Summary

The article discusses the benefits of using checklists to reduce stress and enhance mindfulness in both professional and personal life.

Abstract

The article "The Checklists Strategy: How to Reduce Stress and Calm Your Mind" emphasizes the power of checklists as a simple yet effective tool for managing stress and maintaining a calm mind. Inspired by a school teacher's method of tracking lessons, the author shares how creating and following checklists has been instrumental in their life, from school to work. The article outlines the key rules for effective checklists: they should be concise, contain only essential steps, and leave no room for misunderstanding. The author argues that checklists are not merely glorified to-do lists but are crucial for offloading routine tasks from memory, thereby reducing cognitive load. The article also references surgeon and author Atul Gawande, who highlights the impact of checklists in high-stakes environments like medicine. By applying checklists to both work and personal life, the author suggests that one can build habits, maintain routines, and free up mental space for more important tasks, leading to a less stressful and more peaceful existence.

Opinions

The author believes that checklists are underrated and can significantly reduce stress and improve mindfulness.
Checklists are distinguished from to-do lists by their brevity, focus on essential steps, and clarity.
The author advocates for the use of digital checklists for ease of use and accessibility.
Checklists are seen as a way to document the process of completing a task without replacing thorough documentation.
Sharing checklists within a team is encouraged as it simplifies the review process and enhances team efficiency.
The author suggests that checklists can be applied to personal habits and routines, facilitating the development of desirable habits and a calmer personal life.
Atul Gawande's work is referenced to support the idea that checklists are essential for success in complex situations.
The author downplays the transformative impact of checklists on their own, instead emphasizing the practical benefits of reduced stress and improved personal habits.

The Checklists Strategy: How to Reduce Stress and Calm Your Mind

Don’t underestimate this simple, effortless, yet powerful technique.

My school teacher did something that stuck with me over the years.

After every class, she would take a sheet and tick something. Curious to as what it was, I inquired. “Oh, these are just the lessons I need to teach you all. Since I teach multiple classes, I keep forgetting.”, she said, showing me a sheet with a list of check-boxes.

The kid in me was fascinated. I went home and made similar lists for the subjects I was studying. It’s been a decade, but this practice stuck with me through school, university, work, and even writing.

Creating a checklist is effortless but has been keeping me calm, less stressed, and more mindful. Let me tell you how to build the practice for the essential things in your life.

How to Use Checklists to Reduce Your Work-Life Stress

I had the habit of building checklists since childhood. Naturally, at work, I started making checklists for everything possible. I didn’t realize how helpful it was until my colleagues pointed it out.

No matter how attractive your work is, there’s a part that is merely routine for you. Or you would require to do something you had done earlier. You might think you’d remember it later, but you probably won’t. Over time, these are going to occupy your memory and add to your already stressed work-life.

If I am doing something for the first time, I will explore various approaches before completing it. Once done, I go back to my habit of creating a checklist for it. I prefer digital ones. It could be a note on your laptop or a physical one; it doesn’t matter as far as you’ve got one.

Checklists are not glorified to-do lists. Every checklist needs to follow these three rules:

It should be as short as possible.
It should contain only the essential steps.
It should leave no room for misunderstanding.

Any checklists you can’t follow within a minute is useless. Your brain will skip the steps easily. If you want to document doing a task, keep that separate. Checklists aren’t a replacement for documentation; checklists are for you to own less stuff in your brain and reduce stress.

Get down to the most critical steps and leave no room for misunderstanding. Your future self might have forgotten stuff, keep that in mind, and create simple but straightforward checklists.

“Under conditions of complexity, not only checklists are a help but are required for success.” — Atul Gawande

Atul Gawande, a surgeon, and a writer has seen a powerful impact of checklists in the medical field where every mistake is costly. He shared his learnings in his book “The Checklist Manifesto”. Sean Kernan wrote about his process of writing, which includes the “Writing Success” checklist.

When I started managing a team at work, I shared the checklists I had. They thanked me since it made their life easy, but it made my review process more manageable. I know my team ticked all these boxes first before I even reviewed them.

Your work-life could already be stressful, don’t add on the stress that simple checklists can handle. Create them today, and your future self will thank you.

How to Use Checklists to Maintain a Calm Personal Life

Making checklists is a game-changer when applied to all of your personal life.

Look, nobody has all their habits figured out. Even the habits king, James Clear, started small. Whenever I want to build a practice, I start small and add it to my daily checklist. It’s simple yet so powerful.

Here’s how to do this:

The daily checklist contains your morning, bedtime, and any other daily routine. You mainly track the new habits you’re building as a part of your daily lifestyle.
The weekly checklist contains all your weekly goals, such as exercise routines, personal hygiene routines and more.

It’s hard to see the benefit before you start creating checklists. Maybe if I wasn’t curious when I was a kid, I might have never thought of this idea.

You create a checklist. You review it daily or weekly. You track the list consistently and check it off till it becomes a habit. Before you realize it, your mind is so peaceful, and you’ve built habits you’re proud of.

“Checklists gets the dumb stuff out of the way, the routines your brain shouldn’t have to occupy.” — Atul Gawande

This time when you go on a tour? You make one. It’ll easy to pack stuff next time. Want to catch up with your friends? Add it to your checklist, and your bond will flourish.

When you declutter your brain and put them all into the checklist, your life will become calm. You suddenly have a lot of mental space to concentrate on stuff that requires your attention the most.

Final Thoughts

I don’t want to pretend like having checklists change my life and sell you fake promises. I’ve got nothing to gain from that.

All I am claiming is that your work-life will become less stressful, and your personal life will be calmer. Please give it a month and see it for yourselves. Here are some things you can instantly take actions on:

All checklists should be short, contains only the essential steps and leaves no room for misunderstandings.
Create a checklist whenever there’s something at work that requires you to do it repeatedly.
Share your checklists with your team. It would make both your and your teams work lives less stressful.
Maintain daily and weekly checklists to build the habits you’ll be proud of.
Declutter your brain from routines in your personal lives by transferring them to the checklists.

Sometimes all you need is to grow as a curious kid to lead a calm life.