The Ivy Lee Method for Managing Priorities

The Ivy Lee method is a classic productivity method popularized by Charles M. Schwab, an American steel magnate who supposedly sought Ivy Lee’s advice in 1918. Ivy Lee taught this method to Charles Schwab and his employees at Bethlehem Steel Corporation. Under Schwab’s leadership, the company became the second-largest steel maker in the USA.

It is said that Lee asked Schwab to send him a check for whatever he thought the advice was worth. After three months, Schwab was so impressed by the results that he sent Lee a check for USD 25,000, equivalent to several hundred thousand dollars nowadays, highlighting the importance of Lee’s advice.

The Ivy Lee Method

Here’s the straightforward method Ivy Lee suggested:

1. At the end of each day, write down the six most important tasks you need to accomplish the next day.
2. Prioritize those tasks in order of importance.
3. When you arrive the next day, concentrate only on the first task. Work on it until finished before moving on to the second task.
4. Approach the rest of your list in the same fashion. At the end of the day, move any unfinished tasks to a new list of six tasks for the following day.
5. Repeat this process every day.

What I would like to highlight from the method:

• Its simplicity is outstanding. It is quite simple to get started and continue using.
• The method runs counter to the idea of multitasking, which is scientifically recognized as detrimental to productivity. Multi-tasking causes us to make more mistakes, retain less information, and spend time in context switching.

Prioritizing your six tasks with the Eisenhower Matrix

Modern productivity advice suggests using the Eisenhower Matrix to help you prioritize the six most important tasks. I find this idea really useful; I’m a true believer in the Eisenhower Matrix paradigm.

I’d guess Ivy Lee taught Schwab and his team how to effectively prioritize those six tasks to make that big amount of money, but that lesson was probably lost in history.

Equivalent in structure, you could prioritize the six most important tasks following other prioritization systems, such as the Value vs. Effort matrix, 1-3-5 rule, 3-3-3 method, etc.

Following the Eisenhower Matrix system, it is advised to:

• Choose the six items from quadrants 1 (Urgent and important), 2 (Not Urgent but important), and 3 (Urgent but not important) of the matrix. Always avoid quadrant 4 (Not urgent and not important).
• Give more room to important tasks (quadrants 1 and 2), leaving just one or two slots for urgent but unimportant tasks (quadrant 3).