In Tom Peter’s book, The Little BIG Things, Peters shares a story about 19th Century financier J.P. Morgan.  He wrote…

 

One day, a man approached J.P. 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. J.P. 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:

1.  Every morning, write a list of the things that need to be done that day.

2.  Do them.

 

Now, I’m not 100% sure this is a true story. But if it is, there are definitely a couple things that are pretty clear about J.P. Morgan. One, he knew that becoming successful was as simple as doing the work that needs to be done every day. And two, he was a man of his word.

No, achieving success isn’t easy. But, it’s a lot simpler than most of us make it out to be.

So, what’s on your to-do list today? Are you going to get it all done?

Or maybe the question should be… What’s on your to-do list that you keep avoiding? Today, do that.