We Studied 400 High Achievers for 4 Months - This is What We Learned

The ONE Thing

NOVA Media

Entrepreneurship, Business, Careers

4.8 • 1.1K Ratings

🗓️ 5 January 2026

⏱️ 44 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Big goals have a way of starting strong and slowly falling apart. Motivation fades. Life intervenes. Momentum stalls. In this episode, Jay Papasan shares what actually separates the people who follow through from those who stay stuck in restart mode. After studying more than 400 entrepreneurs and business owners who went through The First Domino program, Jay distills their success into five repeatable commitments. This is not about working harder or piling on more habits. It’s about design. Alignment before action. Simplicity before scale. Jay explains how identifying your first domino, the small but meaningful action that starts momentum, creates progress even on your worst days. He walks through why time blocking turns intention into execution, how defending your calendar protects what matters most, and why accountability beats willpower every time. If you’ve ever felt busy but not effective, driven but burned out, this episode offers a clearer path forward. Small actions. Smart structure. Consistent momentum. Challenge of the Week: Make a commitment to apply the five practices from this episode for the year ahead. Ask yourself: Are my goals truly in alignment with what matters most to me? Have I gone upstream far enough to identify my real first domino? Have I put that action on my calendar? Am I actively defending it over time? And do I have some form of accountability beyond just relying on my own willpower? We talk about: [00:00] Introduction and Welcome [03:16] Defining the First Domino [04:28] Principle One: Alignment [09:58] Principle Two: Focus [20:05] Principle Three: Time Blocking [25:35] Principle Four: Defend [32:22] Principle Five: Commit [40:39] Conclusion and Call to Action *** Sign Up for The First Domino Course Here We talk about: Why alignment prevents burnout before it starts How to find the first domino that actually creates momentum The role of time blocking and accountability in keeping promises to yourself Links & Tools from This Episode: Sign Up for The First Domino Course Jordan Freed’s Website Warren Buffett, Chairperson of Berkshire Hathaway Core Values Workshop & Free Resources Want to be a guest or share feedback? Email podcast@the1thing.com or send us an audio note at Speakpipe.com/the1thing. Produced by NOVA

Transcript

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0:00.0	A lot of people are going to tell you if you want to achieve big things that you need to do a lot,
0:04.1	you need to act big. And we're here to tell you it's actually just the opposite.
0:08.7	Last year, we took hundreds, over 400 business owners, entrepreneurs through an eight-week program
0:15.4	to help them identify their one thing, their first domino and achieve a new level of success. And we tracked them. We looked
0:22.3	at their results. We looked at their reviews. We watched them for nine straight weeks,
0:27.3	followed their progress, surveyed along the way, and we just studied it. A year of experimenting and
0:32.1	data, we figured out the answers. People paid thousands for this, but I want to give them to you.
0:37.5	The people who had the most success weren't the ones who were just the most motivated. It
0:42.1	weren't the ones who had the most talent. It weren't the ones who were just prepared to work the
0:46.1	hardest and the longest hours. The people who had the most success over the course of the year.
0:51.4	Out of that 400, specifically, were the people who did five specific things.
0:56.3	That's what this episode's about.
0:58.0	Those five steps that you can take that will make your success, not only bigger and bolder,
1:03.5	but more likely.
1:04.5	I'm Jay Papazan, and this is the one thing.
1:06.7	Your weekly guide to the simple steps that lead to extraordinary results.
1:22.9	Thank you. your weekly guide to the simple steps that lead to extraordinary results. We usually start every year the same way. We're excited about our prospects. We have big goals and big visions. Some of you might even start the year on fire. You're excited. You're telling the world
1:31.9	about everything that you're going to get done. And somewhere along the line, and we've documented
1:35.9	again and again on this podcast, life happens. Your kid gets sick. Something happens at work.
1:41.7	The boat decides to go in the other direction. The market goes south.
1:45.8	Who knows what it is, but life happens. And suddenly you lose your momentum and you look up and you're
1:51.5	right back in that familiar place where you feel busy, you feel distracted, and you feel like
	...

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