JP Morgan’s Guaranteed Formula for Success
Here’s a little story for your consideration:
One day, a man approached JP Morgan, held up an envelope, and said, “Sir, in my hand I hold a guaranteed formula for success, which I will gladly sell to you for $25,000.”“Sir,” JP Morgan replied, “I do not know what is in the envelope. However, if you show me and I like it, I give you my word as a gentleman that I will pay you what you ask.”
The man agreed to the terms and handed over the envelope. JP Morgan opened it, and extracted a single sheet of paper. He gave it one look and handed the piece of paper back to the gent, pulled out his checkbook, and paid the man the agreed-upon $25,000.
The paper read:
- Every morning, write a list of the things that need to be done that day.
- Do them.
(Source unknown; found in a PDF of quotes compiled by Tom Peters.)
A quick PMBA update: the new PMBA reading list is 95% complete. I am in the process of reviewing a few final books and making category-level decisions on some really close calls, as well as writing book descriptions. I’m making progress very quickly now, and I’m really happy with how the list is turning out. Thanks for your patience!
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18 Comments, Comment or Ping
practica
love it love it love it.
That is exactly my mantra - plan small things everyday, do them, celebrate them big when completed.
for some reason your feedburner feed does not work - i wanted to subscribe and the feed showed nothing - fix it please.
Jun 4th, 2007
Ernie
JP could have paid in kind with his own three step formula for success:
1. Become a Rothschild agent
2. Receive the Rothschild list of unspeakable crimes against humanity thinly disguised as capitalist wheeling & dealing
3. Commit them
Jun 4th, 2007
CoachSal
The gentleman who gave the advice was efficiency expert Ivy Lee. The story gets lots of play in the world of DayTimer users.
Jun 5th, 2007
Leslie
I really love your site, but I’m unsubscribing from the RSS feed.
This post keeps refreshing in my RSS feed (for days now) without any new content or edits from what I can tell. It feels like spam in my feeds. I see a new post from PMBA! Cool. Oh wait, its this darn announcement again. It’s gotten old. Hopefully you’ll fix that.
Jun 7th, 2007
NOT A CHANCE
FIX YOUR %^&%^%&* FEED. I TO UNSUBSCRIBED !!!! TAKE AN INTEREST IN THOSE THAT SUPPORT YOU !!!! THIS STUPID POST SHOULD NOT COME UP EVERYDAY> IF YOU ARE DOING IT TO GAIN SOMETHING — YOU ARE NOT. GOOD CONCEPT — CRAPPY DELIVERY
Jun 12th, 2007
Josh Kaufman
All - thanks for letting me know about the RSS feed issues. I am definitely not “feed spamming” - there’s a technical issue with either my wordpress or feedburner installation, and I’m trying to identify it as soon as possible.
Thanks for your patience, and my apologies to everyone who is affected by this issue.
Jun 12th, 2007
OK, A CHANCE
You say its fixed ?!? OK. I’ll subscribe again. Just a thought … why not run yourself a reader subscription as though you were one of us, maybe you’ll pick up on a few things … just a thought … like I said GOOD CONCEPT. It looks earnest, I hope it is. Run through the dip Josh !
Jun 12th, 2007
Brad Trnavsky
Awesome post!
This is a great reminder of the power of lists, and prioritizing things. I do not remember where I read it, but someone once said “Management is a series of interruptions interrupted by other interruptions” and I can not find a better way to describe it myself. Without the ability to write and prioritize the list of things I must accomplish and the discipline to actually do it I would get almost nothing done.
With the volume of meetings and “emergencies” most managers have to deal with daily it sometimes amazes me that anything gets done in corporate America.
Jun 22nd, 2007
The Secret DVD
Inspired~ that would indeed warrant the payment. Good man to keep his word wouldn’t you say?
Jul 3rd, 2007