Checklist for Life
Hello Folks, welcome back to The Adventurous Money.
In my last post, I wrote about how money completely overwhelms some of the aspects of our life. It does that to an extent that even a simple conversation with our loved ones seems to be all about money. If you have missed reading that, you can read about that over here.
I thought it was only appropriate to follow the last blog with something that would help you reclaim some of your life.
Onto today’s post…
If you are someone like me who travels a lot on a motorcycle or in a car, then this piece of paper can save you a lot of trouble someday if followed frequently.
Such is the power of a well-designed checklist. Although, on their face, these tasks look mundane and are common sense, but you will be surprised how many people routinely fail to perform them. And it is not because we are not aware of them, but rather because, in the increasingly complex motor vehicles of today's times, it is easy to forget the importance of such small tasks.
The idea of a checklist, although now accepted amongst all complex jobs, was once frowned upon. In the book The Checklist Manifesto by Atul Gawande, he talks about how surgeons were outraged when they were asked to follow a checklist before performing their surgeries. They felt their intelligence was questioned by asking them to perform such a mundane task as checking for allergies before anesthetizing a patient.
In hindsight, I think we all would agree and say they were being stupid because ever since the checklist approach was adopted by the hospitals at large, the rate of infection among the admitted patients fell by more than 30%. But I wouldn't blame them for feeling angry back then.
I mean imagine someone coming by your office desk and asking you to do your work following a checklist. I am sure that would drive a lot of people mad.
The truth is; a checklist works. And it works even better as the complexity of a job goes up.
Steering a plane might look simple on its face, but there are a lot of complex tasks that take place in the cockpit while a plane is in mid-air, and if something goes wrong, it is just an added complexity that the pilot needs to take care of. It is easy to forget a few simple steps when that happens. As in the case of the plane crash in 1935. When a test flight of a new bomber went wrong. The pilot, who had forgotten to release a lock on the elevator and rudder controls, could recover from a dive and land safely after consulting a checklist that his co-pilot had prepared.
Well, now that you understand how important a checklist can be, let us talk about one very complex task we all perform every day.
LIFE
Again, on the surface, it looks simple to lead a life.
Get up; eat; work; socialize; and sleep.
But what runs behind all these tasks are the complex emotions that make us who we are. And what happens when those emotions are disturbed by external forces?
What happens when your partner gets mad? or your child gets sick, or you lose your job?
We start looking into our past to figure out if the communication between you and your partner was missing that led to the fight or did you forget to wash your hands before you fed your child. These seemingly common tasks are not so commonly followed. Thus, checklists are not only useful for pilots and surgeons. They can also help us in our personal lives by reminding us of some of the simple yet important tasks we tend to forget in our ever-evolving, complex lives. Here is an example of a checklist that I utilize daily to keep some of my life aspects in check.
Through the principles of checklists, here are some of the checklists you can create for yourself.
A morning checklist: This can help you start your day on a positive note by setting your intentions, expressing gratitude, meditating, exercising, or doing any other activity that makes you feel good.
A daily checklist: This can help you organize your tasks and prioritize your most important ones. You can also include some habits that boost your happiness, such as reading, learning, socializing, or helping others.
A weekly checklist: This can help you review your progress and celebrate your achievements. You can also use it to plan your next week and set some goals that challenge and motivate you.
A monthly checklist: This can help you reflect on your life and assess your satisfaction in different areas, such as health, relationships, work, hobbies, etc. You can also use it to identify areas for improvement and make some changes or adjustments.
A yearly checklist: This can help you look back at your year and appreciate all the good things that happened. You can also use it to evaluate your happiness and set some resolutions for the next year.
All these tasks are so simple and require no special knowledge, yet it is easy to forget about them in our hustle culture.
Checklists are not magic bullets that guarantee happiness. They are tools that help us focus on what matters and avoid distractions and mistakes. They also require discipline and commitment to follow them consistently. But if used wisely, they can make a big difference in our lives. So why not give them a try? You might be surprised by how much happier you can be with a simple checklist.
I am on a mission to change the way people think about their money and Investments.