Checklist Manifesto Book Review 13 📚

2/21/2023

Book Challenge Day 13 📚

As I mentioned earlier I’ll be summarizing 28 books every single day. Let’s go! 🙌

Book 13: The Checklist Manifesto by Atul Gawande:

✅ Big idea of the book:

The biggest takeaway from “Checklist Manifesto” is that no matter how smart or experienced you are, everyone needs a checklist to avoid silly mistakes. It’s like a grocery list for life. So next time you’re about to perform surgery or pilot a plane, don’t forget to check your list twice. Because you don’t want to be the one responsible for landing on the wrong runway or leaving a scalpel inside a patient. Remember, a checklist a day keeps the blunders away!

10 Big takeaways from the book:

1) Checklists aren’t just for grocery shopping. Great checklists help you make less mistakes and they help you complete the project because they are well designed.

2) The more complicated the task, the more important the checklist becomes. Don’t wing it, check it!

3) Don’t just make a checklist, USE the checklist. It’s like having a personal assistant that doesn’t talk back.

4) Even experts make mistakes, but checklists help prevent those mistakes from happening.

5) Checklists can even help prevent basic errors, like forgetting to put on pants before leaving the house.

6) Checklists can help turn chaos into order, like a superhero cape for your workday.

7) Don’t be ashamed to use a checklist, it doesn’t make you a failure. It makes you a success story waiting to happen.

8) A good checklist is like a good friend, reliable and trustworthy. Unlike that one friend who always forgets their wallet.

9) Checklists aren’t just for boring tasks, they can help spark creativity too. Sometimes the best ideas come from simple organization.

10) The next time someone calls you a control freak for using a checklist, just remember that they’re secretly jealous of your organizational prowess.

✅ Here are 3 more tips I’ve learned from the book

  1. The most effective checklists are those that are created by the people who use them. So, involve the people who will be using the checklist in its creation to ensure that it is tailored to their needs.
  2. A checklist should be concise and simple. Avoid overloading it with unnecessary details that could cause confusion or hinder its use.
  3. Embrace the power of pause. Take a moment to step back and review your checklist before you begin a task to ensure that you are fully prepared and have everything you need to complete it successfully.

If you have any questions or suggestions let me know. 😍


Gene Adam