very powerful habit that drove their success.

Kim Zuroff told us her story of transformation by implementing this one simple habit: She was a full-time real estate agent at the same time she was going to school. She had completely lost her social life and didn’t follow a schedule—she just did the next most important thing at any given time. With her real estate career going so well, she

“I always put personal time in my schedule. My goal is to do one cool thing every Sunday that I’ve wanted to do—this week it may be horseback riding, next week, rock climbing.”Mustafa Wahid, Loyola University

“Consistency was imperative to my success. I had to be consistently

thinking ahead, planning and writing everything down.”

Corey Morton, University of Maine

24

decided to drop out of college. Then she read The ONE Thing and began incorporating the principles. She took control of her own schedule and her life made a complete turnaround. When she prioritized the things that were most important and used her schedule to control where they fell, her real estate business skyrocketed, she got her social life back, and she graduated from college as originally planned. She was in control, and everything clicked.

MOTIVATION VS. INTENTION

The secret to success with time blocking is really in the intent. In a study published in the British Journal of Health Psychology, researchers measured how frequently people exercised over a two-week period.

Group 1 was the control group.

Group 2 was the motivation group. Each person was asked to read a pamphlet on the benefits of exercise for reducing the risk of heart disease. Participants in Group 2 were also told, “Most young adults who have stuck to a regular exercise program have found it to be very effective in reducing their chances of developing coronary heart disease.”

The goal of these actions was to motivate Group 2 to exercise.

Group 3 was the intention group. They also read the motivational pamphlet and got the same speech as Group 2. This was done to ensure that Group 2 and Group 3 were equally motivated. Unlike Group 2, however, they were also asked to document their intention to exercise by completing the following statement:

During the next week, I will partake in at least 20 minutes of vigorous exercise on [DAY] at [TIME OF DAY] at/in [PLACE].

Here were the results.

In the control group, 38 percent of participants exercised at least once per week.

In the motivation group, 35 percent of participants exercised at least once per week.

In the intention group, an incredible 91 percent of participants exercised at least once per week.

25

Simply by writing down a plan that said exactly when and where they intended to exercise, the participants in Group 3 were much more likely to actually follow through.

Source: British Journal of Health Psychology, 2010

PLANNING FOR SUCCESS

There’s one final (critical) step to building toward your future in a purposeful, priority-driven way: putting pen to paper in the form of a calendar and documenting your intent to drive your follow-through.

Students employ many different tools for planning—some love an old-school planner, some like a wall calendar, others do everything all online. At the end of this document, you will find The ONE Thing College Planner. This is a tool that will guide you through purposefully planning your time by using the principles you’ve learned here. But regardless of whether you use our tool or a tool of your choice, the principles remain the same.

How It Works

At the start of each academic year:

1. Refine your Someday and College Goals.

2. Identify what needs to happen this year to achieve your goals. Is it a certain GPA, certain classes, internships, planning for a semester abroad, etc.?

At the start of each semester:

1. Identify what needs to happen this semester to reach your Someday and College Goals.

2. Review your class schedule, syllabuses, social calendars, etc. Spend time thinking about which classes and assignments matter most—remember, everything is not equal! Schedule all into your planner.

26

Each week:

1. Spend thirty minutes to an hour each Sunday morning or evening planning your week. Make sure you know what your ONE Thing for the week is and time block that time!

Each day:

1. Review your week so far and adjust the following days as necessary to meet your weekly goals.

TIP: Many students found that using different colors helped them to differentiate between their priorities in different arenas in their life. For example: blue for school, green for athletics, orange for social.

THE ONE THING COLLEGE PLANNER

The simple path to higher grades, less stress, and an active social life

28

Before you begin …

The first portion of this document, The ONE Thing for College Students workbook, will guide you through some exercises that will help you identify your purpose, your priorities and how to take productive action. The intent for each step is to help you achieve extraordinary results in less time with less stress.

You may also want to read The ONE Thing book.

How to Use This Planner

At the start of each academic year:

1. Refine your Someday and College Goals.

2. Identify what needs to happen this year to achieve your goals. Is it a certain GPA, certain classes, internships, planning for a semester abroad, etc.?

At the start of each semester:

1. Identify what needs to happen this semester to reach your someday and college goals.

2. Review your class schedule, syllabi, social calendars, etc. Spend time thinking about which classes and assignments matter most—remember, everything is not equal! Schedule all of this into your planner.

Each week:

1. Spend thirty minutes to an hour each Sunday morning or evening planning your week. Make sure you know what your ONE Thing for the week is and time block that time!

Each day:

1. Review your week so far and adjust the following days as necessary to meet your weekly goals.

TIP: Many students found that using different colors helped them to differentiate between their priorities in different arenas in their life. For example: blue for school, green for athletics, orange for social.

29

30

31

32

SUNDAYKEY DEADLINES

MONDAYKEY DEADLINES

TUESDAYKEY DEADLINES

6:00

6:00

6:00

:30 :30 :30

7:00

7:00

7:00

:30 :30 :30

8:00

8:00

8:00

:30 :30 :30

9:00

9:00

9:00

:30 :30 :30

10:00

10:00

10:00

:30 :30 :30

11:00

11:00

11:00

:30 :30 :30

12:00

12:00

12:00

:30 :30 :30

1:00

1:00

1:00

:30 :30 :30

2:00

2:00

2:00

:30 :30 :30

3:00

3:00

3:00

:30 :30 :30

4:00

4:00

4:00

:30 :30 :30

5:00

5:00

5:00

:30 :30 :30

6:00

6:00

6:00

:30 :30 :30

7:00

7:00

7:00

:30 :30 :30

8:00

8:00

8:00

:30 :30 :30

9:00

9:00

9:00

:30 :30 :30

10:00

10:00

10:00

:30 :30 :30

11:00

11:00

11:00

:30 :30 :30

12:00

12:00

12:00

:30 :30 :30

My ONE Thing This Week

My 20 percent (Should-Dos)

My 80 percent (Could-Dos)

33

WEDNESDAYKEY DEADLINES

THURSDAYKEY DEADLINES

FRIDAYKEY DEADLINES

SATURDAYKEY DEADLINES

6:00

6:00

6:00

6:00

:30 :30 :30 :30

7:00

7:00

7:00

7:00

:30 :30 :30 :30

8:00

8:00

8:00

8:00

:30 :30 :30 :30

9:00

9:00

9:00

9:00

:30 :30 :30 :30

10:00

10:00

10:00

10:00

:30 :30 :30 :30

11:00

11:00

11:00

11:00

:30 :30 :30 :30

12:00

12:00

12:00

12:00

:30 :30 :30 :30

1:00

1:00

1:00

1:00

:30 :30 :30 :30

2:00

2:00

2:00

2:00

:30 :30 :30 :30

3:00

3:00

3:00

3:00

:30 :30 :30 :30

4:00

4:00

4:00

4:00

:30 :30 :30 :30

5:00

5:00

5:00

5:00

:30 :30 :30 :30

6:00

6:00

6:00

6:00

:30 :30 :30 :30

7:00

7:00

7:00

7:00

:30 :30 :30 :30

8:00

8:00

8:00

8:00

:30 :30 :30 :30

9:00

9:00

9:00

9:00

:30 :30 :30 :30

10:00

10:00

10:00

10:00

:30 :30 :30 :30

11:00

11:00

11:00

11:00

:30 :30 :30 :30

12:00

12:00

12:00

12:00

:30 :30 :30 :30

35

FOR MORE INFORMATION

Read The ONE Thing and refer to the resources at www.the1thing.com to develop the insights, skills, and habits that will help you take each step of your journey with power and passion. Find up-to-date information on seminars and coaching programs, as well as exclusive ONE Thing tools that will keep you on the journey you want to be on. It matters. It’s your life.

www.facebook.com/garykeller @the1thingbook

© 2015 Rellek Publishing Partners, Ltd.

36