Do you using manuals or personal procedures that can be followed in specific situations?

oneman

Registered
Do you using manuals or personal procedures that can be followed in specific situations?
After I saw David allen's travel checklist I thought that everything is just a habitual procedure or system. The procedure for organizing the Inbox is called GTD system.
So, I started making procedures for things that are repeated frequently and had not become a habit.
How do you think? Would it be unnecessary making proecedures?

For example

[when going out]
1. Take it
- Water bottle
- Smartphone
- wallet
2. Check
- computer power
- electricity

[when moving to somewhere]
- check @errands list
- check heart rate
- walk straight

[When returning a borrowed car]
1. Clear
- Garbage
- Charging cable
2. Check
- Personal items

[When turn on air conditioner]
1. Turn on the lowest temperature with maximum wind speed
2. When the desired temperature is reached, maintain the set temperature.
3. When turning off the fan, turn it off after about an hour.
 

grahamen

Registered
I would use checklists a lot for say going to work etc, and a checklist item maybe to check the lights are off etc. But a full blown procedural manual, No
 

mcogilvie

Registered
I don’t think I would find your examples a good use of my time and energy. I do use lists of various sorts, for things like groceries and packing.
 

mcogilvie

Registered
@oneman Where do you keep this list? My "going out" list is on the door. This sheet of paper doesn't use my energy at all but often saves my butt. @mcogilvie
I guess checking for wallet, phone, et cetera would qualify as an intrinsically-motivated habit for me. Putting a list on the door seems ok. My wife and I keep our day hike backpacks ready to go at any time, which is physical embodiment of a checklist. My problems lie more with the never-done-this-before stuff.
 

Tiago

Registered
I use a sequence of actions that help nudge my brain to get started on something. For example, I have a daily event called "Study" on my Google Calendar. Inside, in the event description, I added: Wash up→Drink a glass of water→Have some fruit or milk→Turn on my laptop→Gather study material. Yeah, I'm a zombie early in the morning. My behavior trigger is the alarm clock. I turn it off, open my calendar, read the checklist and go! I have other checklists that perform behavior "rituals" before and after events. I like to adjust them on my Weekly Reviews because things change. Book recommendations on the topic: Tiny Habits: The Small Changes that Change Everything, by B. J. Fogg, Atomic Habits, by James Clear, The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right, by Atul Gawande. (If you prefer book summaries, try https://briefer.com/)
 
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Alfonso

Registered
I use this type of procedures for standard projects that have s known structure that must be fill in.

In my job there are lots of standard procedures to help professionals to write their documents so the content and structure is fix, which helps other involved professionals to understand and find required information easily.


I hope I make it easy to understand.


Cheers
 
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