Monday Motivation: The Importance of Knowing Your “Number One Most Important Thing”

Have you ever wondered why you are not enjoying the success you want and deserve? It may be because you haven’t paid enough attention to your number one most important thing.

What is that? It’s something I figured out after paying attention to Pixar Studios, the creators of the Toy Story, Monsters Inc., Wall-E, Cars, and my favorite, The Incredibles (just to name a few) .

I know, I know; I love Pixar, and I have written about them before You can read two of my previous articles about them: What You Can Learn from Woody, Boo, and Mr. Incredible, and Yet Another Reason Why Pixar Is Awesome

Pixar is known for a lot of things. They have been pioneers and innovators in the world of computer animation. The have set box office records with a string of smash hits. They have won a slew of awards.

However, if you ask the people who make Pixar go, they will tell you that the primary thing that makes Pixar go is the stories

I was watching a 1996 Charlie Rose interview with John Lasseter and Steve Jobs. John is the creative force behind Pixar studios, one of the pioneers in the art of computer animation, and the current “Chief Creative Officer” for Pixar and Walt Disney Animation). Steve is the guy who bought the company and then sunk $50,000,000 of his own money (yes, 50 million of his own money) for ten years before the company finally started making money (he also co-founded a little company known as “Apple”).

You can watch the interview here:

At about the 11:55 mark, Lasseter says, “the first year and a half was story development alone.”

A year and a half? Just on story development??

Some novelists (Michael Moorcock, for example) would churn out full novels in three days. Why would Pixar take a year and a half on story development alone?

Simple. Because they knew the number one most important thing that would make their movie a success was the story. Not the technical achievement. Not the marketing. Not the name of the actors they got to voice the parts. Those things were all important, but Pixar was crystal clear about their number one most important thing: having a great story.

That formula has served them well. From Wikipedia:

“All the films produced by Pixar are among the fifty highest grossing animated films of all time. Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, Up and Toy Story 3 make it to the top 50 list of highest-grossing films of all time, with Toy Story 3 at #5, Finding Nemo at #21, Up at #39, and The Incredibles at #50.”

Not bad.

What does Pixar’s success have to do with you? This too is simple. Pixar succeeded by understanding the number one most important thing for their success. So let me ask you:

What’s Your “Number One Most Important Thing”?

What’s going to have the greatest impact on determining your success (or failure)?

What’s the one thing you should be putting the most time and energy on?

What is going to give you the greatest return on your investment?

Keep in mind you can have different “most important things” for different areas of your life and business. I have a most important thing for my marketing, for my actual speaking, for my writing, for my relationships, for my health, etc.

Think about the different areas of your life. What are the important areas of your life, and what are the number one most important things in those areas?

Once you know the answer to that, you have to ask yourself the potentially painful question:

“How Much Time Am I Spending On That Number One Most Important Thing?”

Take a look at any area of your life where you are not enjoying the success or happiness you feel you deserve. If you’re like most people who get caught up in a “go go go keep doing things” routine, I would bet that one of the three things is going on:

1. You have no idea what the number one most important thing is in that area
2. You think you know what the number one most important thing is, but you’re wrong.
3. You know what it is, but you aren’t putting any time or effort into it.

If one of those is the case, don’t feel bad. Realization is the first step in change.

Finding Your Number One Most Important Thing

Here are tips some tips to finding your number one most important thing:

Recognize the Domino Effect – Quite often, when you take care of your number one most important thing, many other things fall into place. For example, I am constantly looking to improve my productivity. Over the years, I have found the number one most important thing that determines the productivity of my day is how I eat the night before and the day of. Not the planning system I use, not the organizational software I have, not a series of visualizations. Nope. If I just eat well – lean protein, veggies, and few bad carbs – everything falls into place. I get up earlier, have a better attitude, deal with setbacks better, and I work longer and with more focus. Figure out what simple thing you can do to create a powerful domino effect, and you will be on your way to identifying your number one most important thing.

Realize that Size Doesn’t Matter – Your number one most important thing doesn’t have to be big. Sometimes the smallest of actions can reap huge rewards. Telling the people in your life that you love them may be the most important thing for your relationships, but it only takes a few seconds. Your number one thing doesn’t have to be a huge overwhelming activity. Sometimes small is best (However, if you’ve honestly assessed your most important thing and it happens to be a big task, well, that’s the way it goes).

Look for Disproportionate Results – Your number one most important thing will usually return benefits that far outweigh the time and effort you put in to them. For example, you may spend hours every day cold calling for weeks without drumming up any real business, but you find that if you just attend a few meetings of associations in your target market, you could generate contacts leads and referrals. Hours and hours of cold calling vs. a couple of hours at a networking event. Which would you rather do? (this is just my hypothetical situation. Your will differ) When you find activities that give you a much higher return than what you put in, you may very well have found your most important thing.

Your Next Step

Don’t delay on this! Take time right now to figure out what your number one most important thing is. Do this for the most important areas of your life. Then create a plan where you will focus on these things regularly (if not every day, then at least every week).

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Need help identifying your number one most important thing? Then sign up for some Smart Ass Mentoring now!
 

About

By Avish Parashar. As the world's only Motivational Improviser, Avish uses techniques from the world of improv comedy to engage, entertain, and educate audiences on ideas around change, creativity, and motivation. Connect with Avish on Google+

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