Ivy Lee Method Template: A Simple Daily Planner You Can Copy

The Ivy Lee method needs almost no equipment, which is part of why it has lasted. This page gives you a template you can copy in a minute, and explains each part so you can adjust it without breaking the idea.

The template

Copy this into a notes app, a document, or onto an index card:

Plan for: [date]    (written the evening before)

1. [ ] 
2. [ ] 
3. [ ] 
4. [ ] 
5. [ ] 
6. [ ] 

Leftovers (move to tomorrow's list): 
Backlog lives in: [where your "everything else" list is]

That is the whole template. There are three small design choices in it.

Why it looks like this

Six numbered slots, no more. The cap is the point. If you find yourself wanting a seventh line, decide which of the six it displaces.

A box for each task. Ticking a task is a small, honest signal that it is finished. Mark only finished tasks; “mostly done” stays unticked.

A “plan for” date written the evening before. The date reminds you that this list was decided in advance, not improvised at 10 a.m. while a notification was blinking.

A leftovers line. Anything unfinished is written here and goes through tomorrow’s ranking again. It does not get a free pass to number one.

A named backlog. Writing down where the rest of your tasks live stops you from stuffing them into the daily list.

Making it work on different tools

• Paper. An index card is ideal because the card size enforces the limit. Keep the backlog in a notebook page.
• A notes app. Duplicate the template each evening. Pin the backlog note.
• A spreadsheet. One tab per month, one row per day with six task columns, and a backlog tab. It makes it easy to look back at what you actually finished.
• A to-do app. Make a “Today” list with a hard six-item limit if the app allows it, and a “Backlog” project for everything else. Many general task apps do not enforce the limit, which is the main reason people drift away from the method in them.

Three tips before you start

1. Plan at a fixed time. After your last work block or after dinner, whichever you will actually do.
2. Write the first task so you can start it without thinking. “Open the Hartley file and draft the intro” beats “Hartley project.”
3. Review the leftovers weekly. If the same task keeps moving forward, split it or drop it.

If you want the cap, Planned Tasks and a record of finished days handled for you, with the same list on web and phone, that is what Ivy Lee Tasks does. The free plan holds 20 Planned Tasks. For sample lists to model yours on, see our Ivy Lee method examples.