Defend Your Yes – Jay Papasan (Author, Publisher and Entrepreneur)

Jay Papasan is an executive (and entrepreneur) with the third largest, fast-growing real estate franchise in North America, he is a leader in publishing, and an accomplished author. With such a list of accomplishments, it’s a bit surprising to hear Jay admit that he doesn’t think he was very purposeful or habitual until he began training for the New York Marathon in 1997.
Up until that time, Jay had never run more than three miles. He found a card insert in a fitness magazine which gave instructions on how to go from running 0 miles to 26.2 miles in three months and set himself to the task of following the instructions on the insert and thought little of his progress. One day, however, after returning from a run and preparing to go out, his roommate asked him how far he’d run that day. Absently, he replied that he had run fourteen miles and was shocked when his roommate exclaimed that Jay had just run a half marathon. Jay hadn’t considered the milestone; he’d simply been focused on continuing along the advice of the insert. The incident taught him that when you aim high, success has a way of creeping up on you, almost unnoticed.
Throughout the conversation, Jay explains that lining up your dominoes and knowing your number one priority are not just events; they are a process and an approach to life. He says you need to ask yourself “What’s the one thing I can do, such that by doing it, everything else would be easier or unnecessary?” It’s also important, he notes, not to judge what you come up with.
As entrepreneurs, it’s easy to miss the big things because we’ve got so many things on our to-do lists. That’s part of why Jay’s message is so important; we should all find that one thing and strive to that because that’s the path to success and growth. Jay says, and it’s something many of our previous guests have mentioned, every “yes” has to be defended by a thousand “no’s”.
Best of all, do this and it turns your To Do List into a Success List.
Listen to the conversation with Jay here:

Get Jay and Gary’s book The One Thing Here
More books by Jay Papasan and Gary Keller:
The Millionaire Real Estate AgentThe Millionaire Real Estate Investor
HOLD: How to Find, Buy and Rent Houses for Wealth
Shift: How Top Real Estate Agents Handle Tough Times