The Checklist Manifesto...I just finished reading this book titled The Checklist Manifesto (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0030V0PEW/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1)...it crossed my path like so many other things are doing lately...via the "2 dudes talking" (http://www.hellointernet.fm/podcast/10) podcast format. Those of you who know me might be wondering...how could a guy who has spent the majority of his career discounting the merits of practices that involve the implementation of such a tool be writing a blogpost about the very tool he's considered..."a bad thing?"In my seemingly eternal yet realistically recent quest to cultivate mental silence I am coming to better understand...via a "take away" from the book...that the use of a checklist can provide a person with a certain amount of...calm. I decided to test this assumption out with what the author, Atul Gawande (http://atulgawande.com/) calls a "do-confirm" checklist. I wrote a short list of 6 items I wanted to make sure get accomplished within the first 60-90 minutes of me waking up each day. The purpose of a "do-confirm" checklist is to provide the "doer" a moment of pause...after s/he has performed...to "confirm" that things that were supposed to have been accomplished...did in fact get accomplished.For the past 2 days I have taken my checklist out to confirm that each of the 6 items has been completed. This is different than the other type of checklist mentioned in the book, a "read-do" checklist in that I am performing the tasks from memory...experience...I don't check them off as I do them...like I'm following some sort of recipe. That sort of checklist might be helpful in other contexts.The "read-confirm" checklist is almost meditative. The act of "checking" it is a moment of pause that I feel is helping me cultivate mental silence. I think this because...1. The pause requires you to stop what you are doing...like sitting down to meditate.2. The act of confirming that things have been accomplished directs you...focuses you...on one thing...the checklist...just like mindfulness meditation asks that you focus on one thing...the breath.So...is it "working?" In the past 2 days...before I move on with the rest of my day I have looked at the list knowing full well that all 6 items have been completed. The pause that this act has created is what I am finding more important. Looking at each item and mentally saying "yes" as I move down the list has been calming, quiet...dare I say...meditative.