Spending a lot of time doing pointless things

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I have spent a lot of time lately making a list of all the number one UK singles between 1980 and 1994. This is so pointless because there are lists available online and no need for me to do my own. But it has been captivating me.

I wonder what is it that makes time disappear while I am doing this I like the nostalgia but also the comforting feeling of making a list in order.

I don't do this type of thing often but every once in a while I think my brain wants the exercise of putting something in order because most of the time it has to put up with the disorder of the world and life in general.

Can anyone relate to this? And do you think it helps as a one off exercise?

Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. Singles charts are one of the many things that I divide my attention amongst and spend considerable minutes and even hours on organising. In my case, it's the Top 100 best-of-the-year lists of the Dutch Top 40. Recently, I've hatched out the bizarre idea of listing all the singles from those Top 100 lists from the year 1965 to the year 2011 CHRONOLOGICALLY. And then play around with it a little bit.

But I haven't gotten around to doing this, because I've spent a chunk of my spare time recently, organising lists of Indonesian cities and provinces (and islands, rivers, etc.).

I honestly quite like to organise information/knowledge of any kind, although I'm also careful not to go overboard with it (or not any more overboard than I've already gotten with it), so I intersperse it with other activities mainly ones that involve going outside of my house so I can catch some air.

But yes, it seems that I know "where you're coming from" as they say.

What? I never do pointless things. That would be stupid. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to get back to listing every video game I own in order of release dates before pacing around my room whistling for two hours.

I spend waaaay too much time refreshing each forum I follow on this website.

I bought a bunch of paper price tags with string off eBay and have started to tie them to my possessions, giving each a number and entering details about the object into a database (lengh, width, height, material, colour, year made etc). I know it's crazy but I find it incredibly satisfying. And now if I want to find something I can just look up the number in the database and check where it's stored.

I used to be a librarian, and now that I know about AS, I can look back and identify so many of my colleagues that probably had it too. All that card, book and information filing, and angsting about minor differences in cataloguing and classification. It can be a dream job for an Aspie, if you get into the right post. They used to give us such ostensibly tedious jobs (especially pre-computers), and I never really minded! It was fun to sort stuff, and put them in order, it was right up my alley. I used to love when someone would say 'Make a list of all the maps we have, in chronological order, including publication details, scale, series number, area, etc. Lovely job!

I love doing repetitive activities. Ordering things is one of my favorite. I love the doing of the ordering and the result of the ordered. It is fun and helps me reset my brain, so I can feel good to do other things too.

I would like to start by stating that I inexplicably read the title of this topic as "Canadians doing pointless things." Take from that what you will.

I spend too much time listening to music, pondering the universe, dreaming but never taking action, and just being depressed (having depression sort of justifies the last one, but it does not make me any happier about it). If I at least created something, in the same way that you created a list, I would feel like I was on the right path. Once I get home from school, I feel like dropping out of existence and just not doing anything. It's pretty terrible, actually. I'd take a cure for depression or dysthymia over a cure for my Asperger's, which hasn't really caused me grief in a long time.

So basically, if I do pointless things, I attribute it more to my depression than anything else.

Wow! I am glad someone else does this because I thought I might be the only one. I wrote down the charts in a notebook when I was a kid up until I was about 20. The year end charts was also a good one to write down.

I spent a long time a few years back trawling through lists trying to pick out my favourite singles of all time. Eventually I managed to compile a Top 100 and then went and bought them all off itunes (if I didn't already have them in some other form), then I had to digitise the ones that were on vinyl and ended up with a list on my computer. It took me a lot of effort....then my computer broke and I lost the entire list!

I don't know if I could listen to all the tracks listed in top 100's from the 60s to now though. I don't think anyone would have all that time.

I wonder if it is a way for my brain to clear itself or something. Like it is in a mess and somehow making a list will order things in there, and then yes, I can go and do things with a clear head.

Perhaps you could get a job in IT doing a stock control database, or some inventory stuff. One of my first jobs in IT was to look after the inventory database.

I have done this all my life. I have lists of everything on my computer. I like to obtain absolute all the information I can about my favourite artists, books, movies, series, comics, videogames, etc. The wikias have destroyed part of this magic

In fact, sometimes I dream I'm cataloguing something. One night I dreamt I was putting cards of an old archive in order, and when I finished, I started again and again and again, and I woke up with migraines.

Yes I do too many pointless things as well. Unfortunately this relates to my job.

Now, for NTs lots of things are pointless. But we'll exclude that one don't we?

In my job I am obsessed with wanting to understand all from the beginning and do it thoroughly. There's not so much bad about that.
I repeat also pretty many things to be sure. And I am autodidactic.

I'd though realize many things through experience. Exercise is good to strengthen your opinion. And to find new aspects, optimize and simplify the procedure and explanation.

The repetition brings always something new for me. And working into something from scratch is also taking into account your sharpened senses and will add some new aspects.

Making some lists that already exist is as a goal useless. But on the way, the process you'll learn many other useful things.
The goal is not the aim, the way to it is much more important.

Yeah, I think even making the lists is a good exercise for all kinds of purposes you'd never be able to do if you didn't also pursue from the beginning doubtful aims. A little drawback of course is that you normally wouldn't check if exactly that aim is already very clearly solved.

You'd eventually feel disappointed and stupid. But that doesn't bother me too much, because by that you'll just broaden your horizon.
Übung macht den Meister. And you'll need that experience.

Why would you otherwise calculate for example exercises in the university? That would be quite pointless if you wouldn't need to apply or research facts. Taking only the facts and building something on it will probably violate the assumptions or basics that are connected to them. And aspies will construct totally weird things out of them when they are not inserted into the understanding well framework.

Newspapers also want to research facts instead of just copying news from twitter, they'll dig the details out.

Oh man my English got pretty bad. I repeat a lot of words and misspell words, that I actually should know... Damned!

If it's fun, it isn't pointless.

Lists are amazing and calming in a way that nothing else is. I know this is somewhat creepy, but I've always enjoyed making lists of people, especially if they share a trait that I can relate to (i.e. born in the same year as me). Often, they'd be in a general population (i.e. my grade in high school) and grouping them by characteristics (such as what social group each hangs out in). I have an ongoing list of people with ASD between certain ages in my province, which I can sort based on sex, age, where they're from, and who knows each other.

i hop up and down and blow soap bubbles. someone tell me there is a point to that!