This strategy has been incredibly useful for me: as a writer, I can waste three or four hours debating what I should write about on a given day. (Getting off the couch can be tough, but once you actually start running it is much easier to finish your workout.) Lee's method forces you to decide on your first task the night before you go to work. The biggest hurdle to finishing most tasks is starting them. Basically, if you commit to nothing, you'll be distracted by everything. Lee's method is similar to Warren Buffett’s 25-5 Rule, which requires you to focus on just 5 critical tasks and ignore everything else. I find that the single best thing to do when you have too many ideas (or when you're overwhelmed by everything you need to get done) is to prune your ideas and trim away everything that isn't absolutely necessary. However, I do think there is something magical about imposing limits upon yourself. It could just as easily be five tasks per day. I don't believe there is anything magical about Lee's number of six important tasks per day. Use simple rules to guide complex behavior. Ignore them as much as possible, deal with them when you must, and get back to your prioritized to-do list as soon as possible. Yes, emergencies and unexpected distractions will arise. What happens if an emergency pops up? What about using the latest technology to our fullest advantage? In my experience, complexity is often a weakness because it makes it harder to get back on track. They don't account for all of the complexities and nuances of life. The primary critique of methods like this one is that they are too basic. Ivy Lee's productivity method utilizes many of the concepts I have written about previously. (Photographer: Unknown) On Managing Priorities Well What makes it so effective? Portrait of Ivy Ledbetter Lee from the early 1900s. How could something this simple be worth so much? The Ivy Lee Method of prioritizing your to-do list seems stupidly simple.

After three months, Schwab was so delighted with the progress his company had made that he called Lee into his office and wrote him a check for $25,000.Ī $25,000 check written in 1918 is the equivalent of a $400,000 check in 2015. The strategy sounded simple, but Schwab and his executive team at Bethlehem Steel gave it a try. At the end of the day, move any unfinished items to a new list of six tasks for the following day. Approach the rest of your list in the same fashion.Work until the first task is finished before moving on to the second task. When you arrive tomorrow, concentrate only on the first task.Prioritize those six items in order of their true importance.At the end of each work day, write down the six most important things you need to accomplish tomorrow.After three months, you can send me a check for whatever you feel it's worth to you.” 2 The Ivy Lee Methodĭuring his 15 minutes with each executive, Ivy Lee explained his simple daily routine for achieving peak productivity: “How much will it cost me,” Schwab asked. “Give me 15 minutes with each of your executives,” Lee replied. As the story goes, Schwab brought Lee into his office and said, “Show me a way to get more things done.” Lee was a successful businessman in his own right and is widely remembered as a pioneer in the field of public relations. One day in 1918, in his quest to increase the efficiency of his team and discover better ways to get things done, Schwab arranged a meeting with a highly-respected productivity consultant named Ivy Lee. The famous inventor Thomas Edison once referred to Schwab as the “master hustler.” He was constantly seeking an edge over the competition. Schwab was the president of the Bethlehem Steel Corporation, the largest shipbuilder and the second-largest steel producer in America at the time. Schwab was one of the richest men in the world.

Daily tasks