The Magic Number
We’ve been told to focus on The ONE Thing by Gary Keller. I like that philosophy.
But when you dig into his training company’s content, they say the one thing should exist in several dimensions of your life.
This is similar to the Wheel of Life exercise used in life coaching. It typically has eight categories—things like relationships, career, finances, etc. You rate the importance of each dimension, how well you are doing in that dimension, and then set goals to close the gaps.
The concept is that, just as a tire needs to be evenly inflated and filled to the recommended level, these areas of life should be reasonably balanced.
Besides the insight of showing me where I experience gaps, I have never found this approach works well for me. It feels too rigid, mechanical, and prescriptive.
I like to go where there is energy and enthusiasm, and then use my willpower reserves for building process habits and practices.
We’ve been told to focus on The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey. I like this model because each habit builds on the others.
The challenge I have had with it is that I lose steam once I try to implement every habit, because there are mini-habits within each of the seven. Overwhelm sets in.
And, to me, the second habit, Begin With the End in Mind; the third habit, Put First Things First; and the seventh habit, Sharpen the Saw, are where the real power of his teachings lies.
We’ve also been told by the likes of Robin Sharma, who wrote The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari, that the magic number is five.
He encourages you to identify your top five core values, set one yearly goal around each one, and then break your plans and action steps down into quarters. Track your progress on a one-sheet document.
Good stuff.
I have used this before. It worked better for me than the first two models.
There is also the famous story about Warren Buffett’s advice to his private pilot. Warren claims it never happened, but he likes the advice, so he lets the fable continue to be told as if it did.
It’s a good personal myth, I would say.
The story goes that his pilot asked him for life advice on how to be successful.
Warren said, “Write down all your goals.”
The pilot came back with thirty or so goals.
Warren said, “Circle the five most important ones.”
The pilot did.
Then Warren said, “Get rid of the other twenty-five. Don’t think about them, don’t take action on them, put them completely out of your mind.”
We’ve also been told to focus on just three big goals at any one time.
Jim Collins, author of Good to Great, tells leaders and businesses that if they have more than three core goals, then they really have no priorities.
There is something powerful about the number three.
It is easier to remember three than five or seven.
And, as those of us who know the old Schoolhouse Rock! songs remember, Three Is a Magic Number, which Blind Melon had a minor hit with in 1996.
(Note: Tragically, it was the last recording made by Shannon Hoon before his untimely death in 1995. He was just one month into his 28th year, so he is often included in the infamous 27 Club.)
So what is the magic number then?
One?
Three?
Five?
Seven?
Gosh, I wish I had a better answer, but I think it depends.
This week, I noticed this question was on my mind last year as I reviewed my journal entries from exactly one year ago.
In one note, I wrote something to the effect of going back to just two big items per day. The last time I wrote a big batch of songs, I did exactly that.
I worked out (including long walks) and wrote songs all day.
I did great for several days.
But after a couple of months, I ran out of gas.
I had a goal to write and record 100 new scratch demos, and I petered out at 80.
All good.
Shoot for the stars and you might make it to the moon, as the old saying goes.
In another journal entry from this same week a year ago, I made a declaration to myself that I would not go play open mics unless I had done two things that day:
Write a blog post.
Record a new scratch demo.
Guess what?
I did neither very well.
I put a few posts out last summer, but I just didn’t have—or couldn’t muster—the mojo to get ’er done.
Why?
I don’t remember.
But what is absolutely true, in my experience, is that if you have any reservations about a goal or process habit, you will fail.
If you cannot find the fire inside to sustain your efforts, you will not get far, or you will sputter to a stop prematurely.
I hate to say it, but Simon Sinek is right about asking us to focus on our why.
Personally, I think you need to start with the end in mind, like Covey suggests, before you can answer the question of why.
They are inseparable.
And then you put first things first into your day and let those guide how you spend your time.
But back to why.
This is a great question for me currently as it relates to writing and recording new scratch demos.
Dang it, I want to…
…but I am not.
Why?
I think it has to do with my back catalog of songs that we’ve yet to record and release.
I can come up with a very good reason why writing a new song every day is a great and wonderful practice to establish in my life.
But then it comes down to timing.
I spent last year, 2025, vetting my “best” (subjectively) songs with my music coach, whom I asked to act a bit like a producer.
Each week I would rehearse and play him three songs.
Then we would rank them from favorite to least favorite.
That was me taking a backlog of 1,200+ songs and squeezing it down to 200 contenders, and then to 100 that I would invest the time to relearn, polish, perform, and rank with him.
It was a huge undertaking.
And I am still dealing with it.
Last night, I sent Lee fifteen songs that I have decided either we, The Leavers, will record and release—or, if not, perhaps I will release them as a solo artist.
I think we agreed to keep them all in the possible pile for The Leavers.
But these are fifteen songs that I am not currently rehearsing.
They are simply sitting in a playlist for us to tackle.
Actually, it’s only fourteen, because one of the songs is already on our album and has been released.
I will move it back into rehearsal mode because it is a ballad, and you need to be careful about when you break out a slower ballad during a performance.
They work at certain times.
Not at others.
Then I have another playlist with forty-four songs that I am actively rehearsing, several of which I have already played live at open mics this summer.
And I am trying to make decisions about those.
Are they right for live performances?
Or should Some be moved into the playlist with the fourteen, where we eventually record and release them?
I’ve stated it before, but it is worth stating again.
I am adding one new habit-formation goal each month this year while continuing to write and post a daily blog article.
Right now, There are four that require my time each day.
There is one that is really a “don’t spend time” goal, which is more about changing routines and exercising willpower so I don’t slip back into old behaviors.
I do feel I can easily add one more item at the end of this month.
But I am being very careful not to get ahead of myself and implement it prematurely.
You see, I have sooooo many things I want—and feel I must—do to enable my vision for a radically designed lifestyle that it is very hard to sort the next one that matters most from the pile.
If I listen to myself from last summer, that version of me was saying,
“Two things, dude.”
“Three things, dude.”
Yesterday, I met with a dear friend and former colleague for lunch and to catch up.
She put it perfectly.
She is on a quest to build a life she doesn’t want to escape from.
I think that is the One Thing we’re really talking about here.
But navigating the path from the One to the Many is a big part of the heroic quest required for getting out on your version of a Highway to Yeah.