Ivy Lee gave Charles Schwab a blank sheet of paper and told him…
- List the six most important things you have to do tomorrow.
- Number them in order of importance
- Tomorrow morning – start with 1 and stay with it until completed
- Only then go to 2 and repeat until the end of day.
If you don’t finish you probably wouldn’t have finished anyway – when you realize this you know when to say, “No” to a new task or give it to someone else.
That is the simple time management system Lee gave to Schwab for his managers to use. After a 90-day test period in which Every Single One of the managers had massively increased productivity, Schwab voluntarily paid Lee $25,000 (over $200,000 in today’s adjusted dollars)!
It boils down the most important items that you can find in entire chapters of time management books. It’s actually quite simple:
1) Prioritize. 2) Do the work!
I understand the Law of Attraction and I’m a HUGE fan Positive Thinking. But, my life changed when I finally got it through my head that success comes from consistent hard work.
Reading that makes me want to go back and change it because it seems so god-awful DUH! But, it’s true. I don’t think I’m alone in having thought that things will just work out, or perhaps something great will just happen, or someone will swoop in and help. After a few conversations this week with friends from various countries, I thnk that it may be an American thing.
(If you have thoughts about this, please comment below.)
As I’ve said a few times here before, it’s important and more fun to have a great perspective on your work; be inspired to keep working.
But, no matter what game you create for yourself to do it, what matters is that you actually get things done!
Try Ivy Lee’s formula for success OR as I like to call it 6ccess. Pick your most important tasks for tomorrow and then work through the list.
You may be amazed at how much you get done this week.
I’d love to hear about your 6ccess!
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