The Ivy Lee Method

model all of the great masters of history and strip away all the layers of complexity from your days. Simplify. Streamline everything. Become a purist. Less really is more. Concentrate on just a few work projects so you make them amazing versus diluting your attention on too many.

You should be trying to figure out how to do what you’re doing every day more efficiently—and how to make the time you spend on them more in tune with the overall priorities you’ve been setting. There are a few methods for making this happen.

The key is to list important, ambitious, but realistic tasks that can reasonably be completed during the day. Small, day-to-day successes are the building blocks of achievement.

To set yourself on the right track, ask yourself those two critical questions: (1) What are the three most important things I need to get done tomorrow? and (2) What is the single most important task I must get done? The questions work within your brain’s “channel capacity” to give you direction and prioritization in manageable doses.