Find your ONE Thing

The work we do on Maniphesto Core starts with a simple question:

“What’s the ONE Thing that I could do, that if I did it, would make my life better?”*

Everybody can find their one thing pretty easily. It could be as simple as eating more healthily. Or perhaps you have been thinking of finding a new job for ages, your current job is weighing you down more and more, but you can’t really get the energy to take the step to actually start looking. Perhaps you need to start doing some sport. Or maybe you know that you should have a regular practice to deal with increasing stress in your life, but haven’t found the time to start.

Your ONE Thing should be formulated as a short statement of an action in the present tense. Here are a few examples:

• I get a new job
• I start running
• I read Jordan Peterson’s 12 Rules for Life.

We recommend start with formulating a positive goal. For instance, stopping a negative habit such as watching porn, eating unhealthy food, procrastinating or disconnecting from others would obviously all be good. And we have found that focusing your attention on DOING something positive is often an easier start than focus on negative behaviour. If you are dealing with a bad habit or an addiction, you could try to identify the unmet need at the root and consider if you can meet that need in some other way.

The most common issue we see with new members is excessive and unsustainable expectations to change in the short term. Big changes that only last a short time are highly ineffective. A small, sustainable change in trajectory creates small successes which build confidence, and lead to more ambitious challenges and cumulative transformation in the long term.

So take a moment to think. What is your ONE Thing that you are SURE you COULD do? Defining it here means that you decide that you WILL do it. Your biggest, most impactful, or difficult thing may be too much to begin with – it just has to be something that you are fully confident that you can do, that you know would make your life better.

This will give us something concrete to work with in your group. Once we have tackled the first issue successfully, we will have built up some additional confidence for taking a slightly bigger challenge on as the next thing.

When you know what it is, write it down and then continue to the next section.