diff --git a/utils/release-checklist b/utils/release-checklist
index 8efe980db..f9cd72a9e 100644
--- a/utils/release-checklist
+++ b/utils/release-checklist
@@ -6,17 +6,20 @@ Release checklist
 * Run `tx pull -a -f` in sphinx/locale if final major release
 * Update version info in sphinx/__init__.py
 * Update release date in CHANGES
-* `git commit`
+* `git commit -am 'Bump to x.y.z final'`
 * `make clean`
-* `python setup.py release bdist_wheel sdist upload  --identify=[your key]`
+* `python setup.py release bdist_wheel sdist upload --identity=[your key]`
 * Check PyPI release page for obvious errors
 * `git tag` with version number
 * Merge default into stable if final major release
-* `git push stable --tags`
+* `git push origin stable --tags`
 * Open https://readthedocs.org/dashboard/sphinx/versions/ and enable the released version
 * Add new version/milestone to tracker categories
 * Write announcement and send to sphinx-dev, sphinx-users and python-announce
 * Update version info, add new CHANGES entry for next version
-* `git commit`
-* `git push`
+* `git commit -am 'Bump version'`
+* `git push origin stable`
+* `git checkout master`
+* `git merge stable`
+* `git push origin master`
 * Update `sphinx-doc-translations <https://github.com/sphinx-doc/sphinx-doc-translations>`_