picture of Ivy Lee

 

The Exact Time Management System
Used By Charles Schwab
To Earn 100 Million Dollars in the 1930s

 But can it work for today's busy lifestyle
of career success and personal life managment? 

 

Ivy Lee (an efficiency consultant in the 1930s) told Schwab to:

(1). Make all his executives write a list of their 6 most important things they had to do for their area of work. (2). Then order them by priority. (3). And to do them in order. -  And that was it!

....Well, 3 months later:  Schwab decided the results were worth paying Lee US$35,000 for. (At the time, the average worker in the US was being paid $2 per day.)

And that single time management technique made Schwab the most successful steel man in America - earning him 100 million dollars in 5 years.

So if it was good enough to make 100 million in 1930...
Isn't it good enough for you and I in 2008?

Well let’s see...

Just write down the top 6 priorities you need to get done... and do nothing else but them until they're all done... one by one...

But before you run into trouble... let's think about it just for a second:

  • Schwab and his top management were able to command employees to do their bidding.
  • They had enough cashola to employ maids, cooks, nannies, etc.
  • And they lived in the 30s - known as ‘the age of style’, when times were good, and life moved slow.

Certainly nothing like our busy modern hectic lifestyles we have today.

And you probably don't have a cook, maid, and nanny. I know I don't.

But here's the real kicker. 

That one darn suggestion (that worked great in the 30s) has become the underlying principle of time management techniques still taught today.

And sure, it seems like common sense doesn't it?

  • Make a list of what you gotta do...
  • Prioritize the most important one's...
  • And then do them one by one.

So if you think that will work for you... if you think that's some kind of magic revelation... if its the first time you’ve been exposed to this idea... then by all means go ahead and give it a try.

Time Management Frustration 

But if you get frustrated with all of modern life's distractions, chores, and piles upon piles of opportunities that pass you by day every day... then you'll feel as I do - that modern time management needs to step back from these 80 year old ‘industrial’ techniques, and come from a new modern perspective. 

In fact, if you are still trying to use the old 'common sense' techniques of time management, you are causing yourself to fail...

But It's Not Your Fault

I remember my own trouble with trying to manage my time before I realised where I was going wrong by tring to use normal time management systems:

Career pressures... not enough personal time... juggling other people's demands... all those interruptions... and on and on.

I'm now doing a bit of research to try and expose how 'common sense' time management actually has a negative effect - and to uncover the truth of our natural time management skill.

The following 3 questions cut to the very heart of why people usually fail with time management... by considering the 3 most popular techniques.

Get a free analysis of your own results from the automated software.  The results are simple, yet powerful, and Free.

Your FREE analysis instantly reveals...

  • Your strengths... and your weaknesses with time management.
  • Why normal time management techniques can NEVER work.
  • And how to get invited with FREE access to a new Time Management Mastermind Group.

Along with your quiz results you will also get a 14-page quick-read Time Management Exposed report, that cuts through all of the old, obsolete, and destructive time management techniques once and for all.

Be part of the research currently under way to assess the state of our approach to time management.  Please answer honestly and thoughtfully: 
1) I try to prioritize things by how important and/or urgent they are.
  Of course I prioritize by what's important and/or urgent. I usually give things on my to-do list a score of 1 to 3 or A to C to prioritize them.
  Yes, but it feels like an up hill battle. There's so much to do that it's often difficult to prioritize.
  No. I don't sit writing lists and numbering things in order of priority or urgency by A - E or 1 - 5. I don't think doing that is appropriate for modern busy lifestyles at all.
2) I try to schedule my activities to specific times in my calendar.
  I know that's what I 'should' do, but not much gets 'diarised'. I kinda just wing it.
  Yes I absolutely make a best effort to schedule everything I want to get done to precise time slots in my schedule.
  No. The only things on my 'schedule' are specific events such as Weddings, B-days... that kind of thing.
3) Weekly 'to-do' lists are an excellent idea - and a technique I often use.
  Absolutely. The key to time management is having detailed lists of things I want to accomplish in the upcoming week.
  I thing they're a good idea, but I don't seem to have the time or energy to actually keep to weekly to-do lists. I don't know whether it's my fault, my 'extra busy lifestyle' or if 'weekly to-do lists' just aren't a very good idea to begin with...
  Absolutely not. Weekly lists of things to do just creates a demotivating hurdle. I don't believe weekly to-do lists are a good idea.
 


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