Avoiding the Checklist Mindset

The checklist mindset is when you make a checklist of all your open tasks and then race through the checklist with the intention of just finishing the checklist with no actual concern for how well you are doing the tasks or how important is one task over another. The checklist mindset at face value is really good at getting tasks “done”. But thats not the only important thing is there? Some tasks are long running tasks which need planning or more careful consideration. Some tasks are risky and could lead to more tasks if not done well. Some tasks have higher stakes, where failure is not an option or where people’s emotions are involved and someone could get hurt. Not all tasks are as simple as “Buy milk from the grocery store”. Some are more nuanced and the checklist mindset does not account for that at all. So what is the checklist mindset good at? The checklist mindset is really good at defining all the tasks and getting you started on the tasks. It reduces the activation energy /…