The fun in using checklists

Check ‘having the time of your life’ off your list!

By EG Manilag, Staff Writer

You may be skeptical that I know what I’m talking about, but checklists are fun! They provide us with the luxury of an effortless memory of the million crazy academic things in our brain. How else would we be kept on track and progressing? The process of a checklist can offer us some sense of pride in our daily grind. How fun is that? Really fun!

For me, a checklist is life! I wouldn’t be confident without it. Using checklists can really save your butt, especially if you’re taking lots of courses. Last summer semester, I took five courses. It was really tough at the time, and not using a checklist would clearly be absurd. Sure, you can use course syllabuses as your main guide, but in my opinion you’ll end up confused because you have to flip through a lot, and you have to read some unnecessary stuff that might make you worry. Making your own comprehensive list is the best option. Literally organizing our lives into a few narrow margins could have the effect of making our activities seem small, easy, and manageable.

Checklists have a long history of being totally vital to people, especially in important careers. In jobs where making mistakes are fatal—for example, doctors and pilots—the simple tool of a checklist has already saved so many lives. The US Army Air Corps used checklists for safety. Errors fell… so then checklists became mandatory. The infamous World Health Organization (WHO) 19-point Surgical Safety Checklist was first tested with eight hospitals in 2008, and resulted in around 33 to 40 percent less deaths and issues in hospitals that used the simple technology of the list. The test was repeated with more hospitals in 2012 to 2017 with similar results (about 22 percent).

You can use whatever format you want; you can do it chronologically, or you can base it on how important the activity is. This kind of flexibility and personability are a few of the things I love about making checklists. There are those that are written on cute tiny papers; those on a laptop or smartphone apps; and those that are pre-made and maybe printed. I personally use those grey recycled papers that are found on every computer tower top in the library of the Coquitlam campus. I really like using those papers because, ultimately, they’re free. And at the of the day—when your checklist is all ticked off—you feel this fulfillment that makes you proud. When you feel that, give yourself a humble pat on the back… because you deserve it!