How to Do One Thing at a Time

A step-by-step guide to a single step.

Lately I’ve been trying something that feels weirdly unfamiliar: 

Do one thing at a time. 

It’s simultaneously a mindfulness practice, a productivity tip, and an operating system. It might sound simple—and ultimately, it is—but many of us struggle to put it into practice.

Here’s how it works (pay attention to this part): 

To do one thing at a time, you first need to identify what the one thing is that you will do. It must be specific and measurable (I’ll give you an example in a moment). It must be something you can complete—once you finish that thing, it’s actually done. Now comes the hard part. You must LOCK YOURSELF IN to doing that thing—and only that thing—without doing anything else. 

Each part of the instructions is essential. 

1. You must identify the one thing 

2. It must be specific and measurable 

3. You must commit to doing only the one thing 

If you don’t follow any part of the instructions, you’re likely to get sidetracked and frustrated. (I speak from much experience.)

Let’s take an example: The Weekly Newsletter

Every Sunday I publish a weekly newsletter for my podcast subscribers. This actually requires several different steps: collecting episode info, choosing a photo, writing a subject line, and writing a few short paragraphs summarizing the week’s episodes. 

Then I have to send a test message to myself, review it for typos or bad links, and once I’m satisfied with it, queue the message for sending. 

As I said, it’s a micro-project with several steps, but they are logically enough connected that it’s easy to tackle them in order. 

The problem comes in when I start going through the sequence of steps and then move on to something else that comes to mind. Perhaps the newsletter prep reminds me of another thing I need to do or check on, so I head off to do that … and then I think of yet another thing … and before long, I’m completely sidetracked. 

The ONE THING AT A TIME rule means I finish the micro-project of completing the newsletter before I do anything else. 

As I said, it’s simple but hard. Sometimes the process is even mildly painful. I really, really want to do anything other than the one thing. But I know that if I see this thing through, I’ll feel a sense of completion and accomplishment. I’ll also be able to move on from ever thinking about this particular task again!

These wonderful outcomes are worth enduring the temporary discomfort of forced attention. I want to do a lot of things (at least with some amount of focus), but I know I’ll be more effective and less anxious if I do one thing at a time before moving on.

Do you struggle with attention and focus? Try doing one thing at a time today. 🤓

See also

Time Blindness: Why You’re Always Late, Why You Underestimate How Long It Takes to Finish Something, and What to Do About It