Like someone else said, it's very easy to waste a lot of precious time fiddling with checklists, always trying to optimize them making sure we are "as prepared as possible".

I've decided to put an end to this never-ending quest and only keep a basic checklist of stuff I usually wish to take on dayhikes or search and rescue missions. I find it much easier on myself to take a look at this list only, and adjust depending on the situation (rather than managing many many lists).