I use checklists for my morning routine, for my night-time routine (see image), for finding bugs, for generating internal builds, for generating client builds, for leaving the house on a short trip, a longer trip and a trip that involves at least one overnight stay. Once I’d left my insulin at home for the second time after going to work, and going back home wasn’t an option, I realised that trusting to memory was not only wasteful, but dangerous.
Last week I wrote about how I was running through a checklist to work out if I was doing everything possible to fall asleep quickly, and made the point that there must be something missing. It turns out that my hunch that I simply wasn’t getting enough exercise was a big factor. Once I exercised hard, I fell asleep quickly. I added that to my checklist.
Checklists are used by surgical teams before, during and after procedures. Their patients do better as a result. Even the best of us invariably forget. We are not lazy. We are not stupid. We are just human beings and the more we outsource to a more appropriate medium, the more we can focus on the really important things our brains are good at.
Allow your checklists to evolve. Some items will drop off. Others will be added. How you do it is not important. That you do it could change your life.