I've got Quoted

Yes! I! Me! I've got quoted, and by no other than someone who's opinion and advise I hold quite high. ^_^ Should I elaborate on how honored I am? ^_^. Dr. Frank Buck quoted in a post the last paragraph of a comment I left on a previous post of his that really got to me. The post in question was about Checklists and how life can be made so much easier if you keep checklists.

 The post in question, "It's a Matter of Life and Death...Literally", takes off talking about a book, titled "The Checklist Manifesto", but quickly jumps to the preception on the matter of the blogger, who explains that checklist can not only be reused, but also passed over to others.

Checklists are something quite simple and requiere no big investiment, nor any college degree or a weekend to plan them out, and they can be applied to basically anything and everything in life. They are not a sign of "lesser intelligence" as some suggest, or "getting senile", nor a "contraption to limit creativity", but a tool to make sure you are set. Because, lets face it, rich or poor, smart or dumb, young or old, truth is that we all are prone to forget. Checklists, like Dr. Buck says, "make the remembering for us".

Some checklists, short ones, can be made into a mantra (some rhythmic letany) you can keep in mind, like this one I had in the 90' in Hungary for before leaving home: "wallet, keys, student ID". At the door I repeated this mantra and checked I had all of them. It saved me a few times from leaving with one of these items! However other checklists can be a bit more complex or your don't use them so often in order to memorize them, so you may want to fetch pencil and paper, or open a New Document in your computer, PDA or phone and scribble up your personalized list.

There's no particularly recommended way to do so, but just whatever works for you. For instance, in my case I use Excel for my recurrent checklist (like my famous packing list), and all others go into my cellphone or a slip of paper.

My friend Dragonfly-cr, Organizer Maxima, has prepared a few of them (I have seen them!) to make sure certain delicate procedures get done right. sure, the one I saw was HUGE, with over 60 (was it 60?) items that should not be forgotten during the procedure in question.

Checklists can be used as a roadmap to do something, but I wouldn't say they "limit creativity", because the point of a checklist isn't to tell you what to do, but what not to forget. If you want to go creative, go creative, BUT the checklist reminds you of the things that must get done, the task that must get completed, whether you want to do it hopping on one leg and singing at the same time, or just sticking to the basics.

If you still think that checklists are a waste of time, please think for a moment about those times when you forgot something important, perhaps because you were really busy with other things. Wouldn't be great if you would be reminded to check the validity of your passport before flying, when you still had the time to fix it, and not one hour before the taking off of the plane? Wouldn't be great if you would have checked you did had the keys to the office while still at home, and not five minutes before you have to go to that important meeting, and your laptop with the presentation is locked for life in the office? Wouldn't be just dandy if you would remember to tell the mechanic about that sound the motor was doing las week at the usual check up, instead of being reminded in the middle of heavy traffic, running late to work by a car that decided to pull a Union move and strike right now? Wouldn't be awesome to remember at the store that you need toilet paper, and not remember WHEN in the toilet?

See? Checklists are good. Embrace them and pass them on.