The Coaching Book Club Podcast
Unlock powerful coaching insights—one book at a time. 📖🎙️ Listen, learn, and level up your coaching practice!
The Coaching Book Club Podcast
The ONE Thing: How Simplicity and Focus Fuel Powerful Coaching
In this episode, we dig into The ONE Thing by Gary Keller—one of those deceptively simple books that sticks with you. Together, we explore how this book can help coaches clarify purpose, reduce noise, and create real momentum in both personal and professional life.
We talk about:
- The surprising power of choosing less, on purpose
- What “willpower isn’t always on will-call” means for coaches
- How to use your core purpose to align your habits and coaching presence
Whether you're navigating credentialing, leadership transitions, or just feeling pulled in too many directions, this conversation offers a refreshing lens for grounding your work.
Golden quote:
"The success is the destination—but the magic? That’s the journey."
Try this:
What’s the one thing that fuels your coaching? Write it down. Let it guide your next session, reflection, or decision.
We’d love to hear from you—drop us a note on LinkedIn with your “one thing.”
Welcome to the Coaching Book Club podcast, the show that empowers coaches through books. I'm Christie Stuber, and I'm here with my friend Ken McKeller. And today we're talking about The One Thing by Gary Keller. This book is well known in productivity and leadership circles, and while it's not specifically written for coaches. We believe it offers value to the coaching profession. Challenge is the way we think about priorities, discipline, and how we support meaningful change. And here's what you can expect in this episode. First, we'll start with a quick overview of the book, what it's about, and why it matters to coaches. Next, we'll break down some key takeaways that stood out to us. And finally, we'll explore how these concepts connect to real world coaching challenges and help you build confidence, tackle imposter syndrome, and grow as a coach. Whether you've read this book before or are hearing about it for the first time, you'll leave with actionable tools to strengthen your skills. Let's get started. Hey Ken, how are you doing today?
Ken McKellar:Hey, I'm doing good. I'm doing good. How you doing?
Christy Stuber:I'm doing good. What's the one thing that you liked the most about this book,
Ken McKellar:man? Simplicity. That's what I like. I mean, just really simple terms with great, big action, actionable opportunities.
Christy Stuber:The one thing about this book that I liked is that it really challenged me to think about what my one thing is, and for me, that's learning. And so being able to name that helped me clearly stay grounded as a coach and communicate more transparent with my clients and what they can expect from working with me. I think that's my purpose. And so focusing on that gives me direction.
Ken McKellar:Mm.
Christy Stuber:So let's explore some of the takeaways that stood out and how they can enhance our coaching practices. What was a takeaway for you?
Ken McKellar:One of my takeaways in this book was when it talked about it's about doing less on purpose. So you have all these opportunities to do things, and you pick the one that you want to do, and you do it.
Christy Stuber:Yeah, so I, I thought that too, that, you know, um, I feel like our job as coaches very often is to be thinking partners with our clients. And part of what we do is help our clients think of the next best thing for them. And that parallels with what he said, quote, you do the right thing and then you do the next right thing. And over time it adds up. He uses dominoes as a metaphor. You, you hit the first one, which is the second one, and how it builds. And I feel like with our clients, if we can help our clients identify what the, the first thing is that aligns with their purpose, then they can think, find the next thing. And then again, that just sort of allows those dominoes to fall.
Ken McKellar:Yeah, that's when he talks about, forget about the multitasking. You know, the real momentum is when you line things up like your dominoes or like his domino analogies. Mm-hmm. And I shout out to that, the Nancy Klein right thinking partner. All right. Okay. Alright. Who? We talked about her a couple weeks ago. Yep.
Christy Stuber:Yeah. Uh, another key takeaway for me was about willpower. And the quote is, uh, when you see people who look like disciplined people, what you're really seeing is people who've trained a handful of habits into their lives. Mm-hmm. And. I think a lot of people walk around saying, oh, I can just force myself to do this. I can will myself to do this. I think it's part of this Protestant work ethic of our country. Maybe the, you know, pull yourself up by your bootstraps. And what I liked about what he said is that there is a limit to our willpower and that many things that we do throughout the day. And he has a list of the things that tax our willpower. Um. It, it diminishes our ability to try something new and we fall into default habits. So the connection for me is that if I wanna build new habits, I need to support myself to not deplete this willpower that was quote unquote. Um, so I don't fall into default habits more readily.
Ken McKellar:I had a supervisor ask me, Ken, how do you start your day? Like, how do you prepare for your day? And I was like, that was a good question. How do I prepare for my day? And a lot of it is starts in the first five minutes that I wake up, I scan my day, all right, what is the one thing that I want? To happen today. What's the most important thing that needs to happen? You know, gotta do that podcast. Gotta be ready, did you read the books? All that other stuff taken care of. What do you need to do to prepare for that moment? So I'm, I'm, I'm thinking that right on the pillow. And then I get up and I start, and that takes me to his, the whole premise of this, of this book when he talks about. What's the one thing I can do such that by doing it, everything else becomes easier or unnecessary? I just think that could be a standard coaching question in and of itself.
Christy Stuber:Hmm. I wanna just quickly go back to what you said and then we'll talk about the second part of it. But the first part was, um, what do you do to prepare? And it connects back to the willpower conversation because I, I got coached on that recently. I have a family trip coming up and in my experience, no matter how much you love your family, a family trips create. Can create some tension, some anxiety. It's when I go back and look at the book and look at what he lists of the things that attacks your willpower, you know, uh, filtering distractions, suppressing emotion, restraining aggression, maybe doing something you don't enjoy. Those are things that can take a lot of energy, and I, at least in my family, again, I love you family, but I, I experience a lot of these things and. And so what you said about that five minutes to start the day, you know, I, I, I need to go into those family times with a plan to, um, to fuel myself up because I get depleted otherwise too quickly and then I fall into my old patterns. My very default nature of being kind of rigid and isolating, which isn't how I wanna show up with my family. And the second thing you said is about that one question. That one question is the premise of this whole book. What's the one thing I can do that will make things easier, right. To move it forward? Say the question again.
Ken McKellar:What's the one thing I can do such that by doing it, everything else becomes easier or unnecessary?
Christy Stuber:Yeah. Yeah, it's like naming the one thing kind of reminds me of like, what's important about this for you? That kind of question that we ask when we're, when we're contracting, because I think what he gets at is the one thing that we can name becomes the motivation. Mm-hmm. And becomes the driver for that tipping point of those dominoes to move forward. Mm-hmm. And if we can't. Help our clients dig down to what the one thing really is, right? My experience is there's usually an answer. What's most important about this for you now? And then there's like three more levels down that really is the answer, and it's being able to, to dig down into that with them. That makes a difference.
Ken McKellar:Well, even in. In our own relationships. You know, I'm thinking about some conversations that I had with my 10-year-old or 10 year olds, but I'm thinking about one in particular, and I was like, I came in and the living room was a mess. You know, they built forts, so you had all of the. All of the blankets from all around the house in their bedroom room where they built a fort. And that's fine. I was part of that fort, I was in there a little bit. I was jamming. I had my television in my fort, but play time's over. It's time to put that up. So, okay, it's time to put it up. Put that up. And then you guys, I'm going to bed. I'll see you in the morning. So I come down, it's still there, and then I go into office, I'll do my AM work. I say, you guys knock that foot out because we got some things to do, and I come out, it's still there. Now, at that point, when it comes out there, I'm asking myself, what kind of relationship do I wanna have with my, with my, with my child? Now, what do, what would I, what do I wanna see on the other side of this? And I mean, I can scream and holler, and shout and dance and do the boogaloo danger man, and they'll be upset. We'll be upset and the whole thing's upset. Or I can handle it differently in a way that involves them or in a way that, Hey, what is the one thing that I can say or do now that everything else will be unnecessary or less? So I said, Hey. What are we gonna do about the sheets? Because if you don't start getting the sheets done in the next five minutes, I'm going to sing like Luther Vandross. A House is not a home over and over and over again. And how? It's not a home and a home, it's not a house. Boy. You see kids moving around. I, I, I mean, I can't sing. I'm not, I, I can do some other things. I can't sing, but when I want people to move around, I get to singing.
Christy Stuber:Amazing. Thank you very much. I wonder if we need to go, like, I hope we don't get fined for your singing of Luther. That makes me wanna move to the next part of our, our typical format, which is, so what do you bring into your own life? And I'm wondering then, so what's, what's the one thing for you, Ken McKeller? That underlies that, um, being, say, of being with your kids in those moments?
Ken McKellar:Well, I think when I can focus on the one thing and I can put my energy into that. I mean, magic happens, right? And it's really cool. Success doesn't always happen, but the magic happens. I can appreciate the journey. I can appreciate the conversations, or I mean, it, it becomes dramatic. How we're interacting with each other, whether it's the kids, whether it's the partner, whether it's friends. It becomes more of, Hey, what's the one thing I wanna get outta this conversation with my adult kid? Well, I just want to hear him. I just want to talk to him. I just want to just be in his presence for a minute and just bask in that reality rather than any other things that we have the opportunity to make up.
Christy Stuber:Yes, yes. That, that parallels my. My learning that I'm gonna apply to my, um, my life and my practice. And it's a quote that he has in the book. He says, mastery isn't a word we hear anymore, but at its core mastery is a way of thinking, a way of acting and a journey you experience. And he says, goes on to say, it's not the destination, it's the journey. And, and I think the way I heard you just say that to me, the, the journey's, the magic. The success is the destination, and it's the, it's the magic. It's the journey that's really valuable. Uh, for me specifically, you know, I've been, um, working towards my MC and I know, hey. I know what's been really helpful for me. I mean, I'm not, not there yet, and that's okay. Is doing that shift that I just said right before I was really attached to, I need the thing. I want those letters, and when I have shifted it to the one thing that really matters to me, which is about learning, then I can be on the journey and be motivated to stay on the journey, be excited to stay on the journey, develop habits, to stay on the journey. And then when, if I get there, that's lovely and amazing, but it's this more sustainable effort that I've been making, um, that's been really useful. And so that reading the book and realizing my one thing is learning and I applies to so many parts of my life mm-hmm. Makes so much sense. It, it sort of helped, it was like a puzzle piece that clicked things in place for me about myself and I appreciated that from this book.
Ken McKellar:Nice. Nice.
Christy Stuber:Any final words for you before we wrap up?
Ken McKellar:I want to thank Gary Keller. My, my name's McKeller relation. She
Christy Stuber:doesn't even spell it the same way you do. Go on.
Ken McKellar:No, I just wanna thank you for making it simple, keeping it simple and and easy to really implement into my thinking, into my life, into my coaching.
Christy Stuber:Great. Thank you. And this wraps up our discussion on the one thing we've explored, how purpose, habits and focus can transform not just productivity, but coaching presence. Whether you're working toward your next credential or simply supporting a client through a tough transition, the insights from this book can ground you in what matters most. Thanks for being here with us today. We hope something in this episode resonated with you and where you are right now in your journey. If you enjoy today's episode, make sure to subscribe to the Coaching Book Club on your favorite podcast platform so you never miss an episode. You can also follow us on LinkedIn for more coaching insights and updates. And if there's a coaching book you love or maybe one that's challenged you, let us know. We just might feature on a future episode. Thanks for being part of our community. And until next time, happy coaching.
-2.png)
