In 1918, a publicity consultant named Ivy Lee walked into the offices of Charles M. Schwab, then chairman of Bethlehem Steel. Schwab was one of the wealthiest people in the world and already employed some of the best business minds available. Lee told him he could improve the performance of every executive in the company, and asked for 15 minutes with each one.

Schwab agreed, but told Lee to name his price. Lee said he'd take nothing. Three months after implementing what Lee told them, Schwab sent a check for $25,000 (roughly $400,000 today). What had Lee shared? A method so simple you can explain it in 30 seconds.

The Ivy Lee Method has barely changed in the century since. It still works because the underlying problems it solves, decision fatigue, task scatter, and unclear priorities, have only gotten worse in the modern workplace. Here's how it works and how to use it.

Key Takeaways

• The Ivy Lee Method uses a constraint (6 tasks maximum) to force genuine prioritization rather than letting everything feel equally important

• Planning the night before removes morning decision fatigue and creates a clear starting point the next day

• Single-tasking from top to bottom is the mechanism: you don't move to task 2 until task 1 is done

The Ivy Lee Method: 6 Steps

The method has six steps. Do them in order. Don't skip any.

• Step 1: At the end of each workday, write down the six most important tasks for tomorrow. Only six. No more.

• Step 2: Rank those six tasks in order of true importance. Not urgency. Not ease. Importance.

• Step 3: The next morning, start working on task #1 immediately.

• Step 4: Work on task #1 until it is completely finished. Only then move to task #2.

• Step 5: At the end of the day, move any unfinished tasks to the top of the next day's list.

• Step 6: Repeat every day.

That's it. The simplicity is intentional. Lee's insight was that most people already know what their most important tasks are. The problem is structure: without a forcing mechanism, every task competes equally for attention and the most important ones get pushed aside by the most urgent or easiest ones.

Why the Ivy Lee Method Works

The six-task limit is the core of the method. When you have to pick only six things, you're forced to actually decide what matters most. If you allow yourself to write twelve, then every task is "important enough to make the list" and the hard prioritization never happens.

Writing the list the night before solves the morning decision fatigue problem. Starting your day by deciding what to work on is starting at a deficit. By the time you've thought through your options and made a plan, your clearest cognitive window has already started closing. Planning the night before means you wake up with a mission instead of a question. This pairs naturally with a broader daily planning practice.

Single-tasking from the top is where most of the productivity gain actually comes from. The research on multitasking consistently shows that switching between tasks carries a significant cognitive cost: time lost, errors made, quality reduced. The Ivy Lee Method's rule (finish task 1 before touching task 2) forces you to stay with each piece of work until it's done. That's how complex tasks actually get completed rather than partially touched a dozen times.

A Practical Example

Say you're a freelance writer with a full week of work. You sit down Tuesday evening and identify the six most important tasks for Wednesday:

• 1. Finish first draft of client article (due Thursday)

• 2. Send revised proposal to prospect

• 3. Research next month's editorial calendar

• 4. Follow up with two outstanding invoices

• 5. Read and respond to editorial feedback from last week

• 6. Update website portfolio with recent work

Wednesday morning, you open your list and start with task 1. You don't check email first. You don't do the easy invoice follow-up because it's quick. You write the article. When it's done, you move to task 2. By noon you've finished 3 of the 6 tasks. By end of day you've finished 5. Task 6 (portfolio update) rolls to tomorrow's list as item 1.

The key is that you never made a decision during the day about what to work on next. That decision was already made. You just executed. Most people find this produces a quality of focus that scattered to-do lists simply don't.

Limitations Worth Knowing

The Ivy Lee Method is powerful for planned work, but it wasn't designed for modern interruption-heavy environments. A few real limitations:

No timing guidance. The method tells you what to do and in what order. It doesn't tell you when. Doing your hardest cognitive task at 3pm when your brain has been running all day produces different results than doing it at 9am at peak focus. For this, see the guide on personal energy management and how to schedule tasks around your cognitive peaks rather than just available time.

No guidance on task size. "Finish article" could be a 2-hour task. "Update portfolio" might be 20 minutes. Six items on the list doesn't tell you much about whether the day is realistic. Pairing the Ivy Lee list with rough time estimates helps, as does the two-minute rule for handling items that don't belong on the list at all.

Doesn't handle urgent interruptions well. If your boss calls at 10am with a genuinely urgent request, the Ivy Lee Method doesn't tell you what to do. In practice, most people handle true urgencies and then return to the list, which works fine. The issue is when people use "urgent" as an excuse to avoid their #1 item.

Six tasks is arbitrary. For some people and some roles, six is too many. For others, six isn't enough to represent a full day of work. The constraint's value is in forcing prioritization, so treat the number as a principle (identify your most important tasks and limit them) rather than a rule you're obligated to follow exactly. The 1-3-5 method is a variation that adds more structure to the task count.

How to Modernize the Ivy Lee Method

The biggest limitation of the Ivy Lee Method is what it was never designed to handle: timing. Knowing your six tasks in order of priority is half the equation. The other half is knowing when to do each one, based on your actual cognitive state that day.

Lifestack handles the timing side. You bring the Ivy Lee priorities; Lifestack reads your wearable health data (Oura Ring, WHOOP, Fitbit, Garmin, Apple Health) and automatically schedules your tasks during your peak focus windows. If last night's sleep was poor, it shifts your hardest task later. If your recovery score is strong, it front-loads your #1 priority.

The combination works cleanly: use the Ivy Lee Method each evening to identify your 6 priorities in order. Enter them into Lifestack. The next morning, your schedule is already built around both what matters (Ivy Lee's contribution) and when you'll be sharpest (Lifestack's contribution). This is the energy calendar approach in practice, and it closes the gap the original method left open. Lifestack is $7/month or $50/year with a 7-day free trial.

How the Ivy Lee Method Compares to Other Frameworks

The Eisenhower Matrix asks you to categorize tasks by importance and urgency. The Ivy Lee Method skips the matrix and just asks you to identify importance directly, then work through the list sequentially. Both frameworks are compatible: you can use the matrix to separate important from urgent tasks, then use the Ivy Lee list to prioritize the important ones.

Eating the frog (doing your hardest task first) is essentially what the Ivy Lee Method enforces when you rank honestly. If your hardest task is also your most important, it goes to slot #1 and gets done first. The two methods agree on the key insight: don't save hard things for the end of the day.

The prioritization methods guide covers more frameworks if you want to compare approaches before settling on one. The Ivy Lee Method tends to work best for people who have clear deliverables each day rather than open-ended or research-heavy work where "finished" is harder to define.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the Ivy Lee Method?

The Ivy Lee Method is a productivity technique from 1918 that involves writing down your six most important tasks at the end of each workday, ranking them in order of importance, and then working through them sequentially the next day without moving to task #2 until task #1 is fully complete. Any unfinished tasks roll to the next day's list.

Who invented the Ivy Lee Method?

Ivy Lee was an American publicity consultant who shared the method with executives at Bethlehem Steel in 1918. After three months of using the system, Charles M. Schwab, the company's chairman, paid Lee $25,000 (equivalent to roughly $400,000 today) for the advice. The method bears Lee's name because of that legendary story.

Does the Ivy Lee Method actually work?

For planned, self-directed work, yes. The method works because it forces real prioritization through the 6-task limit, removes morning decision fatigue by planning the night before, and produces single-task focus through the sequential rule. It's less effective for highly reactive roles where urgent requests constantly override planned priorities.

What are the 6 steps of the Ivy Lee Method?

The six steps are: (1) At the end of each workday, write down 6 most important tasks for tomorrow. (2) Rank them by importance. (3) Start the next day with task #1. (4) Finish task #1 before moving to task #2. (5) Move unfinished tasks to tomorrow's new list. (6) Repeat daily.

How is the Ivy Lee Method different from a regular to-do list?

A regular to-do list is usually open-ended, grows throughout the day, and gives every item equal priority by default. The Ivy Lee Method imposes three constraints that a to-do list doesn't: a maximum of 6 items, a required priority ranking, and a rule that you work sequentially from top to bottom. These constraints force the prioritization that most to-do lists avoid. A daily planning routine that incorporates the Ivy Lee Method tends to be more consistent than one built around an open list.

Can I use the Ivy Lee Method with a digital calendar?

Yes. You can write your 6 tasks in a notes app, a task manager, or your calendar. The format matters less than the ritual: every evening, rank your six most important tasks for tomorrow. A brain dump at the end of the day helps surface what those tasks should be before you rank them.