Checklists can be real life-savers.

While a to-do list can help you remember everything that you need to do, using checklists for repetitive tasks can help you be more productive as well. The more complex the task, the more useful a checklist becomes.

It may seem silly to spend time making a list of how to complete a task you do frequently, but such checklists can save you time and ensure that you complete the task fully and with consistent quality. That, in turn, gives you more time to tackle the things you don’t do every day.

There’s a reason why airline pilots use checklists to help them through complex processes like landing and takeoffs. Otherwise, they would have to rely on their memory to determine if they’ve taken all the necessary steps and human error, fatigue, and distraction would become serious problems.

For example, if a pilot forgot to bring down the landing gears before landing, it could result in the death of everyone on board. Checklists help pilots perform complex tasks consistently and with high quality while avoiding mistakes and errors.

This example is a bit extreme, but it shows why checklists are so helpful.

In addition to helping you remember things that could cause problems if forgotten, a checklist can save you time by keeping you from having to fix mistakes or redo a task multiple times.

In the case of tasks that you perform often but not every day, a checklist can serve as basic instructions. For example, if you use a certain computer program on occasion to run a specific type of report, you could make a checklist detailing how to do so. That way you wouldn’t waste precious time trying to figure it out each time you have to do it.

Checklists also come in handy if someone else has to do your job in your absence. Instead of having to ask around or guess how to do things, they would have step-by-step instructions to follow. While they might not breeze through the task like you do, a good checklist would be a big help.

While repetitive tasks may seem to come naturally, it certainly can’t hurt to have a checklist to go by when completing them. That way you can double check to make sure you did everything. It also gives you a reference to go by should you need it.

One example of a checklist that I use regularly is a list of all the steps that I need to take to make a release of Achieve Planner. The checklists helps me make sure that I don’t forget any of the important steps and ensures a standard level of consistency and quality.

Another example of a checklist that I use even more frequently is my weekly goal review checklist that I use as part of my weekly review.

Achieve Planner makes it very easy to create and use checklists with “project templates.”

You can learn more about project templates in the Achieve Planner user manual (Help -> User Manual) or in the following tutorial video:

http://www.effexis.com/achieve/training/GettingStarted/tm-tutorial-5.htm