01
the $25,000 method fit on a card
01 / 07Ivy Lee's rule for Bethlehem Steel: write tomorrow's six most important tasks, in order, and start at the top. Schwab paid him $25,000 for the limit, not the list.
six tasks · in order · 19187 reasons a six-word to-do list beats your 400-task app
Your to-do app holds 400 tasks. Be honest: when did you last scroll below the first five?
Scroll the list
the $25,000 index card
In 1918 Ivy Lee sold Bethlehem Steel a method with one rule: six tasks, in order, nothing more. It still works.
02
infinite lists prioritize nothing
02 / 07A to-do app holds everything forever, and that's the flaw. A list that can hold everything ends up prioritizing nothing — four hundred open tasks is a landfill, not a plan.
400 tasks · 0 priorities
03
the board runs out on purpose
03 / 07MEMO's 6-inch whiteboard fits about six honest lines. The board fills, and then it's full. Deciding what makes the cut is the whole discipline.
if it doesn't fit, it waits
04
your priority rides in your pocket
04 / 07Because the board is also your wallet, today's priority surfaces at the coffee shop, at lunch, at checkout. Glanced at six times a day, with zero apps beside it.
seen 6 times a day
05
new requests must beat the board
05 / 07Requests land all day. If one doesn't beat what's on the board, it waits for tomorrow's six. The board defends your day.
the board defends your day
06
the day closes clean
06 / 07Cross off what landed, carry over what didn't, wipe the surface. Tomorrow starts at zero — not at minus four hundred.
cross off · wipe · zero
07
award-winning, built in delft
07 / 07MEMO won the iF Design Award 2024 and has shipped to 41 countries from Delft, the Netherlands. It holds 6 cards with RFID blocking — the index card that learned to hold the bank cards too.
iF Design Award 2024 · designed in NL
The bottom line
the limit is the system
Prioritizing isn't writing things down — it's refusing to write most things down.
What's the one thing tomorrow?
Get your MEMO