Prethink situations and write down the steps to do
Summary
Like pilots or others in high stress jobs, there is value to prethinking a potential situation and writing down the steps do do if it happens. THen in as stressful situation we already know what to do.
Details
Jack Stuster is a scientist who has degrees in psychology and anthropology, specifically in understanding what humans do in high-stress environments like space stations or the antartic.
He recommends writing out instruction manuals for when something out of the ordinary happens. The instructions are not high level - more of 'look at the panel, if there is a a green light do A, if there is a red light do B'
If prethought we can trust the system to guide us when because of stress or tiredness we cannot think it through ourselves
The principle works for work planning and writing out the next action for our projects