Man, sometimes life just throws so much at you, doesn’t it? Like, you’re just trying to keep your head above water, and then suddenly you’ve got ten different things all screaming for attention. I’ve been there, more times than I care to admit. Feeling spread thin, overwhelmed, and like you’re not really doing a good job at anything. You know that feeling?
I distinctly remember a period a few years back. It wasn’t about work, not directly anyway. It was more like my personal life just exploded. My old man had some health scares, the car decided to just quit on me, and then the dog, bless his furry heart, needed a major, unexpected surgery. All this while I was trying to kick off a new side project I was really passionate about, trying to get it off the ground. Everything felt urgent, everything felt like a priority, and I was just running in circles, man. I was putting out fires all day, every day, and at the end of it, I felt like I hadn’t actually built anything. Just maintained the chaos. I was exhausted, stressed, and honestly, a bit resentful of everything.
That’s when I stumbled onto what I now call “Seven of Ones.” I didn’t get it from some fancy business book or a motivational seminar, nope. I got it because I hit rock bottom, mentally. My wife, seeing me completely burnt out, just looked at me one night and said, “You’re trying to do too much. Just pick one thing, any one thing, and finish it.” She didn’t realize it, but that was the first “One.”
I started thinking about that. “Pick one thing.” But which one? Everything felt huge. The car repair alone felt like three things: research mechanics, get quotes, arrange a tow. My dad’s situation was a whole other beast. The dog’s recovery was constant monitoring. My side project? That was a black hole of tasks. It was all a tangled mess.
The Mess and My First Real Shot at “Seven of Ones”
So, the next day, I grabbed a big sheet of paper, the kind you use for mind maps. My usual approach was to list everything and then hyperventilate. This time, I forced myself to slow down. I remembered my wife’s words. I looked at the giant list of problems and asked myself: “What is the ONE, single, absolute core issue causing the most immediate pain, right now?” Not the biggest, not the most important long-term, but the most pressing, the one that makes me want to scream. For me, at that moment, it was the damn car. No car meant scrambling for rides, messing up my commute, and just a constant source of stress every morning.
That was my first “One”: Fix the car. Okay, simple, right? Wrong. Fixing the car meant a whole bunch of smaller “ones.” Here’s how I broke it down, this was my “Seven of Ones” in action, even if I didn’t name it back then:
- One: Identify the Big Bad. Car trouble. Got it.
- One: Break it Down. What’s the very first step? I needed to get it to a shop. Which meant finding a reliable shop and getting a tow. Not fixing the engine, not buying parts, just step one.
- One: Focus on Only That Step. I told myself, “Forget the dog, forget the project, forget literally everything else for the next hour. I’m finding a mechanic.” I literally put my phone on airplane mode.
- One: Gather Only What’s Needed. I didn’t need to learn about engine mechanics. I needed three phone numbers for tow companies and three for highly-rated local garages. That’s it. Nothing more, nothing less.
- One: Execute with Laser Focus. I made the calls. Found a mechanic, arranged the tow. I didn’t check emails, didn’t browse social media. Just those calls.
- One: Finish That Specific Task. Once the tow was booked and the mechanic had picked up the car, that “one” task was done. Fully. No half-measures. I could physically check it off.
- One: Review and Reset. Okay, car gone. What’s the next “one” related to the car? Waiting for the diagnosis. I couldn’t do anything about that immediately. So, what was the next biggest pain from my original list that I could tackle? The dog’s meds schedule, which was a daily constant.
It sounds almost painfully simple, but man, it was a revelation. Before, I’d have tried to call the mechanic, then remembered the dog’s meds, then freaked out about my dad, then picked up my project for five minutes, felt guilty, and then gone back to stressing about the car. By forcing myself to only deal with one small, actionable thing until it was truly done, I started making actual progress. Not big leaps, but steady, undeniable steps forward.
The message of “Seven of Ones” became super clear. It’s not about doing seven things at once. It’s about taking any overwhelming situation, breaking it down into individual, bite-sized “ones,” and then, crucially, tackling them one at a time with complete, undivided attention until that one is finished. Then you look up, take a breath, and pick the next “one.” It saved my sanity back then, and honestly, it’s how I approach every big challenge now. Just find that first “one” and get it done.
