Don't be lazy, don't be stupid

I just wrote a blog post and messed it up by not following my own checklist -- lazy and stupid -- and then tested out a new code idea, and messed it up by just not reading the documentation. Lazy! And! Stupid!

Lazy is default

Of course it is. Evolution and stuff. But when dealing with the complexity of the modern world, it is no longer an advantage.

Because being lazy now just means that I have to do it again later. That's not efficient, and it's frustrating, and it leads to a worse state of mind, and poorer quality work.

Checklists

When I write a blog post, I have a checklist. It's kinda boring: do this, do that. It's more work than just banging out a tweet. But hey, that's what it is. To ignore that fact is to be childish.

So I just published a couple of blog posts and totally ignored my checklist, and now I have to spend more time fixing them than I would have had I just done it right.

Lazy. Stupid.

Tend to your checklists

Checklists are a superpower. Read Atul Gawande's 'The Checklist Manifesto'.

But they must be kept up to date. Because every step is a chore, and superfluous steps will lead you to resent and ultimately reject the whole list.

Every time you touch your checklist, fix what's broken. You need to want to use your checklists. They need to be a relief, not a burden.

Documentation

Then I was messing about with this Astro feature and it wasn't working and arrrgh whyyyyy and eventually I ask their AI support bot on Discord and it tells me about this one line I need to add ... which is just right there in the documentation. Clear as day.

So had I just taken the time to read it, it would have worked, and I wouldn't have been frustrated, and I wouldn't have had to open Discord which is now a distraction, and it would have been working half an hour ago, and all the rest.

Don't be lazy. Don't be stupid.¹

100% human. 0% AI. Always.