I recently attended a business conference where a man named Cameron Herold shared this story. It was just one of those stories that I was able to carry back to the office with me. On the days where I have been disciplined enough to do it, I have had my best days. I hope you all will get your 3 Things Done by 5pm on a 3 x 5 note card or on something as simple.
One day a management consultant, Ivy Lee, called on Schwab of the Bethlehem Steel Company. Lee outlined briefly his firm’s services, ending with the statement: “With our service, you’ll know how to manage better.”
The indignant Schwab said, “I’m not managing as well now as I know how. What we need around here is not more “knowing” but more doing, not knowledge but action; if you give us something to pep us up to do the things we ALREADY KNOW we ought to do, I’ll gladly listen to you and pay you anything you ask.”
“Fine,” said Lee. “I can give you something in twenty minutes that will step up your action and doing at least 50%.”
“OK,” said Schwab. “I have just about that much time before I must leave to catch a train. What’s your idea?”
Lee pulled a blank 3×5 note sheet out of his pocket, handed it to Schwab and said: “Write on this sheet the three most important tasks you have to do tomorrow.” That took about three minutes. “Now,” said Lee, “Put this sheet in your pocket and the first thing tomorrow morning look at item one and start working on it. Pull the sheet out of your pocket every fifteen minutes and look at item one until it is finished. Then tackle item two in the same way, then item three. Do this until quitting time. Don’t be concerned if you only finish one item. You’ll be working on the important ones. The others can wait. If you can’t finish them all by this method, you couldn’t with another method either, and without some system you’d probably not even decide which are most important.”
“Spend the last five minutes of every working day making out a “must do” list for the next day’s tasks. After you’ve convinced yourself of the worth of this system, have your men try it. Try it as long as you wish and then send me a check for what YOU think it’s worth.”
The whole interview lasted about twenty-five minutes. In two weeks, Schwab sent Lee a check for $25,000- a thousand dollars a minute. He added a note saying that the lesson was the most profitable from a money standpoint that he had ever learned. Did it work? In five years, it turned the unknown Bethlehem Steele Company into the biggest independent steel producer in the world and made Schwab a hundred-million dollar fortune and the best known steel man alive at that time.
-Andy
PS-For those of you curious about last weeks blog, I was able to recruit 14 people to join me in losing 10lbs before March 31. We are all sharing pictures daily of our toes on the scale and have lost 16lbs collectively the first week. I will keep you posted on our progress. My wife made 2 dozen chocolaste chip cookies tonight and I was only able to not indulge because I know 14 people are working hard with me to make good choices. I am proud to say I didnt have any.