Ivy Lee (1877–1934) was an American publicity expert and worked as a consultant for a number of businesses. One of those was for Charles Schwab, who was then president of Bethlehem Steel. Schwab was obsessed with efficiency and wanted Bethlehem Steel to become more productive. Ivy Lee was brought in.
Schwab asked: “Show me a way to get more things done.”
Lee: “Give me 15 minutes with each of your executives”
Schwab: “How much will it cost me?”
Lee: “Nothing. Unless it works. After three months, you can send me a check for whatever you feel it’s worth to you.”
Schwab agreed and during those 15 minutes with each executive, Lee laid out the following five step method:
- At the end of each working day, write down the five most important things you need to accomplish tomorrow. Do not write down more than five tasks.
- Prioritize those items in order of their true importance.
- When you arrive tomorrow, concentrate only on the first task. Work until the first task is finished before moving on to the second task.
- Approach the rest of your list in the same way. Don’t worry if you’ve only finished one or two by the end of the day; the others can wait.
- Repeat this process every working day.
It’s simple right? Well, Schwab and his team starting using this method. It worked well, very well. After a couple months of outstanding production from his staff Schwab sent a $25,000 check to Lee. Adjusted for inflation that's $400,000 today!
Today this simple approach is called the The Ivy Lee Method. It's a million dollar productivity approach for a lot of companies. If we were to apply the Ivy Lee Method to Christianity what would it look like? I think all of would agree that Love God and Love your neighbor would be #1 on the list. But after that? What would come after that. I think this text is a good candidate for #2: So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' Rather seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
In fact isn't that the Ivy Lee method itself? Let's call it the Jesus Method: Trust in God; pursue what is Good, and don't worry about tomorrow. And today your needs will be met.