I just finished the latest episode of the Tim Ferriss Show featuring Gary Keller. If you don’t know who Tim Ferriss is, shame on you. Just kidding. Actually, go to tim.blog right now and forget about what I have to say. If you have heard of Tim Ferriss, then you should find this interview interesting. 

Gary Keller is the co-founder, chairman, and CEO of Keller Williams, the world’s largest real estate franchise by agent count. In 2019, Keller Williams was ranked number one in units and sales volume in the US and was named by Fast Company as the “most innovative company” in real estate. As Ron Bergundy might say, “He’s kind of a big deal”

The first hour of the podcast covers Gary’s humble beginnings and how he started his company including how he took lessons about franchising from McDonald’s. I found the entire episode interesting, but if you want to drive straight to the productivity/habit discussion, fast forward to about the 1-hr, 4-min mark. Gary explained how he uses an old-school month-at-a-glance calendar to plan his time. He also discussed how he blocks his time to focus and prioritizes the most important tasks earlier in the day.

“My life is better when I’m spontaneous after I’ve done my most important thing. Being spontaneous before that, that’s where it becomes a distraction and does me harm.”

Gary is perhaps best known outside of the real-estate world for writing the book The One Thing: The surprisingly simple truth behind extraordinary results. In this book, Gary poses what he calls the focusing question.

What’s the one thing I can do such that by doing it everything else will be easier or unnecessary?

Full disclosure: I bought this book several years ago, read the first couple chapters, and put it on the shelf. After listening to this episode, I pulled it off the shelf and will be taking it on the road with me this week. 

If you have any interest in techniques for productivity, establishing habits, and time management, run (don’t walk) to your phone and download and listen to this episode.