I was very intrigued by Bill Moyers’ interview last night with Carne Ross, the founder and director of Independent Diplomat, who has just published a book, The Leaderless Revolution (available through theleaderlessrevolution.com), which promotes a 9-step checklist for being an agent of change to help overcome problems facing the United States. Here are the nine steps. After each step, I’ve provided an explanation of that step based on Mr. Ross’s interview with Bill Moyers:

__ Excavate your convictions.

Determine what you really care about to help you have the strength for the difficult task of addressing that issue.

__ Who’s got the money? Who’s got the gun?

Step back and analyze the situation. Who has the real power over the issue that concerns you the most?

__ Act as if the means are the end.

View the form of politics that you choose as the end. If you choose violence, you’re only promoting violence. Consider choosing equality, transparency, true democracy, etc.

__ Refer to the cosmopolitan criterion.

Instead of following the golden rule and assuming what others would like, ask them, e.g., on the Internet. Often what they would like is very different from what you might assume.

__ Address those suffering the most.

There’s a moral imperative to at least help those who are suffering, especially since it is easy to identify many types of suffering (e.g., starvation, lack of water, mortality) and since it often takes very little to lift a large number of people from suffering.

__ Consult and negotiate.

Take into account what ordinary people want and include their inputs in agreements in order to succeed.

__ Big picture, little deeds.

A plausible and effective way of solving seemingly overwhelming problems in the world is for lots of people to do something small every day towards solving those problems.

__ Use nonviolence.

Retain the moral high ground by using nonviolent techniques to achieve results. Nonviolent techniques were successful in the struggles for female emancipation, civil rights, etc.

__ Kill the king.

As in chess, you need to continually focus on your objective, e.g., taking the other guy’s king.

ElderCarelink.com has developed a 10-point checklist for caregivers before leaving an elderly person alone in their home:

1. Do they know where the door is located and can they leave the house in a safe manner?
2. If they go outside, do they recognize where they live and understand how to get back inside their house?
3. Do they know how to access emergency services? Do they know how and when to dial 911? Are they able to communicate problems over the phone?
4. If they leave the house, will they remain close or wander off?
5. Can they get to the restroom by themselves and use it on their own? If not, have alternatives been discussed?
6. Are they frightened to be left home alone?
7. Can they prepare a meal for themselves? Do they know how to use the stove and remember to turn it off?
8. Do they understand how to recognize a stranger and have the judgment to identify who they should allow into the home?
9. Can they identify danger warnings in the house, such as fire alarms or smoke?
10. Do they know where there medication is located? Do they have the cognitive capacity to take the proper medicine in the correct dosages?

1 in 88 children in the U.S. has been identified as having an autism spectrum disorder according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC): CDC.com. Check out the Autism Symptoms Checklist.

According to a study led by Abhijeet Basoor, from St. Joseph Mercy Oakland Hospital in Pontiac, Michigan, a checklist can help keep heart failure patients with heart failure out of the hospital and save billions of dollars. Of the patients who had been admitted for a heart problem and went through a 27-point checklist before leaving the hospital, only 2% were readmitted within a month. Of those patients whose doctors did not use the checklist, 20% were readmitted within a month. More info: usatoday.com.

Happy Veterans Day! There’s a useful, and interesting, checklist for soldiers and war reporters headed for Afghanistan at washingtonpost.com

Following the untimely death of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs on Wednesday from pancreatic cancer, I will create a checklist for avoiding, detecting and surviving this disease known as a silent killer. In the meantime, there’s valuable info at caring.com

Here’s a checklist for watching horror movies from time.com:

• Don’t Ever Investigate Or Say You’ll “Be Right Back”
• Turn Around, Because It’s Always Behind You
• Never Watch A Horror Movie When You’re In One
• Make Sure Your Car is Always in Perfect Working Order
• Don’t Ever Split Up
• When Haunted, Just Move Out of the Damn House
• Wear Comfortable Shoes
• Avoid Proms and All Other High School Parties
• Always Assume Your Attacker Is Still Alive
• Keep Your Pants On

For explanations and video samples, visit time.com

If you’re thinking about starting a new country, there’s a short checklist at cnn.com

A short and humorous checklist for copilots is at justacarguy.blogspot.com.

A non-profit AFL-CIO program, Helmets to Hardhats, has launched a website, areyoug2g.com, to help veterans re-enter civilian life by providing customizable checklists covering things from employment and housing to setting goals. Vets can assign some tasks to family and friends and can set up email alerts to remind everyone about tasks. More info at AFLCIO.org.

Patient safety experts are calling for penalties for doctors and nurses who don’t follow safety practices such as surgical checklists, according to an AScribe article.

Surgical teams in Australia will be using pilot-type checklists, developed by the World Health Organization, which they hope will reduce deaths and dangerous complications by one third: theage.com.au. The checklist is designed to help prevent mistakes like operating on the wrong patient or the wrong part of the body, and, to confirm patient consent. The checklist calls for the surgical team to introduce themselves to each other, ensure no items have been left inside the patient, and, review post-surgery care.

Three checklists used for Apollo 11′s descent to the moon were expected to sell for $125,000 to $175,000 at a recent auction but they failed to sell. They are signed by Buzz Aldrin. reflector.com

The Lunar and Planetary Institute’s website has a photo of an astronaut walking on the moon and using a checklist attached to the left arm of his spacesuit: lpi.usra.edu. There’s a clearer, close-up pre-flight photo at nasa.gov and a photo in which the checklist is readable at nasa.gov. There’s a nice shot of Buzz Aldrin apparently using his cuff checklist at nasa.gov. Perhaps we should try something similar on earth!

On the March 22nd CBS Sunday Morning show, Joseph Hallinan, the author of “Why We Make Mistakes,” said that the best way to avoid mistakes is to use checklists (and get enough sleep and avoid doing more than one thing at a time).

According to the February issue of Pediatrics, infant mortality rates attributable to accidental suffocation and strangulation in bed have quadrupled since 1984 for unknown reasons. I’ve updated the Babies checklist with additional steps to reduce the risks of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome.

Another convert.

A report in the New England Journal of Medicine indicates that the use of a 19-step Surgical Safety Checklist reduced deaths from surgery by more than 40% in eight participating hospitals. One of the report’s authors, Atul Gawande, says that use of the checklist in all hospitals could save tens of thousands of lives and $20 billon in medical costs each year. The checklist is said to only take two minutes to complete and is based on checklists used in the aviation industry. The checklist is at Surgical Safety Checklist and the full report is at New England Journal of Medicine

From Matt Parcher: Here’s a photo of a checklist being used in space: telegraph.co.uk

I am proposing that October 30th be celebrated as Checklists Day.

It is widely accepted that the first significant aviation checklist (and the first checklist of any type that I’ve been able to find evidence of) was inspired by a tragic mishap on this day in 1935. On October 30, 1935, the Model 299 prototype for the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress crashed during takeoff at Wright Field in Dayton, Ohio. The cause of crash was identified as a gust lock that was still engaged. After the mishap, a group of pilots looked for a way to prevent future “pilot error” mishaps. They came up with checklists for takeoff, flight, before landing and after landing. Boeing delivered 12 of the aircraft to the Air Corps and they flew 1.8 million miles without a serious mishap.

Also, I don’t think it’s a coincidence that on October 30, 2007 a U.S. Patent was issued for a checklist system to broadcast checklist items.

(April 12, 2009: New page about Checklists Day added at Checklists Day)

I used to think that I got my passion for checklists from being a Navy pilot but after watching the video of me trying to learn how to roller skate, I think I might have been figuring out even then that there must be a better way.

We are very excited to be relaunching Checklists.com. I first launched Checklists.com over eight years ago (May 26, 2000) and I hadn’t had a chance to change the site much since then but Matt developed a strong interest in web site design a few years ago and agreed to rework the site. This redesign is very significant. Users will be able to find useful checklists very easily and everyone will have an opportunity to improve the checklists for the common good.

I believe that checklists can very significantly improve the lives of people around the world. We live in a time when life is often hectic, confusing and overwhelming. They can help you avoid early death, injuries, frustrations and disappointments, and, they can help you create, and take advantage of, opportunites for a better life. Checklists can help you take care of things so you can relax and enjoy life. They can help give you peace of mind.

We hope you will embrace this opportunity to help create a resource which compiles lessons learned and makes them very accessible to everyone in an easy-to-use format. Please let us know if you have any suggestions for improving the site’s content and/or functionality.

Explore and enjoy!