Forget Things Often? It Won’t Happen If You Use This Tool

Today’s advice column will focus on the checklist, which is a tool that you can use to help you plan and execute on various tasks you have to do in your life and to make sure that you won’t forget anything.

Rick’s stressed out friend Mary reaches out to him for advice in planning her friend Amber’s bachelorette party…

From: Mary <marymary1324@gmail.com>
Sent: February 11, 2018 3:15 PM
To: Rick Melnyck <rmelnyck@hotmail.com>
Subject:  Hey!

Hi Rick

My best friend Amber is getting married and I am the maid of honor, so it is my duty to plan the bachelorette party and it really has me stressed out.  She is super high maintenance and all of her friends are prima donnas, I need to make sure it goes well and don’t want to forget anything. Do you have any advice or any tools I can use?

Thanks,
Mary

From: Rick Melnyck <rmelnyck@hotmail.com>
Sent: February 11, 2018 5:47 PM
To: Mary <marymary1324@gmail.com>
Subject:  RE Hey!

Hi Mary,

Sounds like you need to use a good ol’ checklist.  ‘Google it’ and see what you can come up with.  Lmk how it goes.

Good luck!
Rick

P.S. There is a great book called ‘The Checklist Manifesto’ by Atul Gawande that you may want to check out as well.

From: Mary <marymary1324@gmail.com>
Sent: April 17, 2018 10:10 PM
To: Rick Melnyck <rmelnyck@hotmail.com>
Subject:  RE: RE Hey!

Hi Rick,

Thanks for the advice!

According to collinsdictionary.com: “A checklist is a list of all the things that you need to do, information that you want to find out, or things that you need to take somewhere, which you make in order to ensure that you do not forget anything.”

According to me, ‘it is basically just a to-do list of shit you need to do with a little checkbox beside it, and as you complete your tasks, you simply tick them off so you don’t forget.’

There are various types of checklists, but the one I am going to use is just a simple ‘do-confirm’ checklist to make sure I don’t forget anything.

So, here is the checklist I completed to help me plan the Bachelorette party:

It worked like a charm but now I have a bigger problem and it is related to one of the items on the checklist.  Amber has called off the wedding and run off to Barcelona with the limo driver.  Apparently, his attentiveness taking care of her and holding her hair while she was vomiting ignited a romantic spark which made her realize that he was her soulmate.

She sent me a flaky text saying she’s extremely sorry but with all the drama due to her running away with Pancho, she just can’t come back from Spain for my wedding because it will mean she has to face the music with everybody stateside.

Great, now I need to find a new maid of honor, who only has 3 weeks to plan my Bachelorette party.  And to add insult to injury the only limo driver in our little one-horse town is now in Spain.

I knew I shouldn’t have splurged for the limo!

Oh well, not your problem, thanks again for your help!
–Mary

Use It or ‘Forget’ It!

There are two types of checklists:  Do-Confirm checklists and Read-Do Checklists.  Do-Confirm checklists are checklists where you do stuff according to memory, then stop and review the checklist to make sure you didn’t forget anything.  Read-Do checklists are more like a recipe, you read, do, then move to the next item on the list.  Use whatever one works best for you.

To create a basic checklist:

  Decide whether you need to create a Do-Confirm checklist or a Read-Do checklist?
  Write down the items on your list
  Usually, you put it in sequential order based on your needs
  You may want to brainstorm stuff that could go wrong and make sure it’s on the checklist
  Share it with someone else to get feedback and make sure you didn’t forget anything
  Test it by walking through it and making sure you have everything and that it makes sense
  Keep refining and improving it as you go along, feel free to add things that come up or you may have missed when you created it
  Don’t make it too complex or you won’t use it

When to Use It

  If you have a bunch of tasks to do and don’t want to forget anything
  Planning an event etc.
  To avoid mistakes (i.e. pre-flight checklist, pre-date checklist)

 What Do You Think?

  How have you used checklists in your life?

Thanks for reading, and until next time remember…PYMFP!
Rick

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