"Don't Let your Goose be cooked" - Purpose with Mark Bertrang - Episode # 137

Purpose with Mark Bertrang

People often have a difficult time when it comes to accomplishing their goals and focusing in on their needs and wants, and the aspirations in their life. Sometimes, it comes down to just one question.

In my office, I will often look up at my bookshelf and just look at one book in particular. The book is titled, The One Thing. I should probably have the back of the book facing me because it shows a big question mark that reminds me of the question that I need to ask when I’m distracted by a problem. This is the problem with many people, they get distracted by all the noise. They get distracted by all the traffic that is going by on their roadway of life. During the noon hour today, I was on a zoom call and for much of the hour, people were dealing with the problem of squirrel syndrome. You probably remember the movie “Up.” One of the main characters of the movie was a dog named Doug that was very focused, unless it heard or saw a squirrel. Then, it would turn its head and yell “Squirrel” and everyone would have to wait for him to focus again. No matter what was happening, the possibility of a squirrel seemed to be the most important thing to that character. That is sometimes the way it is with us; we have “squirrel syndrome” or sometimes people will refer to it as “shiny object syndrome.” Often, the newest or shiniest object will be the thing that we become most focused on.

I had read this book, The One Thing, several years ago. In the book, there is one question a person needs to ask themselves:

“What is the one thing I can do that such by doing it everything else would be easier or unnecessary?”

Isn’t that the truth. Often, if you would just get this one thing or piece done, you wouldn’t have to worry about a whole host of other things that revolve around it. It’s like our life is the earth with thousands of satellites orbiting around us. We chase around wondering if we should keep on looking at all the satellites, look at this or that shiny thing, or that squirrel over there.

The one thing that you need to do is get a piece of paper, put a question mark on it, placing it in front of you, and ask the question, “What is the one thing I can do that such by doing it everything else would be easier or unnecessary?” What is the one thing in your life, in that moment, that you need to focus on?

What is the one thing you need to do today?