In 1918 he gave the managers of a steel company fifteen minutes of advice. Months later, the CEO mailed him $25,000 — a fortune at the time. That advice is the grandfather of this whole app.
Ivy Lee
PR pioneer, creator of the 6-task method · Focused Duck · a short list, in order, since 1918
Today's Focus 3/3
🐸 Task number one — and nothing else until it's done
The list is in order. The order is the method.
Write tomorrow's task list before leaving the office
The method · always in the evening
Tell the CEO: try it for three months, then pay what it's worth
The steel company · done — the check was $25,000
🧠 Brain Dump 4
A fact is worth more than an adjective — for the client memo
Unfinished tasks move to tomorrow's list — never to a longer list
Tell the public the truth, plainly — draft the statement
Keep the list short. The short list is the whole point.
Pomodoro
🐸 Task number one
25:00
Projects 3 active
The steel companyfrog lives here
The press office
The railroad client
💡 Ideas Wall
What if a to-do list could be worth $25,000?
What you can learn from Ivy Lee
The method that started it all.
His advice was simple: every evening, write down tomorrow's most important tasks — no more than six. Put them in order of importance. In the morning, start with number one and touch nothing else until it is finished. Move leftovers to tomorrow. That is the whole method.
Plan in the evening, not the morning.
The list is written the night before, while today's information is still fresh. You wake up already knowing what to do. DuckDoro's Close-the-day step — where you pick tomorrow's first task — is this exact ritual.
Work in order, one task at a time.
Not six tasks at once — six in a row, most important first. DuckDoro's timer works the same way: your main task gets a focus session before the others unlock.
A short list is the secret.
The limit was always the point: a cap forces real choices. A century later, with far more distractions, DuckDoro cut the six down to three.
Sources: the widely told Ivy Lee / Charles Schwab story (Bethlehem Steel, around 1918). Some details vary between tellings. Details are simplified for illustration.
An imagined workspace. This page is an editorial illustration of
Ivy Lee's well-documented habits, shown inside DuckDoro. It is not affiliated with, or
endorsed by, Ivy Lee, his estate, or any related company — and the only face on this
page belongs to a duck.