I’ve written about checklists before. You can read that post here. I wanted to revisit it and repeat some of what I said but come at it from a slightly different angle. This is because the humble checklist is possibly the most powerful tool in your productivity arsenal. We are so tempted to fall into the productivity trap of thinking that being organised, getting things done, being effective is a complex business that requires complicated tools and tech in order to achieve it. We are tempted to think that the latest apps will solve our problems and having some kind of complicated organisational system for our work with complicated automations and relational links between our habits, routines, tasks, projects and goals is THE key to getting things done. This is a trap and this is wrong.
Ultimately, all you need to be productive is to know what you need to do and to do it. 90% of it is the doing and 10% is knowing what to do, time wise at least.
Checklists are boring. Checklists are powerful.
Too often, far too much of our time goes on the knowing what to do part of getting organised. With the humble checklist, you spend this time once, prepare your checklist, and then use it, over and over on repeat. Running through a checklist, means that you never miss a step in a process, whatever it is. Running through a checklist means that you don’t have to think and remember what you need to do. Running through a trusted checklist helps you stay calm in situations that may cause anxiety without it.
Here are some of the main ways that can use a checklist:
1. In all of your planning
I have checklists for daily planning (Check out these posts for more details – Building a plan for your day — An essential ingredient in an effective life, The Coram Deo — achieving laser focus with a simple daily checklist), for weekly planning, monthly planning and even annual planning. What these checklists do is ensure that I do all of the same things, cover all of the same basis every time I am trying to work out how to spend my time. Having checklists that have been refined over time minimises the chance I will forget to consider something. It also ensure I consider the right things at the right times and eliminates duplication that isn’t needed as I plan at different timescales.
2. As a temporary fix for errors/mistakes
Suppose there is an aspect of your work that you feel you aren’t managing particularly well. Introduce a checklist. Consider all the steps you need to take to work through a process with diligence, care and efficiency and then follow this. In the past I have used this approach for handling every single email, I have used it for weekly book keeping tasks, I have used it for cleaning and I have used it for considering effective communication to ensure all people knew everything they needed to know in a timely fashion.
3. To manage regular processes
Think about the process of creating content. Currently I use a Kanban View to do this with the following statuses. Ideas, Study & Outline, Writing, Editing, Recording, Edit Recording etc. Whilst this works well as a Kanban, it is basically a checklist. This checklist tells me everything I need to do to take a piece of content from idea to published.
You can take this approach with so many other things as well. Most regular recurring tasks or things we need to manage could benefit from a checklist to dictate which steps you take in which order. The only reason not to do this would be if you are so familiar with the process, you have it learned off by heart. But beware! This confidence can bring about complacency and we can skip things.
4. As base point for things that often change
My example here is travelling. What is the point in every single time you go anywhere, thinking through and writing out packing lists from scratch? Write out a checklist instead – digitally if possible. Then, when you come to pack, most of the thinking is already done. All you need to do now is make a conscious choice about things to remove from or add to the list based on changing needs. I am sure there are other examples of this type.
So, the humble checklist — the most powerful tool in your productivity arsenal. If you’d like to read more on this then I highly recommend The Checklist Manifesto by Atul Gawande — https://amzn.to/3XB3eM9. (Affiliate Link)
If there are checklists that you use in every day life, why let us know in the comments below. I’m sure that someone else reading this will benefit greatly from a few more ideas in this area.
Tomorrow, we will consider how to make the most of the checklists you use.
Very nice article, exactly what I wanted to find.