National Checklist Day is a holiday that’s observed on the 30th of October annually. The purpose of this holiday is to remind people of the importance of checklists and how they can be used to better manage our lives. A well-prepared checklist can provide people with every step they need to accomplish to achieve a certain result.

This allows people to be more organized, increases productivity, allows people to delegate projects, and can serve as motivation to people who tend to lean towards procrastination. Of course, just about anyone can procrastinate, so this holiday is an important one for just about everyone to observe.

The History of National Checklist Day

Although we’re sure that checklists have been used throughout history (at least since the invention of writing) to organize events and plan out details, one of the most important checklists in history was created following a tragic accident in the 1930s. This is the aeronautical checklist that must be followed whenever a plane is preparing to take off.

On October 30th, 1935, a Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress crashed during takeoff at Wright Field in Dayton, Ohio. The cause of the crash would later be recognized as a gust lock that was still engaged.

This resulted in a group of pilots coming together to figure out how future accidents of this type could be avoided. What they came up with was the Airplane Pre-Flight Checklist that must be followed before a plane can take off. Because of this, October 30th is now observed as National Checklist Day.

Observing National Checklist Day

During this holiday, people can take the time to learn more about checklists and how they can use them in their lives to be more productive, safer, or just more organized. We also encourage people to take the time to use the hashtag #NationalChecklistDay to spread the word about this holiday, as well as the value of creating and using checklists.