The $2.5 Million Dollar Tip
I’m really excited to be posting one of our first tips today. Especially as it’s not every day that you get to give away a $2.5 millions worth of advice, but today I do at …oh… roughly $500,000 dollars a minute. The subject, productivity, time management, to do lists, everyone’s favorite.
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I guess I should start by introducing the new site. Each week we’ll be posting some great content here, tips. stories, and tactics relevant to making you the next Executive Rockstar. We’ll keep the content to under 5 minutes, because I know that you’re busy! But watching or reading these tips and stories is going to be well worth your time.
So let’s get on.
We all want to do more with our days, but without ‘burning ourselves out’, rushing, and stressing about the sheer volume of tasks that we have to do! We want to create extra time to do those strategic projects that are going to make our names… but how?
Where do we start?
The biggest mistake I see clients make with time management – and I made plenty in my early years working for a large management consultancy – is that they focus on efficiency at the expense of effectiveness.
What do I mean by that?
Well, many of my clients try to get more things done, rather than more of the right things done. Why? Because it’s easier.
If you think about it, there are really important tasks that you’re avoiding because you don’t enjoy them, or you are afraid of some aspect of the task, or it’s just too big to think about.
By having a big list of tasks to choose from… you can cherry pick what you want to do next, maybe not the most important task, but you can get lots of smaller things done that you do quite enjoy, you can have a busy day, and go home feeling like you’ve accomplished something with minimal discomfort.
But follow that path, and to be honest we all do at times, and rarely are the tasks that you finish the right ones. We get things done, but it’s busy work, we don’t accomplish things that are going to really make our name in the organization, the results that will safeguard our jobs and get us those BIG promotions.
So, we fill our days with tasks that don’t really get us anywhere special … rather than focussing on getting the results we would normally only dream about.
So what can we do about it? And where is that 2.5 million dollar advice I promised you?
Well it’s not a new question that we’re talking about here, and I’d like to tell you a little story from the turn of the last century. It’s about Charles Schwab - I’m sure that you might have heard of him.
After becoming president of the Carnegie steel works aged only 35, Schwab went on to grow the Bethlehem Steel Corporation into the second largest steel company in the united states. But it wasn’t easy sailing for him. In something like 1904, he asked a management consultant Ivy Lee, how the managers of his company could be more productive… he really needed more out of them, he needed executive rockstars!
Mr Lee, told him that he could increase the productivity of the company by 50% if he followed some very simple instructions!
The instructions
- Take a piece of paper and write down the six most important tasks that you have to do tomorrow.
- Consider the list, and pick out the most important task, and then rank the remaining tasks in order of importance.
- Tomorrow morning, when you come into the office, start the first task, and do not start anything else until you have completed it!
- When you finish, start the next most important task, and when you’ve finished that, start the next one.
- Spend 5 minutes at the end of every day making a list for the next day!
Now I’m sure like Charles Schwab you are thinking this is madness, you’ve got hundreds of tasks to do, and all kinds of activities you have to undertake… but Mr Lee was insistent that this could make a massive difference to the company’s effectiveness! You might not get more tasks done, but you will get more of the RIGHT tasks done, he told Schwab.
As for a fee for the advice, he did something clever… he said that he would accept whatever Schwab thought the advice was worth…. but only after trying it out for a while. The meeting lasted under 30 minutes
Two weeks later, Ivy Lee received a cheque for $25,000 dollars, with a note from Charles Scwhab saying that it was the most profitable advice that he’d ever received.
Now remember that was 1904 -in today’s money, comparing it to average wages, that cheque would be worth in excess of $2.5 million dollars. Bethlehem Steel did go on to great things.
Time management doesn’t have to be complex to be effective. You just have to know where to focus… and that’s what the Executive Rockstar Initiative is all about!
Of course things have changed a little. I wouldn’t advise you to keep making a NEW list of 6 important tasks every day. You need to keep a big list of possible tasks that you’re committed to doing, and that you can add to as you come up with new great ideas; then each night you can select the 6 most important tasks to concentrate on tomorrow… from your big list.
Doing the most important task next is key! It makes the path forward clear, it reduces distractions, and busy work, and it is a small tip that can have a profound effect on what you accomplish day-to-day… we’ve got to create some space for strategic development if you’re going to develop your career, large companies know this, and the same applies to you… and this is just one of a whole number of things we can do to make that happen.
Of course following this simple plan isn’t as easy as it sounds, and you’re going to find that out this week
…when you put Ivy Lee’s advice to work.
To help, I’ve attached a PDF file of a single page that you can print out and fold in half, and then in half again to create a desktop reminder. Print it out, keep it in sight and it will help.
Go on, see how it looks on your desk under your monitor!
If anyone asks about it, you’re conducting an experiment in productivity inspired by Charles Schwab!
Give Charles Scwhab’s system a try this week! I’d love to hear how you get on.
and of course … I’ll expect your cheque in the post ;o)
Jason Bates
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Tags: productivity, tactic, video
October 1st, 2008 at 2:08 pm
i’d only suggest that u email the tips sometime after 5 pm, otherwise i’ll end up reading them at work…..on top of to-dos
October 1st, 2008 at 2:36 pm
Thanks for the feedback Mira, we’ll definitely bear that in mind!
Unfortunately a late afternoon in the UK is an early morning in the US, and a late night in china!
Of course with all the extra productivity and focus we’re going to get you, maybe you’ll have time in the day to read your tip
;o)
Jason
October 2nd, 2008 at 3:56 am
Thank you Joe, I am sharing this. I took your advice. You have awesome testimonials on LinkedIN you should be proud in a very healthy way.
Thank you for being my friend too.
October 2nd, 2008 at 4:47 pm
Wow, Jason…interesting tip! Surprisingly hard to do.
October 2nd, 2008 at 4:49 pm
Just wondering, how do you know which task is most important - I mean, in advance? That’s a challenge in its own right.
October 2nd, 2008 at 11:54 pm
It isn’t as easy as it first sounds is it?
This one little exercise surfaces a whole series of questions that really kick off the whole career strategy process!
You’ve touched on a couple of the questions that tend to come up… ‘How do I really know what’s important?’, ‘Why is it so hard to do?’. Before long you’ll get onto ‘why would I want to make my work day harder anyway?’
… and that’s before we even get anywhere near the really cool questions ;o)
Thanks for commenting. Stick around, we’ve got some great stuff coming!
Regards,
JB>
October 4th, 2008 at 11:48 am
Jason,
This is a great tip, so obvious, yet most people don’t do it do they?
I first came across this ‘approach’ 20 years ago on a TMI course.
I do it myself when I am short of time and I get into a ‘tasky’ frame of mind but I don’t always do it - maybe I should?
When I do it, it works and I go home feeling much more satisfied that I have achieved what I set out to do at the start.
Days when I feel unsatisfied are the ones where other things got in the way or I am unclear on what to do first, so I get easily distracted. Any tips on how to minimise these influences?
October 5th, 2008 at 10:31 am
Jason,
Very interesting and powerful tip but do you think it’s sustainable if you are using it in isolation within a team, a group, an organization?
Regards,
Thierry
October 5th, 2008 at 11:02 am
Adrian, thanks for commenting, and what a great question!
We posted this tactic first on purpose: because It seems obvious, it should be easy, but it isn’t!
Why?… because to know what’s most important to both you and the business you work in requires a whole lot of upfront thinking, and some potentially risky decisions to be taken.
…combine that with the discomfort often associated with ‘important tasks’, and unless you have the motivation to accomplish something that has a real emotional pull for you, it becomes all too easy to slip off the wagon and get back to cherry picking the most comfortable tasks.
We’ll definitely be getting into the problem of interruptions at a later date, together with a view of the whole ecosystem of vision, prioritization, productivity, creativity, etc. it’s a tangled web that too many people try to tackle one piece at a time rather than connecting everything together… which is really why ‘productivity’ systems fail for so many people!
October 5th, 2008 at 11:28 am
Theirry,
Another good question. As I mentioned in the previous comment, the complexity for this tip is hidden in the phrase ‘the most important task’. The obvious question is ‘To whom?’
I don’t pretend to hold all of the answers, but in my experience, two things are true :
1) The best results come when there is alignment in priorities for you, your team, your division, your organization, your market, etc. How you achieve that (and indeed whether it is possible) is a whole different series of posts.. but obviously if your ‘most important’ is vastly different from your boss’s ‘most important’ you probably need to have a conversation ;o)
2) One person can make a difference. In a world of fuzzy priorities, someone with a plausible and well thought out vision and prioritization can make a real difference! I’ve seen it happen. I did some work for a large financial services organization where one individual had such certainty of purpose and prioritization that she became the focal point for virtually the whole company.
What do you think? what’s been your experience with holding your own direction in a team or company which pulls on your time in many different directions?
October 5th, 2008 at 5:55 pm
Jason,
My experience could be summarize in 2 points:
1. yes, someone with a clear purpose, a good prioritization and persistence in implementation could make a real difference in a team, group, …
2. anyway the difference he/she brings is definitely different in size, intensity and deepness if this individual has to “fight” with the environment to make it happen. On top of that the spent energy for the result is very different and could lead to some exhaustibility on a long run.
Regards, Thierry
October 9th, 2008 at 12:56 am
Jason,
Duly printed and put under my monitor. thanks for that!
Now, can anyone tell me why I have no problem prioritising jobs in my day-to-day job, for which I’m paid an hourly rate. But when it comes to setting up an online business for myself, it never works?
October 9th, 2008 at 7:35 am
This is wonderful advice that I have been following since I heard Mike Litman tell this story.
I thought “Ivy Lee” was a lady though!
Litman calls this “The Success Six”
All The Best
Alex
October 9th, 2008 at 9:06 am
Keith,
One of the reasons we created Executive Rockstar ‘big plan’ was that most of these ‘tactics’ just don’t work in isolation. It’s easy to ‘try’ to become productive, but why bother? You can take creativity training until it comes out the yazoo… but how does that help? Or you can go on visioning off-site workshops and come back with just a well written piece of paper to show for your effort… no changes.
I found out this the hard way, and this is the reason for ‘Rockstar’ coming into existance. The people who make this stuff work, and I mean REALLY work make the entire process work, not just small parts of it.
So it’s not the tactic but the context that’s different with your online business… it’s not this component of the ‘Executive Rockstar’ process that’s at fault.
Alex,
Glad to have refreshed your memory about an old story, and shown you the real ‘Ivy Lee’ … I must admit to thinking that he was a woman too before researching this piece ;o)
Best wishes guys,
I think it’s time for the next article!
JB>
October 9th, 2008 at 12:38 pm
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