The Powerful list- A Checklist
In my personal life, I don’t know of anything greater and more powerful than a list. I LOVE lists. Lists are my comfort, joy, and guiding light. And yet, as much as I love lists, the list has been used as my worse condemnation for judging my efforts and work ethic. If I allow my lists to judge me, theoretically, I'm a failure and an outcast. One list, the same list, can bring me up to the heights of "Yes, I can and just did, or you're a loser and will never reach your goals."
So, what that in mind, why do I continue to pour over lists? Because even with coming up short and not always delivering on time, my lists are still the only foundation for achieving short and long-term success. A list is a power tool that my brain activates and my hands perform.
Why are lists so powerful?
Personally, lists keep me motivated, reduces stress, and gives me a sense of security and accomplishment. But here is what some experts say about lists.
A recent study by professors Baumeister and Masicampo from Wake Forest University revealed that the simple art of making a list can free us from the anxiety of not having done what’s on the list.
What’s more, they also found that the noting down of concrete plans to complete tasks made people more effective at actually getting them done.
The so-called “Zeigarnik effect” – that we remember things we need to do better than things we’ve done – stemmed from observing that waiters could only recall diners’ orders before they had been served. After the dishes had been delivered, their memories simply erased who’d had the steak and who’d had the soup. The deed was done and the brain was ready to let go.
https://www.thoughtco.com/zeigarnik-effect-4771725
What kind of lists exists for household management?
Here are some examples:
The do-to list
The grocery list
The weekly appointment list
The school homework list
The meal planning list
The travel/vacation list
The holiday list
Every list is a navigation tool to guide us to the completion of our tasks, goals, and desires. The do-to list is my favorite. I use daily, weekly, and monthly do-to lists. The monthly lists are projects that need to be done or parts of longer-term goals that are worked on in smaller chunks. The most productive list is the overall do-to list for the week. In that list, things are jotted down that need to be done. Every "thing" that needs to be done, can be broken down into a simple checklist. All that's needed to finish off the tasks at hand is to analyze the steps in the exact order that the task needs to be done. Breaking down our list into a checklist with actionable steps makes the task far less burdensome. It's also easy to forget what needs to be done and when. Every project and task has a beginning, middle, and end. The checklist aids us in that order of steps.
According to Richard Dally, there are several more benefits.
Checklists ensure that the essential tasks get done. Even if a step is very simple it can still be forgotten. They help avoid distractions by forcing you to only do the tasks that are on the checklist
Checklists free the mind from having to remember the steps that need to be completed and worrying about the possibility of forgetting to do something.
Checklists can save time. Having the steps written simply and in order makes them easy to follow and is likely to result in fewer errors, therefore avoiding time wasted needing to fix issues. They also help avoid the time-wasting “what-should-I-do-next” indecision as the checklist tells you what to do next.
Checklists provide discipline and consistency. Depending on your business lives might depend on the process being completed correctly. The use of checklists can help when things go wrong – providing evidence of whether a particular step was completed.
Checklists can improve productivity – there is something that humans find satisfying about ticking items off a list and research has shown that using checklists makes us more likely to complete tasks.
A checklist will help ensure that important steps of a task are not missed out.
Perhaps the seminal, and certainly the best known, work on checklists is The Checklist Manifesto by Atul Gawunde. The author is a surgeon who recognized how useful checklists could be for patient care where a large number of staff are involved in the process, each carrying out different tasks and with different responsibilities. Gawunde introduced a simple checklist to a number of hospitals during a research study and patient deaths fell by 47%.
https://www.richarddally.com/why-are-checklists-so-powerful/
If checklists can save lives, what will they do for your organizational skills and peace of mind?
Try using a checklist for your next project and evaluate if there is a difference in time and ease.