[4][5][6] The book has appeared on the bestseller lists of The New York Times,[7] The Wall Street Journal,[8] USA Today, and Amazon.com.

[4] The book begins with a section entitled, "The Lies: They Mislead and Derail Us", which analyzes the ways in which multitasking has erroneously been praised as a desirable trait.

[15] For instance, the book suggests that readers should engage in four hours of work on their "ONE thing" each day.

According to the book, this means that engaging in the one most important task will be more likely to produce the desired results without any extraneous effort.

[15] The core idea is that focusing on an excessive amount of tasks will more likely lead to discord and under-performance.

[citation needed] In an article for Entrepreneur, Brandon Turner named The One Thing one of the "5 Powerful Books That Changed the Direction of My Life".

[21] In a review for The National, Alice Haine notes that the book "has the necessary ingredients to boost those feeling a little overwhelmed by the pressures of work and home life.