Ok – I admit it. I am forgetful. This has been evident to others for some time. I played baseball through college and have managed to lose three really good gloves. How does a ball player lose a glove? Simple – forgetfulness. I could make up some lame excuse but my wife Brenda would never buy it. Nor would my friends in Portland where I have left enough things, that if they had not returned them, would have made packing unnecessary the next time I visited. Brenda is a good sport. She only chuckles when I invariably come back in the house, at least once, usually twice, to get something I forgot. I do contend though that it’s not technically forgotten until you actually leave.

The other morning, ten minutes into my thirty-minute drive to our local ski area, I realized I had left my gloves at home. My first thought as I turned back was I should have left that extra pair of mittens in the truck like I had thought about doing. Next, I looked down and saw my “Ski Checklist.” Of course intentions not acted upon, and checklists not consulted yield no value. I was lucky. My buddy, who I was planning to ski with, got all the way to parking lot before he realized that he had forgotten gloves, helmet and ski pants.

As I rode the chairlift, waiting for Scott to arrive, I thought more about checklists and particularly my failure to look at mine. Why is that? After all, I had gone to the trouble to create the list, print it out and even place it where it would be easy to use. The answer is that I had not built the habit that would make it second nature to take a quick glance at what I needed to have with me for a good time on the mountain. I failed to follow the maxim from David Allen, (author of the book Getting Things Done), “The mind is great place to have ideas and terrible place to keep them.” (For more on the value of checklists read The Checklist Manifesto, by Atul Gawande).

Speaking of checklists, I have two friends that are pilots. One is probably more skilled than the other, but the less skilled pilot is a stickler for using his checklist. If I knew that a flight would end in a crisis, then I’d choose my more talented friend. However, it is quite possible, that the very reason for the crisis was that he somehow forgot to check the fuel gauge. The checklist is only one example of the “external brain,” but there are many ways that we can work to off load stuff from our minds in order to free up space for higher and better uses of those brain cells. I am a huge fan of the aforementioned David Allen’s book Getting Things Done. It is all about developing a trusted system that will enable you to accomplish more with less stress while using your mind in way that fosters creative thought in every area of your life.

Yes I am forgetful, and I must acknowledge that I did not heed my own advice, but I am resolved to make it habit to consult my Ski Checklist and I vowed not post this until those mittens are in the truck! Here’s to all kinds of good ideas with minds that are freed up to think!