{"id":5537,"date":"2019-12-21T20:48:09","date_gmt":"2019-12-22T00:48:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=5537"},"modified":"2022-03-17T15:41:57","modified_gmt":"2022-03-17T19:41:57","slug":"avoid-mistakes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/avoid-mistakes\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Avoid Mistakes: The #1 Strategy (And It’s Simple)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

We all make mistakes, but sometimes we look back and see that we could have easily prevented some of our errors. Do you ever wonder how to avoid mistakes that seem obvious in hindsight?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To avoid mistakes at work<\/a> and during your everyday tasks, use a checklist. We’ll cover how checklists prevent failure, how to create effective checklists, and why they’re necessary in today’s complex world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

How to Avoid Mistakes<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In complex environments, checklists can help to avoid mistakes by addressing two problems:
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1) Our memory and our attention to detail<\/a> fail when we\u2019re distracted by more urgent matters<\/strong>. For instance, if you\u2019re a nurse, you might forget to take a patient\u2019s pulse when she\u2019s throwing up, a family member is asking questions, and you\u2019re being paged.
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Forgetfulness and distraction are especially risky in what engineers call all-or-none processes, where if you miss one key thing, you fail at the task. For instance, if you go to the store to buy ingredients for a cake and forget to buy eggs, you can\u2019t make the recipe because it wouldn\u2019t work without eggs. The consequences are more serious if a pilot misses a step during take-off or a doctor misses the key symptom. Checklists can help us avoid mistakes like these.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2)<\/strong> People have a tendency to skip steps even when they remember them<\/strong>. In complex processes, certain steps don\u2019t always matter, so people may play the odds and skip them. For instance, if measuring all four of a patient\u2019s vital signs (pulse, blood pressure, temperature, and respiration) only rarely detects a problem, you might become lax about checking everything.
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Checklists protect against such failures and help you avoid mistakes because they remind you of the minimum necessary steps<\/strong> by spelling them out. They allow you to verify each step while also establishing and instilling a performance standard. This is how to avoid mistakes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Make an Effective Checklist<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

While it should be simple to use, developing an effective checklist isn\u2019t a simple task. It requires analysis, real-world testing, and revision. <\/strong>However, it’s key to avoiding mistakes.
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Daniel Boorman, flight desk designer for Boeing, is an expert at developing checklists. He\u2019s analyzed thousands of crashes and mishaps in an effort to figure out how to create checklists that prevent human errors and help you avoid mistakes.
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Boorman\u2019s checklists for Boeing aircraft fill a thick spiral-bound handbook with tabs. Yet each checklist is brief, consisting of a few lines on a page in large, easy-to-read type. Each applies to a different situation; together they encompass a range of scenarios. At the beginning of the notebook are what pilots call \u201cnormal\u201d checklists for routine operations \u2014 for instance, steps to take before starting the engines. They\u2019re followed by \u201cnon-normal\u201d checklists for emergency situations such as engine failure, smoke in the cockpit, or an insecure door. These tell pilots how to avoid mistakes.
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Over two decades, Boorman has learned how to make checklists<\/a> that work. There are key differences between bad and good checklists.
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Bad checklists are:<\/p>\n\n\n\n