5 Reasons To Use Checklists
Posted on April 25, 2011 by LJ Earnest
Categories: Productivity
Mondays are productivity days at SimpleProductivity blog.
Checklists are a great tool for productivity. They can save a lot of time and prevent mistakes. Here are 5 reasons to get checklists into your productivity system today.
- You don’t have to re-think something. Productivity is all about not wasting effort. By creating a reusable checklist, you won’t have to figure out all the steps to complete something you don’t do very often. Example: our weather is such that it is easy to forget to prepare the house and yard for winter. By having a checklist, we can make sure we get all the water hoses drained and the faucets turned off — even if they are covered by landscaping that removes the possibility of a visual reminder.
- You don’t have to waste time and energy remembering. Checklists show their power when you use them to prompt your for things you don’t often do. Example: by creating a checklist of pre-vacation items, I remember to do things like turn down the water heater, stop the mail, and bolt the garage.
- You can hand a task off to someone easily. Since the thinking has already been done and the steps listed out, you can hand the task off to someone else and be reasonably assured of the outcome. Example: my daughter, as a toddler, thrived on routine. When my husband was in the hospital, a friend, with the help of a checklist of evening activities, was able to feed her dinner and get her ready for bed — with no deviations from the normal schedule that would have caused a meltdown.
- You can tell at a glance where you are in the process. Checklists aren’t just for short term things. If you have something that will take place over a week or more, you can use your checklist to remind you of what step you are on. Example: Refinishing furniture requires multiple steps, and requires time between steps as well as the right weather to complete successfully. When we refinished our bedroom furniture (several pieces), we used checklists to determine which coat of finish needed to be applied when the weather cooperated.
- You can keep track of several concurrent tasks easily. Example: My husband’s entire family has birthdays in March. By having a checklist for each person, I can figure out if I need to buy a card or gift, or if I have mailed everything, or if I’m waiting for something to be shipped.
Do you have a use for checklists? Share your favorite below.
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Comments (7)
I find that checklist are one of the most effective ways of dealing with interruptions. You always know what’s the next step if someone disturbs your work.
They also help with getting more productive. It’s easy to keep standard tasks and procedures in order with a list of all the steps in the process.
Being GTD advocate I keep a number of checklist. My weekly review checklist is the most frequently used.
I agree! I no longer use my weekly checklist for planning the week, because I have a batch file on my computer that brings up all the programs/directories that I need to do. So it’s a checklist without a checklist!
As I was writing the article I was thinking about a company I used to work for that had a manual of “SOPs” (Standard Operating Procedures) that were basically checklists that covered every aspect of producing the product and getting it out the door.
I have to say, I try to limit the amount of checklists I use.
I love them for things like packing, buying gifts and getting stuff ready.
If I use a long checklist for work though, it can feel intimidating. I usually try to keep my daily checklist to no more than 5 items.
Funny, I just recently blogged about this too
I think there is a line that can be crossed with checklists, as with anything. When I first started using checklists, I would write down every last little detail of everything I did during the day. And that just became a form of avoidance – making the checklist was a substitute for the actual doing, if you know what I mean! Plus it was sucking all the spontaneity and creativity out of my life. I was a slave to the lists.
I no longer use daily checklists a la Flylady. It would bog me down, and I don’t need to put “get dressed” on a checklist – I pretty much know that one offhand as I head off to work!
My checklists are for those things I need to track over a period of time, or things I don’t do very often.
I applaud you for limiting your daily lists. Too much and you’ll overwhelm yourself.
I agree that check lists are super useful. Once you have a process or system in place, check lists come in super handy.
The one I use the most is for packing my suitcase since I travel a lot. I also store all of my check lists in Evernote, which makes it easy accessible and easy to modify if necessary.
I also use a task management tool to organize my daily tasks at work and at home. Have you ever try one? I will recommend you Taskwise.
Watch your productivity increase 10 fold when you write things down.
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