How to Make the Best Use of Your Limited Time with Geoff Woods

Geoff Woods, VP of The One Thing has been a feature on Entrepeneuer.com and his “The One Thing” podcast is one of the top 5% podcasts globally.

On the podcast, Geoff discusses his ideas for how to take back control of your time and where to invest it.

What is the Idea Behind “The One Thing”?

Geoff believes that most people live a life by default, instead of life by design. To live a life by default means you’re waking up every day and following the same guidelines–checking emails, attending meetings, eating the same lunch.

At the end of the day, they feel like they were so busy, yet they really accomplished nothing.

Living life by design, however, involves investing your time in more lucrative behaviors and treating every second as your most valuable resource, as opposed to something disposable.

This is what “The One Thing” is all about: transforming the way people view their time.

For example, a business partner of Geoff’s once told a major company that working long hours is cheating because it could be spent doing all the wrong activities.

In other words, time is only what you make of it.

How Can You Start Making the Best Use of Your Time Today?

You can’t be truly productive until you realize your purpose, also known as your “one thing.” Most people will ask themselves what their goals are for the year or what is going to bring them immediate satisfaction, but few will venture into big questions like purpose.

Because many people aren’t used to such big questions, it helps to sit down with a paper and pen to explore what your purpose in life might be.
Once you find your purpose, then you start figuring out how to invest your time to best achieve that purpose. But that doesn’t mean that the big questions end.

Instead of asking yourself how to increase your sales by ten percent, ask yourself how you can double your results by working less. Such a question forces you to think outside the box and rise to the occasion.

In the pursuit of your purpose, don’t get distracted by the low-hanging fruit. Look beyond it — to the more inaccessible, but more rewarding fruit.

Once You Develop Your Purpose, What’s the Next Step?

First of all, Geoff makes clear that your purpose is not a destination that you arrive at. Instead, view it as a journey you take.

That way, the action of moving toward your purpose is a success in and of itself. If your purpose was a destination, you would inevitably become debilitated by your lack of progress.

Once you’re in the right mindset, start thinking about why you’ve made certain decisions in your life. Why are you in the career you’re in? What does it do for you? What does it do for your family?

After you have the answers to these questions, you’ll begin to see more clearly the areas in which your time is best utilized. It draws a line between your activities and the big “why,” which helps to put everything in perspective.

As Geoff says, no one is on their deathbed wishing they had spent an extra ten minutes in the office. They always think about the relationships they didn’t nurture and the experiences they didn’t have.

In other words, they look back on their use of time and wished they’d invested it on the things that mean the most to them. But at the time, they weren’t thinking of their purpose, only their short-term gains.

What is Geoff’s Own “One Thing”?

Currently, Geoff says that his one thing for his business is gaining clarity on their value proposition. He specifies “for his business,” because, despite the name, you can have multiple “one thing.”

Once he’s driving home, his one thing changes into something different, as he strives to be present for his family.

In fact, you can have a “one thing” for every aspect of your life. Whether it’s your spirituality, physical health, personal life, job, or finances, each can have its own individual purpose that gives it clarity.

In some cases, however, your purpose might bridge between the different areas of your life. For instances, the purpose for your finances might be closely tied into your purpose for your family.

Where Can You Learn More About Geoff and “The One Thing”?

You can find out more about Geoff at his website, the1thing.com, which is where you can find his podcast, “The One Thing.”

For more detailed information on Geoff’s ideas about time management, you can find a training page on his website.

You can also find Geoff on the usual social media channels, such as LinkedIn and Facebook.