The Ivy Lee Method: Six Tasks, a Century of Results

In 1918, productivity consultant Ivy Lee made an unusual offer to Charles Schwab, president of Bethlehem Steel: he’d share a simple method with the executives, and Schwab could pay him whatever he thought it was worth. A few months later, Schwab reportedly sent a check for $25,000, a fortune at the time. The method takes about five minutes a day.

The method

At the end of each workday:

1. Write down the six most important things you need to accomplish tomorrow. No more than six.
2. Rank them in order of true priority.
3. Tomorrow, start with #1. Work on it until it’s finished before moving to #2.
4. Work down the list in order. Anything unfinished rolls to tomorrow’s list.
5. Repeat every day.

That’s the entire system. Its power is in the constraints.

Why it works so well

• It forces prioritization. Capping the list at six means you can’t hide behind a 30-item to-do list where everything is “important.” You have to choose.
• It enforces single-tasking. Finish #1 before #2. No frantic switching between half-done tasks.
• It removes morning ambiguity. The decision was made last night. You wake up and execute.
• It’s brutally simple. No app required, no system to maintain. Simplicity is why it survives.

The hard part

The method asks for two things that are genuinely difficult: honest ranking (knowing which task truly is #1) and the discipline to finish before moving on. Most failures happen at the ranking step, when “important” is really “easy” or “loudest” in disguise.

Pairing Ivy Lee with PathRank

PathRank takes the friction out of the ranking step. Instead of staring at a blank notepad trying to remember and order everything, you capture your day by voice, note, or meeting transcript, and PathRank surfaces the genuine action items already prioritized by what to do first. Your “six most important things” practically write themselves from your Ready Tasks, and the rank-up system keeps the order honest.

Pair the timeless discipline of Ivy Lee with PathRank’s automatic ranking, and you get a five-minute ritual that points you at exactly the right work every morning.