The Ivy Lee method
Six tasks, ranked, written the night before. Tomorrow, start at number one and don't touch number two until it's done. A century-old routine that still beats an endless to-do list.
The six rules
- At the end of each workday, write down the six most important things to accomplish tomorrow. No more than six.
- Rank them in order of true importance.
- Tomorrow, work only on task one until it's finished.
- Then move to task two, and so on.
- At the end of the day, move anything unfinished to a new list of six for the next day.
- Repeat every working day.
The story behind it
As the story goes, in 1918 Charles M. Schwab, head of Bethlehem Steel, asked the consultant Ivy Lee how to get more done. Lee spent fifteen minutes with each executive, taught them this routine, and told Schwab to pay whatever he thought it was worth after three months. Schwab reportedly sent a cheque for $25,000. It's a good story, repeated by James Clear among others; the numbers are hard to verify, but the method stands on its own.
Why it works
- It forces a choice. Only six slots means you decide what not to do.
- It removes the morning decision. The list was made last night; you just start.
- It enforces single-tasking. One task at a time, in order, cuts the cost of switching.
Ivy Lee plus time blocking
The list says what and in which order; the time-blocking planner says when. Press "Block these into today" and the six tasks drop into your free time in rank order. Number one is your frog. If six equal-sized slots don't match your work, try the 1-3-5 rule instead.
Questions people ask
What is the Ivy Lee method?
At the end of each workday, write down the six most important things to do tomorrow, in order of importance. The next day, work on the first task until it is finished before moving to the second. Anything unfinished moves to the next day's list. Repeat every day.
Where does the Ivy Lee method come from?
Ivy Lee was an early 20th-century public-relations pioneer. The often-told story is that in 1918 he gave this advice to Charles M. Schwab, president of Bethlehem Steel, and was later paid $25,000 for it. The story is widely repeated, including by James Clear, though the details are hard to verify.
Why only six tasks?
The limit forces you to choose. Six is small enough to finish on a good day and short enough that the order genuinely matters. The number itself is not magic; the constraint is.
How is it different from a to-do list?
A to-do list grows forever and has no order. An Ivy Lee list is capped, strictly ranked, written the night before, and worked one task at a time from the top.