ONE Thing
I’ve always appreciated a well-designed process or a highly efficient system. When everything clicks with clear steps, minimal waste, and momentum that carries itself, it feels satisfying. Things get done with less friction, and you have more room to focus on what actually matters. That's why I really appreciated Gary Keller and Jay Papasan’s The ONE Thing when I first read it. The book’s Focusing Question is: “What’s the one thing I can do such that by doing it, everything else becomes easier or unnecessary?” I was thrilled with the kind of clarity it brought. It is so straightforward and focused. It cuts through the noise and forces you to reconnect with your real purpose, and hunts for the highest-leverage move right where you stand.
I have it written on the whiteboard beside my desk. I ask it daily. It’s been there so long now, I’m not sure it will ever completely erase!
It’s a great prompt for considering potential optimizations. In work or personal routines, it might mean blocking focused time, adjusting one workflow step, or adding a small recovery habit. These are the changes that reduce friction, build momentum, and make the current model more effective without drama. It’s refinement that leverages smarter ideas on the existing process or even swapping out a process. And it usually leads to a cascading chain of other improvements.
ANOTHER Thing
But the infinite game demands you keep asking: Is this enough forever? When the answers start pointing to deeper issues, the path itself is limiting progress no matter how much you polish it. Optimization reaches its ceiling. That’s when the process or system shouldn’t be tweaked; they need to be replaced. That’s the moment for existential flexibility: the willingness to disrupt radically, accepting short-term discomfort for long-term viability.
Elon Musk often talks about identifying and attacking the limiting factor, the bottleneck holding everything back. Optimizations can take you far, but sometimes what’s needed is a bigger shift to remove the constraint entirely. Musk is never timid about disruption!
Netflix nailed it. They launched streaming in 2007 alongside DVDs, then leaned in hard, investing in the future of on-demand content. They didn’t fear cannibalizing their own business. They embraced the shift and ended DVD mailings in 2023 once streaming dominated. That bold pivot kept them playing infinitely.
Kodak did the opposite. They invented digital photography in the 1970s but treated it like a threat to their film cash cow. Afraid of losing sales on rolls, chemicals, and processing, they sidelined their breakthrough, let others commercialize it, and faded away. Clinging to the old model was cautious, but fatal.
Optimizations & Pivots
The ONE Thing question might suggest tweaks to a stalled routine, like better boundaries, a new tool, or managing tech debt. Those help, but sometimes the whole setup no longer fits the cause. The pivot feels scary, with grief over letting go and uncertainty ahead, but it’s necessary.
Take fitness (as your Just Cause), for example. Running or high-impact routines work until wear builds up. At a certain age, weight, or fitness level, optimizations like recovery days and better form might buy time, but the real shift often comes with an activity like swimming. It’s low-impact. Water buoyancy protects joints while delivering full-body resistance, cardio, and strength. It reduces pain for those with arthritis or old injuries, and like all exercise, it improves mood through endorphins. The community side of “swim-ercise” classes adds accountability, encouragement, and social connection that solo workouts often lack. The pivot enables the Just Cause in ways that optimizations couldn’t. You don’t have to be a runner to be healthy and fit, after all!
In the Service of the Just Cause
Over a number of recent posts we’ve moved from starting a habit or practice to bolster our Just Cause to optimizing the process, which is a great progression. Now Sinek encourages us to look beyond mere optimizations to paradigm-shifting ideas. He challenges us to identify pivots and embrace the change that can redefine the game.
Sinek doesn’t hand us a neat checklist of warning signs. Instead, he points to something simpler and more ongoing. Infinite-minded people stay watchful. They keep updating their mental models about how the world works and honestly ask whether their current path is still the best way to advance their Just Cause. Netflix saw the rise of broadband and shifting customer habits toward instant access, and realized continuing with physical discs would eventually limit their cause. Kodak had the technology in their hands but failed to accept what it meant for the future of photography. They protected the old model instead of leading the new one.
The MAIN Thing
In recent versions of “The MAIN Thing Journal,” I’ve added monthly retrospective and preparation pages to ask and answer important questions about my Just Cause (though not always in those exact terms). I call it “pivot prep.” We progress from what’s going well, what’s not, what’s changed, to re-affirming our why, what needs attention, identifying activities that will lead to success, and recording current and potential strategies. That’s where necessary (and potential) pivots come to the surface to be explored. It illuminates where small tests could bridge the gap: briefly trying a new thing, building tolerance for discomfort, and proving pivots are doable.
Here’s what makes the practice especially powerful: when you reflect regularly like this, you’re far more likely to make these shifts proactively instead of reactively. You give yourself time to see the changes coming, understand the deeper why, and move with clear motive, always in service of your Just Cause rather than just scrambling to keep up with the times.
The regular practice of looking ahead and asking the hard questions turns big pivots from panic moves into intentional steps. Over time, that builds a different kind of resilience: the kind that doesn’t just survive change, but moves confidently with it.
So the next time you sit down to contemplate life, after asking what the ONE Thing might be, add one more question: Is the current path still truly serving my Just Cause, or is there an opportunity to really make a difference? A thoughtful, honest answer might just point the way forward!
Optimizing and Pivots: the TWO Things that keep us Aiming Up!
