The Ivy Lee Method
In 1918, productivity consultant Ivy Lee gave Bethlehem Steel executives a deceptively simple system: write down six tasks, rank them, and work through them one at a time. A century later, it remains one of the most effective personal productivity frameworks ever devised.
The $25,000 productivity tip
The story goes like this: Charles Schwab, president of Bethlehem Steel, asked consultant Ivy Lee for a way to get more done. Lee asked for 15 minutes with each executive. His instructions were simple.
At the end of each workday, write down the six most important things you need to accomplish tomorrow. Rank them in order of importance. When you arrive the next morning, work on the first task until it is complete before moving to the second. Continue down the list. Move unfinished items to tomorrow's list. After three months, Schwab was so impressed that he sent Lee a check for $25,000, which is roughly $500,000 in today's money.
The five rules of the Ivy Lee Method
The Ivy Lee Method has five rules that form a daily cycle. The method works because it forces a hard constraint, eliminates decision paralysis, and imposes single-tasking discipline.
Today
Why a hard limit works
Modern cognitive science confirms what Lee intuited a century ago. Working memory can hold roughly seven items, plus or minus two, as George Miller demonstrated in 1956. Decision fatigue research by Roy Baumeister shows that the more decisions you make, the worse each subsequent decision becomes.
By capping your daily list at a small number, you sidestep both problems. You reduce the cognitive load of choosing what to work on, and you ensure that the tasks you do choose receive your full, undivided attention. Constraint is not a limitation; it is a force multiplier.
Updating a century-old method
The Ivy Lee Method's only weakness is the ranking step: it relies entirely on your subjective judgment about what matters most. A hundred years ago, that was the best anyone could do.
Today, we can layer quantitative scoring on top of the same constraint. By assigning each task a score based on value and effort, the ranking step becomes objective and repeatable. The core philosophy remains intact: a small number of tasks, strict priority order, single-tasking focus. What changes is how you decide the order, moving from instinct to data.
How octo.do applies the Ivy Lee Method
octo.do is the Ivy Lee Method for the modern era. Instead of six tasks, you get eight, aligning with the 7 plus-or-minus 2 cognitive sweet spot and the eight hours in a workday. Instead of ranking by gut feeling, WSJF auto-scoring surfaces your highest-impact tasks automatically.
Every morning your slate resets, just as Lee prescribed, with unfinished tasks re-entering the ranking pool. The core philosophy is identical: radical constraint, clear priority order, and single-minded focus. octo.do simply removes the last subjective bottleneck.
Recommended Reading
The ONE Thing
Gary Keller & Jay Papasan
The surprisingly simple truth behind extraordinary results – focus on the one thing that makes everything else easier or unnecessary.
Essentialism
Greg McKeown
The disciplined pursuit of less. McKeown's philosophy aligns perfectly with the Ivy Lee Method's radical constraint.
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