Don’t Do Things That Waste Your Time!

Ivy Lee, a management consultant, was called in by Charles Schwab, chairman of Bethlehem Steel Company, to give him advice on how to better manage his time. Lee told him to write down every evening the six most important things he had to do the next day and to list them in the order of importance.

Schwab asked Lee how how much he wanted for this advice and Lee said, “Use the plan for several months and send me a check for how much you think it is worth.” Eventually Lee received a check for $25,000–not a bad sum sixty years ago.