How comfortable would you feel hearing an announcement like this the next time you took a flight somewhere:

“Apologies for the delay, ladies and gentlemen. This is your captain speaking. It seems I forgot my pre-flight safety checklist at home today, but since I know you are all in a hurry, I’ve decided to just go ahead and wing it this time and see how we do.”

Or how about an exchange like the next time you are in the operating room:

“Ah, stop bothering me with all the boring pre-heart-surgery safety checklist stuff. Let’s just dive in and see what happens this time.”

Not great, right?

So why do you think two of the most highly-trained professionals in the world, pilots and surgeons, have checklists?

It’s because checklists guarantee consistency.

While you might not be in control of people’s lives like pilots are, you are in control of an important one: yours.