Jay Papasan's book The One Thing has sold nearly 4 million copies in 40+ languages.

That number is still climbing. And the book wasn't written by a celebrity or pushed by a massive media conglomerate. It was co-authored by Gary Keller and Jay Papasan, two entrepreneurs who spent years figuring out how to make complex ideas impossibly simple.

In a recent conversation with Stu McLaren, Jay broke down the actual principles behind creating ideas that move through the world without friction. Not marketing tricks. Not growth hacks. The publishing principles that made one book spread across 40+ countries.

If you're building a business around your expertise, these principles aren't optional. They're the foundation.

Quick Answer: How Do You Create Content That Spreads?

Write at a 5th to 6th grade reading level. The best-selling authors in history, from Hemingway to the team behind The One Thing, write far simpler than most people expect. Simplicity removes friction. Solve acute pain, not nice-to-haves. Content that spreads addresses something your audience feels urgently, not something they'll get to eventually. Build visual frameworks people can remember and share. And focus on timeless ideas over trendy ones. If your content is still relevant in five years, it'll compound. If it's pegged to a moment, it expires.

Write Like a Fifth Grader (Seriously)

Ernest Hemingway wrote at a 4th grade reading level. The One Thing was written at a 5th grade level. Jay won't publish anything above a 6th grade level.

That sounds almost absurd. But it's the most important principle in the entire conversation.

Here's why. The average American reads at a 7th to 8th grade level. If you write above that, you're creating friction for a huge percentage of your potential audience. And friction is the enemy of content that spreads.

Jay explained it this way: when someone reads a sentence and has to re-read it, the idea slows down. When they read it and immediately get it, the idea moves forward. Simple writing doesn't mean dumb ideas. It means removing every barrier between your idea and the person receiving it.

Think about the content you actually share with friends. It's never the most complex thing you've read. It's the thing that nailed a big idea in words you didn't have to work to understand.

This is one of the most practical simple writing tips for business owners: run your content through a readability checker. If it scores above 6th grade, simplify. Cut the jargon. Shorten the sentences. Replace the five-dollar word with the fifty-cent one. Your ideas will travel further.

The same principle applies to the content inside your membership. Members don't cancel because your content is too simple. They cancel because they can't absorb it fast enough to get results.

Be the Aspirin, Not the Vitamin

Jay shared a quote he attributes to Reed Hastings, the co-founder of Netflix: "Be the aspirin, not the vitamin."

Vitamins are nice to have. You take them because you probably should. You forget them for three days and don't notice. Aspirin is different. When you have a splitting headache, you'll drive to the store at midnight to get it.

The aspirin vs vitamins framework is one of the most useful filters for everything you create. Before you write a blog post, record a video, or build a membership module, ask yourself: am I solving an acute pain, or am I offering a nice-to-have?

Content that spreads almost always starts with a deep felt emotion. Frustration. Confusion. Fear. Urgency. Find the headache. Name it specifically. Then offer the relief.

Too many creators build content around what they want to teach instead of what their audience desperately needs to learn. That's the vitamin approach. And it doesn't spread.

If you're exploring what to include in your membership, this filter changes everything. Lead with the problems your members are losing sleep over. The "nice to know" content can come later. The "need to know right now" content is what keeps people engaged and telling their friends.

Choose Timeless Over Timely

Jay learned this lesson from novelist and NYU writing professor E.L. Doctorow. Doctorow told him: never use the word Kleenex. Use "tissue." Kleenex is a brand that might not exist in 20 years. Tissue will always be tissue.

That small distinction captures an entire publishing philosophy. Timeless content compounds. Timely content expires.

The One Thing came out in 2013. It still sells hundreds of thousands of copies a year. That's because the book isn't about a trend, a tool, or a moment in time. It's about a universal principle of focus. The ideas were true in 2013, they're true now, and they'll be true in 2033.

Jay's advice for content creators is direct: don't chase waves. If you're constantly creating content pegged to the latest trend, you're on a treadmill. The moment that trend fades, your content fades with it.

Instead, anchor everything to timeless ideas. You can reference current events. But the core principle should stand on its own without them. If the example is dated but the lesson still holds, you've built something that lasts.

That's the difference between a real thought leadership content strategy and a content calendar that just chases traffic. Evergreen content isn't boring. It's the only content that keeps working for you while you sleep.

For membership owners, this matters deeply. Your membership marketing content needs to attract people this month, next month, and next year. Build on timeless pain points and you stop constantly replacing content that expired.

Build Visual Frameworks People Can Actually Remember

Jay's co-author Gary Keller has a signature move. When he's working through a concept, he grabs a flip chart and starts drawing. Not fancy graphics. Simple models. Pyramids, wheels, checklists, flowcharts.

There's a reason. People don't remember paragraphs. They remember shapes.

The content creation frameworks inside The One Thing are a big part of why the book spread so far. The "focusing question" is a framework. The "domino effect" is a visual metaphor. These aren't just teaching tools. They're sharing tools. When someone can picture your idea, they can explain it to someone else.

Jay's process: take a complex concept and reduce it to a visual model that fits on a single page. If it takes more than one page, it's not simple enough yet.

Think about the most popular business books of the last decade. Nearly all of them are built around one or two core visual models. The Business Model Canvas. The Golden Circle. The Eisenhower Matrix. They gave people something to point at and say, "This. This is what I mean."

If you're coaching or teaching inside a membership, your frameworks become your signature. They're the thing members remember after they log off.

The 80/20 Rule for Content Creation

Jay keeps coming back to a simple principle: the 80/20 rule for content creation means focusing on the minority of things that actually move the needle.

Most creators spread themselves thin. They're on six platforms, creating four types of content, chasing every trending topic, and wondering why nothing gains traction.

Jay's approach is the opposite. Know three things: who you serve, what problem you solve, and how you serve them. Then do those three things relentlessly. Everything else is a distraction.

The One Thing has spawned over 560 podcast episodes, quizzes that segment their audience, coaching programs, and a membership community. But all of it flows from one core idea. One book. One message. One audience.

That's the 80/20 principle in action. Twenty percent of your content generates eighty percent of your results. The question is whether you have the discipline to identify that twenty percent and double down on it instead of constantly creating more.

This is the foundation of building an online business that actually works. You don't need more content. You need the right content, delivered to the right people, solving the right problem.

Collaboration Is a Battle of Ideas, Not Egos

Jay described his writing partnership with Gary Keller as a crucible. Gary built one of the largest real estate brands in the world. Jay came in as an English major and editor. Completely different backgrounds, completely different strengths.

The ground rules were simple: mutual respect, genuine curiosity, and a commitment to letting the best idea win regardless of who said it. Jay calls it "playing up," deliberately working with people who are stronger than you in specific areas because it forces you to grow faster.

The principle they lived by: have a big clash of ideas, not egos. When you're building content with a partner, a team, or even guest experts inside your membership, that distinction matters. Defensiveness kills good ideas. Curiosity sharpens them.

The Full-Stack Content Business

Jay and his team didn't just write a book and hope for the best. They built a full-stack content business around it.

The book establishes authority. The podcast (560+ episodes) brings new people in every week. Quizzes segment that audience by where they are and what they need. And coaching plus membership programs turn attention into recurring revenue.

Each layer feeds the others. Podcast listeners buy the book. Book readers take the quiz. Quiz takers join the coaching. Members tell friends about the podcast.

That's architecture, not luck. And you don't need a bestseller to build the same structure. You need one core idea, one audience, and a deliberate path from discovery to deeper engagement.

For creators thinking about how to build a community that markets itself, this is the model. Content attracts. Segmentation qualifies. Community retains. And the whole system compounds.

Find What You Were Built to Create

Jay closed the conversation with something personal. He encouraged Stu to journal about the moments in his life when he felt most alive. Not the most externally successful moments. The ones with a spark, a sense of purpose.

Jay's belief is that your life has been quietly guiding you toward your calling. Dreamers need space to do. Doers need space to dream.

Stu shared his own proof. In 2013, he was sitting alone in a cabin at 1am reading The One Thing. That night, he decided to sell his company. That decision eventually led to building Membership.io. One book, one late night, one clear thought.

What problems light you up? What topics do people always ask you about? What would you create even if nobody paid you? That intersection is where content that spreads actually begins. Not with a keyword strategy. With something real you care about.

How to Put This Into Practice Today

Start with these principles this week.

Check your reading level. Paste your next piece of content into a readability tool. If it's above 6th grade, simplify until it isn't. Cut the jargon. Shorten the sentences. Watch how much further the idea travels.

Apply the aspirin test. Before you create anything, ask: is this solving an acute pain or offering a nice-to-have? If it's a vitamin, find the headache underneath it and lead with that instead.

Build one framework. Take the most important concept you teach and reduce it to a single visual. A simple diagram, a three-step process, a checklist. Something your audience can picture, remember, and explain to someone else.

Audit your 80/20. Look at your last 20 pieces of content. Which ones generated the most engagement, leads, or revenue? Double down on what's working instead of creating more of what isn't.

Go timeless. On your next piece of content, remove every reference that would make it irrelevant in two years. If the idea still works without the trending example, you've built something with a real shelf life.

These aren't publishing secrets. They're communication principles that apply to everything you create, whether it's a blog post, a podcast, a video, or the core content inside your membership.

Simple spreads. Pain points pull people in. Frameworks make ideas sticky. And timeless beats trendy every single time.

Ready to turn your expertise into a membership that grows? See how Membership.io helps creators build recurring revenue around the content their audience actually needs.

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