Are you a list maker? If so, you already know how helpful – as well as how distracting – they can be. If you aren’t a list maker, chances are you think they are a waste of time at best, and the sign of an empty life at worst.

I admit it – I’m a list maker. I’ve even been known to add something to my list that I just completed, just for the pleasure I get from marking it off. That’s a perfect example of how lists can become distracting.

Of course, that’s not the kind of list Atul Gawande is talking about in The Checklist Manifesto – How To Get Things Right. A “checklist” is not the same thing as a “to do” list. A checklist is used for routine or repetitive tasks, where getting it right makes a difference.

The Checklist Manifesto is a scientific examination of how checklists can help. Gawande is a surgeon, so he was looking specifically at how using checklists for medical procedures or processes could make a difference in terms of accuracy and care. He shares some rather remarkable statistics – such as how implementing a checklist for one routine procedure in one hospital reduced infection rates from 11% to 0%, saving 8 lives and $2 million in costs.

OK, so it makes sense to use checklists in order to get things right when you’re talking about people’s lives, right? You can see how it would be helpful to use them in medicine, fire prevention, airline pre-flight checks, etc.

But what about for regular people living regular lives? Can using checklists actually make enough of a difference to matter? Are there really noticeable benefits to using checklists? Read More→