We make 3 Tasks, a to-do app that holds three tasks a day, and it is one of the options below. The method works just as well on paper.
Where the idea comes from
Ivy Lee, 1918. The story, as James Clear tells it from Scott Cutlip's history of public relations, is that Charles Schwab, president of Bethlehem Steel, asked the consultant Ivy Lee how to get more done, tried his answer for three months and paid him $25,000 (jamesclear.com/ivy-lee). The method was: at the end of each day, write down the six most important things for tomorrow, no more; put them in order of importance; next day work only on the first until it is finished; at the end of the day move what is left to a new list of six; repeat. So the famous method is six tasks, not three, and the story is told second-hand.
The Rule of 3. The three comes from J.D. Meier's book Getting Results the Agile Way (2010), and was popularised by Chris Bailey: write down three things you want to accomplish today, three this week and three this year (chrisbailey.com, 15 April 2025). Bailey's reasons: it shows you your real daily capacity, forces you to choose what not to do, and three things are easy to remember.
Why three rather than six? Neither source proves a magic number. A widely cited review of memory research puts what people can hold in mind at once at about four items (Cowan, Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 2001), which is one reason a list of three is easy to keep in your head all day. Six gives more room on days of small tasks; three forces harder choices.
Step by step
- Write tomorrow's candidates the evening before. Dump everything that could be done tomorrow. This list can be long; it is not your plan.
- Pick three that would make the day a success. Choose outcomes, not activities: “send the proposal” rather than “work on the proposal”. If one is too big to finish in a day, cut it down until it fits.
- Put them in order. Number one is the task you would do if you could only do one. Ivy Lee's rule: nothing else until it is finished.
- Start with number one before email and messages. Give it the first block of the day. A timer helps you notice how long it really takes.
- Treat everything else as extra. Meetings, replies and small chores still happen, but only around the three, and nothing new joins the list today.
- At the end of the day, carry over and choose again. Unfinished tasks go back into tomorrow's candidates, not automatically onto tomorrow's three. Choose again.
- Once a week, check the three for the week. Bailey's version: three goals for the week and three for the year, so the daily three point somewhere.
Tools that work for it (App Store, 23 October 2026)
- Paper or a sticky note. Three lines on a card on your desk is the original version, and it cannot grow into a 40-item list.
- 3 Tasks (version 1.3.0, 21 October 2026). From its listing: three daily priorities on one screen; a start and pause timer on every task that keeps counting with the screen locked; Repeat Daily for a task that comes back each morning; a home screen widget with your three tasks; dark mode. Free, with no ads and no account. 3 Tasks Pro, a one-time purchase with no subscription, adds history with the time each task took, a streak, CSV export and four colour themes. It uses Firebase Analytics to count how timers and tasks are used. It has no backlog or project lists: it is only the three.
- Top 3: Daily Focus Tasks (free, 1.2.0): “built around one rule: focus on only three important tasks per day”.
- Three Todo ($0.99, 2.9.5): keeps a backlog and shows three at a time.
- TickTick (free, 8.2.30, 4.86 from about 46,600 ratings): a full to-do app; use its four priority levels and show only today's top priority.
- Structured (free, 4.6.6, 4.79 from about 168,000 ratings): a day planner on a timeline, if you prefer to give each of the three a time slot.
Compared in detail in the best to-do apps that limit you to 3 tasks a day. More about the app on the 3 Tasks page.
Sources
- James Clear, The Ivy Lee Method, read 23 October 2026 (cites Scott M. Cutlip, The Unseen Power, pp. 118-119).
- Chris Bailey, The Rule of 3, published 15 April 2025.
- J.D. Meier, Getting Results the Agile Way, 2010.
- Cowan N. The magical number 4 in short-term memory. Behav Brain Sci 2001;24(1):87-114.
- App Store listings of 3 Tasks, Top 3, Three Todo, TickTick and Structured, US store, read 23 October 2026.
Questions people ask
What is the Ivy Lee method?
A 1918 productivity method: each evening write the six most important tasks for tomorrow, rank them, work on the first until it is done, then the next, and move unfinished ones to the next day's list of six.
Is the Ivy Lee method three tasks or six?
Six. The three-task version is the Rule of 3, from J.D. Meier's Getting Results the Agile Way, popularised by Chris Bailey.
What is the Rule of 3 for productivity?
Write down three things you want to accomplish today, three this week and three this year, and set new daily ones each day.
What if I finish my three tasks early?
Pick the next most important item from your candidates, or stop. The point is that the day already counts as a good one.
What happens to tasks I did not finish?
They go back into tomorrow's candidate list, and you choose the three again. In Ivy Lee's version they move to the next day's list.
Is there an app that only allows 3 tasks a day?
Yes: 3 Tasks and Top 3 are built around three tasks a day; Three Todo shows three at a time from a backlog.