The Ivy Lee Method is a century-old productivity strategy that remains one of the most effective ways to manage a daily workload.
Its brilliance lies in its simplicity: it forces you to prioritize your tasks and eliminates the “decision fatigue” that often occurs at the start of a workday.
How the Method Works?
The routine follows a strict six-step process, traditionally performed at the end of each work day:
- Write down the six most important things you need to accomplish tomorrow. Do not write down more than six.
- Rank those six items in order of their true importance.
- When you arrive tomorrow, concentrate only on the first task. Work until the first task is finished before moving on to the second.
- Approach the rest of your list in the same fashion. At the end of the day, move any unfinished items to a new list of six for the following day.
- Repeat this process every working day.
Why It Is Effective?
The Ivy Lee Method works because it addresses the psychological barriers to productivity:
- Decisiveness: By picking only six tasks, you avoid the paralysis of choice.
- Single-Tasking: Modern workflows often encourage multitasking, which can reduce efficiency. This method demands total focus on one objective at a time.
- Reduced Friction: By planning the night before, you remove the mental energy required to “figure out what to do” when you sit down at your desk in the morning.
Real-World Business Examples
The method’s origin is actually rooted in one of the most famous productivity consulting stories in history.
Bethlehem Steel (United States) In 1918, Charles M. Schwab, president of Bethlehem Steel, hired Ivy Lee to increase the efficiency of his management team. Lee told Schwab to try his method for three months and then pay him what he thought it was worth. After three months, Schwab was so impressed by the rise in output that he wrote Lee a check for $25,000—the equivalent of over $500,000 today.
Automattic (Global/Remote) In the modern era, executives and developers at companies like Automattic (the entity behind WordPress) often use variations of this method to manage fully remote, asynchronous work. By identifying the "big rocks" the night before, leaders in distributed teams can ensure they are moving the needle on major projects rather than just reacting to Slack notifications and emails.
Toyota (Japan) While Toyota is famous for the "Lean" and "Kanban" systems, the core philosophy of the Ivy Lee Method aligns with the Japanese concept of Muri (avoiding overburden). By limiting the daily task list to six items, managers prevent the burnout associated with over-scheduling and ensure that the most critical quality-control tasks are addressed first.
Implementation Tips
Be Ruthless with Ranking: The difference between task number one and task number two should be clear. If you find yourself jumping between them, your ranking wasn’t honest.
The “Six” is a Maximum: If you have three massive projects, don’t feel forced to add three small ones just to hit six. The goal is focus, not volume.
Draft your first list of six tasks based on your current projects.