The one thing!

‘The one thing’ is by Gary Keller and Jay Papasan is one of the best sellers in the ocean of best sellers in the self help section!

But (a blog without a but is not a blog at all!); the chief aim it tends to portray is really interesting!

There was this big conference going on and one of the most experienced surgeons was placing the microscopic piston on the microscopic hole! It was a tense moment! The whole audience was silent and holding their breath!
Then one of the eager beavers from the audience started to ask a question! The Chief immediately shut him down saying, “You must know when to ask a question!”
The crux here is that no one can do many things or even two things at a time! Especially when both are important!

Human beings like to multi task just like computers which is a big hoax according to this book!

Apparently even the computer known for multitasking can only write one code at a time! It can of course do lots of processes but the doing multiple tasks is difficult even for a computer at the same time!

It is like how you speak and drive! You think that it does not matter but in the book it has been said that speaking on the phone or texting and driving is similar to drinking and driving! You can never give full attention! And this is a task which needs your full attention!

It is the same with the lists apparently! You simply cannot do all the work at the same time!

The priciple of the book is that you can do only ONE THING at a time with full attention! Only after you complete that can you give your full attention to another!

The book states that they studied people who were known to multitask! It was found that though they are doing lot of work at the same time; they are apparently doing mediocre multiple work rather that doing a good single work!


The book cites Clifford Nass, a professor a Stanford University, who set out to study multitaskers as he realized he did not possess the skill. “I was sure they had some secret ability,” he said, but at the end of the study, multitaskers “were outperformed on every measure. Although they’d convinced themselves and the world that they were great at it, there was just one problem… multitaskers were just lousy at everything.”

“The truth is multitasking is neither efficient nor effective.”

There are a million pages apparently on Multitasking! This means that there are guides and videos and even books on how to multitask! If you can multitask then I will give you a simple exercise!

Count from one to seven!

Now tell all the colors of the rainbow in order!

All ok for now!?

Now alternatively tell one number and one color in order!

Saw how the mighty multitasker falls!?

Of course this does not mean that you must not do lots of different work! Take lots of work, then select the top thing to do! And only after you finish that must you move on to the next thing!

Hope now you understand how when you are speaking to your spouse and he or she is texting on the phone; she or he just nods along! Believe me! He or she has not heard or understood a word you said!

Now that is definitely not funny! Funny though is the movie Pyar Kiye ja or Kadalikka nerammillai directed by Chithamur Vijayaraghavalu Sridhar!

Now do the only task which you are best in! Sleep!

Shubh ratri!