The ONE Thing

Get The Someday Letter Worksheet: https://linkly.link/2ld7z

Most of us are comfortable setting annual goals. But what happens when you look 10 years into the future and let yourself dream without boundaries?

In this episode, Jay Papasan shares one of the most powerful tools used in The ONE Thing coaching program: the Someday Letter. It’s a simple but deeply clarifying exercise that asks you to write a letter to yourself from the future, describing the life, work, relationships, values, and adventures you want to create.

Jay opens up about his own resistance to the exercise, why it took him 18 months to finally do it, and the surprising clarity he found on the other side. He explains how the Someday Letter helps you work backward from a future vision, make better decisions in the present, and stop chasing short-term gains that don’t lead where you actually want to go.

Know someone who may find this episode helpful? Share it with them:

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We talk about:

[00:00] Why This Tool is So Powerful

[3:35] How to Write Your Someday Letter

[16:10] The ONE Thing Challenge

Links & Tools from This Episode:

• The ONE Thing Operating System

• The Someday Letter Workbook

• Free Resources

Produced by NOVA

High achievers know the gap well: the space between where you are and where you want to be. It can drive growth, but it can also become a source of fear, avoidance, and self-judgment.

In this episode, Jay talks with five-time entrepreneur and executive coach Hannah Soto about the three ways business owners and high achievers often relate to the gap. They chase it, believing fulfillment lives on the other side. They hide from it by staying busy, over-planning, or avoiding the next scary step. Or they use it as proof they aren’t enough.

Hannah shares how her own experience walking the Camino de Santiago changed her relationship with suffering, resilience, and becoming. Together, she and Jay explore how to stop treating the gap like a problem to fix and start seeing it as evidence of a compelling vision.

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We talk about:

[00:00] What is The Gap?

[04:46] Stop Chasing Fulfillment Like a Finish Line

[15:09] Overcoming Avoidance

[23:29] Can Coaches Help?

[27:13] Self-Doubt And Judgement

[38:27] The ONE Thing Weekly Challenge

Links & Tools from This Episode:

• The ONE Thing Operating System

• Hannah Soto’s Website

• Hannah Soto’s Instagram

• Free Resources

Produced by NOVA

You already know what to do. So why is it so hard to do it consistently?

In this episode, Jay Papasan breaks down three patterns that keep entrepreneurs and high achievers trapped in the gap between knowing and doing. First, we often think we’re clear when we’re really being general. Second, we chase new information instead of mastering the system we already have. Third, we let the 80% masquerade as the 20%, allowing urgency, inboxes, DMs, and other distractions to pull us away from the work that matters most.

Jay also explores why these patterns persist. Often, they are serving us in the short term, protecting us from discomfort, failure, disappointment, or uncomfortable emotions. But what protects us today can hold us back tomorrow.

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To learn more, and for the complete show notes, visit: the1thing.com/pods.

We talk about:

[00:00] The Gap Between Knowing and Doing

[02:40] Why You’re Not as Clear as You Think

[9:10] Stop Chasing the Shiny New System

[15:41] When the 80% Pretends to Be the 20%

[21:27] Why These Patterns Keep Repeating

[25:11] The Weekly Challenge

Links & Tools from This Episode:


The ONE Thing Operating System

The First Domino training program

Free Resources

Produced by NOVA

You know what to do. You start strong. You have the system, the motivation, and the goal. Then, a few months later, you’re right back where you started. What happened?

In this episode, Jay Papasan breaks down one of the biggest reasons high achievers struggle with consistency: they try to go it alone. The solution is social accountability. Not someone forcing you to follow through, but choosing to be accountable to your goals by bringing the right people into your process.

Jay shares three simple ways to tap into the power of “we”: doing it in public, doing it with others, and doing it around others. From public progress reports to gym buddies, coworking sessions, and body doubling, each strategy gives you a different way to create positive pressure and follow through when motivation fades.

Challenge of the Week:

Pick your ONE Thing for the week. Reach out to one person and tell them what you’re committing to. Ask them to check in with you on Saturday and ask how it went. That simple progress report could be the accountability you need to stay consistent.

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To learn more, and for the complete show notes, visit: the1thing.com/pods.

We talk about:

[00:00] Why You Can’t Stay Consistent

[02:00] Ditching the Lone Wolf Mentality

[03:29]  Building in Public

[09:02] The Gym Buddy Effect

[15:44] Social Pressure is A Good Thing

[23:29] Your Weekly Challenge 

Links & Tools from This Episode:

The ONE Thing Operating System: https://the1thing.com/os

Dr. Gail Matthews’ goal-setting research at Dominican University: https://scholar.dominican.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1002&context=psychology-faculty-conference-presentations

Check Out The Episode with Donald Miller Here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GHp-XeObSLA 

Free Resources: https://the1thing.com/free-resources-v2

Produced by NOVA

Resilience is often treated like a personality trait. You either have it or you don’t. But Valorie Burton sees it differently: Resilience is a personal system you can build before life demands it from you.

In this episode, Jay Papasan sits down with Valorie Burton, CEO of the Coaching and Positive Psychology Institute and author of Rules of Resilience, to unpack what it really takes to bounce back. They talk about the three parts of resilience: adaptive skills, protective resources, and preventive choices. They also dig into why leaders need to expect the unexpected, close their growth gaps, control the controllable, and choose thoughts that strengthen them.

This conversation is a practical reminder that challenges are not just something to survive. They are opportunities to grow through, learn from, and use to become the person your goals require.

Challenge of the Week:

Set aside 30 minutes and ask yourself: What is the opportunity in the challenge I’m facing right now? It could be an opportunity to grow in patience, leadership, communication, courage, consistency, or self-trust. Don’t just go through the challenge. Grow through it.

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To learn more, and for the complete show notes, visit: the1thing.com/pods.

We talk about:

[00:00] Resilience As A System

[05:32] Expect the Unexpected

[9:07] Close the Growth Gap Holding You Back

[15:32] Control What You Can

[25:10] Your Weekly Challenge

Links & Tools from This Episode:


Rules of Resilience by Valorie Burton


Valorie Burton’s Website


Valorie Burton’s Resilience Assessment


Free Resources

Produced by NOVA