The Life-Changing Power of a Checklist

The other day,  I picked a book from my library that I hadn't read in a while and leafed through it.  It was the Checklist Manifesto by Atul Gawande.  I had forgotten how good this book was and how it's practical insight and useful is so powerful.

If you haven't read, you can probably guess what it is about.  It is about the power of using checklists.  Gawande goes through all sort of great examples from how checklists are essential flying planes and managing though crisis to how they have and still continue to revolutionize medicine and other industries.

It is amazing how something as simple a checklist can have such a huge impact.  But, if you think about it, it makes a lot of sense - especially in today's incredible fast paced world.

We forget things.  Or miss them.  It is as simple as that and having a checklist that you can use to make sure you are doing everything you need to do serves as a great tool to succeed.

I have talked about having a daily "To do" list" before and its power to help you become exponentially more productive.  All a "To do" list is, is a checklist.  But moving on from that and thinking bigger, checklists can be used in so many ways to help you as an entrepreneur.  They are starting point to systematizing your business so that it can grow.  If you take the time to document the processes it takes to make your business run, putting them into a checklist format, you can then hand that off to an assistant or employee to follow.  You can do this in all areas of your business and make your business much more scalable.

You can also do this for your life.  You can create checklists for things you need to do throughout the week...or maybe that you keep forgetting to do in your relationship with your significant other.  You can create checklists for getting things done around the house or "house rules" for the kids.

The simple checklist can be such an incredibly powerful tool to help you in all areas of your life.  Pick one area and create a checklist today and watch the magic begin to happen.  And if you get a chance, pick up the Checklist Manifesto and give it a read.  It won't take long, but it sure can make a huge difference in your success!