Checklists are one of the most powerful—and forgotten—organizational tools in GTD. They help you complete tasks without making mistakes, since they contain a list of checkpoints that allow you to remember all the details of the job to be done.
If you travel often, you will find yourself mentally reviewing every element your suitcase should contain while you are packing. If you had written a list with all those items, a) you would pack faster, b) you would not forget anything and c) you would not be worried about forgetting something. This is what a Checklist means: more productivity and less stress.
Checklists are very important in actions in which an oversight can have dire consequences (like forgetting your passport on a trip where it is necessary) and when you are facing new situations with which you are still not familiar.
But Checklists can also become quite creative reminders, at all levels. For example, you could review a general Checklist on a regular basis that would allow you to become aware of how you are doing on your different areas of responsibility. That list would include points such as:
- Am I spending more time with my family?
- Am I helping my children with their personal development?
- Do I make enough exercise?
- Have I improved my eating habits?
- How is my career progressing? Should I approach it differently?
- Am I fulfilling my professional goals?
The possibilities are endless. Some lists will be temporary and others will be permanent. Create them when you need more control and remove them when you no longer need them. Take advantage of this great asset of personal productivity.
Checklists in FacileThings
This weekend we have added a new feature so you can create and use checklists in FacileThings. To associate a Checklist to an action, you just need to edit that action:
Note that checkpoints do not have a predetermined order: they are a series of checks that have to be done at the same time and under the same context. If your checkpoints have to be made in a specific sequence or in different contexts, consider creating a project with several actions, instead of a Checklist.
If when you are creating a Checklist for a task, you realize it could be useful for other tasks in the future, save it with a recognizable name:
This way you will be able to import these checkpoints into similar actions:
Actions that have a Checklist associated will show an icon with the number of points already done over the total number of points. By clicking on this icon, you can check off the points:
In the Routines section, we have also added the possibility to associate Checklists to recurring actions. It works exactly as in normal actions.
Finally, in the top right menu you will find a new Checklists section where you can create, edit and delete your checklists comfortably.
Try FacileThings for free with unlimited access, and discover the productivity without stress.
One comment
Cool!
Cool!