This week’s idea is very straightforward, but I’m often surprised to see how many people struggle with the idea.

When I do something which is remotely complicated, I look for whether it’s worth turning it into a process. When I write these articles, for instance, it’s based on a template that I created many years ago. And I use a simple three-step process to find and include the graphics.

Why would I bother? This is pretty simple, right?

It helps me to not forget steps. Even simple things like including tags or the “click here to read more” separation that you just clicked on.

Or the subject line of the email.

Or the little blurb at the bottom of this article.

If I were to start from scratch, I’d have to rely on my imperfect memory for all that.

It’s probably my engineering background, but anything that’s going to be repeated may be worth a process, a checklist, a specialized tool.

Is it worth buying that special edge trimmer tool that I use once a year to get the grass off the edge of the sidewalk? No, I rent that – I don’t want the hassle of storing and maintaining it.

And I don’t apply such rigor to my cooking – for me, it’s a lot more fun to experiment so it doesn’t become so routine.

But there are a whole lot of things where a little process can help!