"TO DO" lists obsession

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I have been making "TO DO" lists since I was probably in my early 20s when I started a small business. I was at one point re-writing complete 8.5x11 To Do lists every day,, and I think it was because the crossed off items looked messy. I have mellowed out to the point that I was writing one new To Do list on a 5x7 pad once a week over the winter. I wrote a new list on a 8.5x14 pad a few days ago. I really like this one as in the right collumn I have my errands listed, but put them into sections of what part of town or out of town errands and it is much less confusing for me to look at. I wish someone made an electronic 8.5x11 size computer notebook where I could have my To Do list on the front.

what do the numbers represent?

i NEED to make to-do lists to keep up with myself or i will lose track of my life and fall hopelessly behind and forget about eating and sleeping etc

but usually i am too tired or distracted to make them. so yea, not an obsession for me.

i obsess over other things, oddly enough. usually they (+actual important things) are what make me tired/distracted in the first place...

I guess I'm the opposite. I sometimes do them but they are more like a way to put my thoughts into an external view... but I get no sense of accomplishment "checking off" lists like people describe.

The book "Alone Together: Making an Asperger Marriage Work"
by Katrin Bentley is written by the NT wife of an Asperger husband (they were together for 17 years before they realized his Asperger).

She describes how the Aspie made ToDo lists, and ToDo lists of the ToDo lists and ofen shredded them. As an adult male of similar age who did not realize Aspergers - I really connected with this.

I'm paper challenged.

Some Aspies do so, but this has more to do with a OCD; I know a NT with an OCD how does so; I am an Aspie and try hard to keep my circumstances so simple that I am even not in need of having a diary.

Speaking for myself, it isn't obsessive or compulsive. i don't do it very often and with no pattern. I connected more with the concept of at times being frustrated with execution ideas or tasks in complex situations. It is like your ability to think with your brain far exceeds your ability to express it to others or to interact/accomplish. Life itself can seem like such a huge ToDo list that you become depressed thinking about all the things you don't get done. then you shred it, as you just decide to go back to your special interest I think being an Aspie is often a desire to change yourself, but not being able to do it. You can see what you want to do, but not reach it.

That's partly the human experience. But with Aspies I think the concept of "being trapped' by communications and stimulus is more rational than just the normal NT way of interfacing with the world.

i also re-write lists.
interestingly, to me, anyway, i found that using an entire sheet of a4,and a really thick marker pen, made it easier to read,a nd follow.

though im dyslexic, i think this was more related to my a.s somehow. but i cant explain how- im having a really low funcitoning day...

i HAVE to do the list when i'm doing something.. i mean, not always, but when i don't have a list of things to do written on a piece of paper i get quite annoyed and i have a feeling that i will forget about everything in a moment, no matter if this is a list of things to do at work or the order of rooms cleaned when i'm hoovering...

If it's important, I make a list.

If I don't, there's a good chance I'll forget to do it.

For me my to do lists are more about feeling like I have some kind of control, than it is actually following the list that I made. If I write down everything that I need to do on a piece of paper, and number the 3 most important things, it's quite possible that I may not even look at the list for the rest of the day. It's just a way to organize my thoughts, otherwise I feel kind of frozen, and overwhelmed with no solid direction to alleviate my inertia. This is a coping tool that I learned to do in my early teens, way before I knew a thing about ASD. My lists used to get really extreme, probably OCD like. To me, it's not much different than what professionals use for autistic kids. My son used a picture schedule to outline his day, and now that he's older the school has gone the next step, a written schedule that is numbered in a bullet type format. It's not that much different than what i use to organize my day. Of course, i just like making lists period. There's something about having all that info put into a categorized order that I find relaxing.

I envy you. I cannot seem to consistently use a planner or to-do lists. As a result, my life is terribly disorganized. I don't know why I have a problem with such a simple thing. I may stick to a planner or to-do lists for a couple of days, then it just sort of drifts away.

I write to do lists to organize my thoughts, but I tend to write them and then never look at them again. If I write something down, I remember it better.

At one of my previous employments, I was in accounting, and I kept a to-do list and maintained it regularly. Only problem was my list was 3 legal pages long most of the time, and I'd do about a page a day (depending as sometimes, one item on that list was a 3 day ordeal), but I'd end up with a page of more things to do before the end of the day. I also made my desk there go up. It wasn't big enough for multiple projects, so I'd have one project going, but then when I'd need to switch to another, I would take a cardboard box lid flat, put it over the one project, and voila, a blank desk. Sometimes, if I had more than 3 cardboard box lids going at once, I'd label them with post its.

Now I'm a stay at home mom, what I call "domestic engineer." I'm not big about to-do lists because it's overwhelming and most of the things to do happen more than once a day, so there's no point in crossing it off. And, I have so many days where I wake up and set my daily goals. Then, a kid develops a fever and we spend the whole day getting to and from the doctor. Or, I get a phone call and I have to drop everything to help someone. Or, something happens that makes me bump all those goals to the next day. If nothing happens, the kids tend to turn a simple project like checking my email or doing the dishes into a day's work because I spend more time on their interruptions than I can on the task at hand.

But after reading the Clutter Diet book, I'm kinda inspired to create different forms that would help me with my day to day things. It's not a to-do list, but I'm trying to find ways to remind me things I forget and keep it all organized. The least my mind has to remember, the better off I am I guess. Like, I have a Medical Book where I keep forms I fill out to help me track fevers and medications (Tylenol type) for the kids. I'm thinking about adding a copy of the insurance card to the book, their social security numbers and other info I never have on me at the doc's office, and then other things as I think of them. Either way, I keep it in a 3 ring binder and I keep a pen attached to it. Everytime I check temps and give meds, I write it down. Then I take it with me to the doctor and just hand it to the doctor to read how the fevers and treatment had been. I also write down other symptoms in a notes section since I tend to forget to mention them to the doc at every visit.

I've also decided that I don't work well with paper planners becuase it's so tough to maintain and you have to get up and look at it regularly. The clutter diet talked about intertia, when an object is at rest, it stays at rest until provoked otherwise, and I can safely say intertia is my biggest problem. It also is when you start cleaning, you get in the zone and don't want to stop type thing too, which is something I do and I hate being interrupted when doing it, but now that I have kids, I'm always interrupted while in the zone. So, I figure I'm best with any type of schedule that has an alarm with it. Like cell phone calendars has the alarm option. I'm thinking I want something to back up on the computer, something I can print if need be, and something I can keep hand held with alarms but still also very well organized for my sake, and I'm thinking the closest I'm going to find to that is an I Touch. I'm probably going to shop around though with cells and pda's, but I'm thinking I Touch is best because it does Wi Fi. I hate the idea of paying internet for the home and then also another 30 bucks for internet for one of the phones. Also, when I'm out and about, I tend to overdo the 411 calls, and if I'm close to a Wendy's (most of them now have WiFi), with an I Touch, I can find a number that way as well as anything else I need to know while on the road.

i never do it "irl" but constantly when gaming. yes, obsessively, because i get into completing every single programmed detail of the game, i need to locate every item, and check every possibly mission as done. so when im done playing a game, i check everything ive done, and then make a detailed list of whats missing.

when finishing morrowind, i wrote page up and page down, litterally several pages in a notebook, of locations i hadnt visited, just so i could visit, and loot

"hey, cheating takes the fun away from the game "
yeah, for you maybe, but im having a HILARIOUS BLAST!! ! thank you :]

I make masses and masses of "To Do" lists...it is a form of stimming for me...But I seldom follow them....Going back over many of the lists....they very frequently repeat themselves...
I have been making lists since I was in high school...They all seem to adhere to the dream concept I have of being able to break out of my current slovenly routines and regiment my every waking moment towards the goal of becoming a more attractive useful and productive person.
The lists are pretty unrealistic....imaginary schedules..unobtainable goals....I clutter myself even more with fantastical notions of somehow becoming uncluttered.....

I have to make to-do lists to keep myself organized. If I don't I will constantly be thinking that I'm forgetting something important and I will be running everything through my mind constantly. It's rather mentally draining. Plus I most likely WILL forget something important

But I have the advantage of being able to keep everything in lists on my cellphone which has a full keyboard. So anytime I think of something, I can just jot it down because my phone is always with me. And since it's digital I can just erase what I have completed instead of having a messy 'crossed out' list. Although, crossing things out can be extremely satisfying!!

i am similar to Dussell. I have never had a "to do" list.

with ASD's it tends to be one extreme or the other. SO, it is either a complete fixation with lists and to do's or none whatsoever.

I have a preference for a simple life.

I have ADHD tendencies as well as an ASD and I have executive dysfunction. If i can stick to simple life and simple routines that are unchanging I am great. If things get complex - more people around, busy stuff, a bit of chaos - I fall apart very quickly.

My ASD psych has just encouraged me to use lists so i can check through things in the day and be a bit better with my executive dysfunction. It is really good.
I am learning to use them.
I used to go down to the supermarket to buy things - never with a list - forget everything i needed to buy- come back with duplicates of things we already had and with no millk and with no bread - and get into a state. And get into trouble from others for it who could not understand why i was so weird around these basic things. I would also have a terrible time in the supermarket with my sensory problems which meant a meltdown when i got home.

ANd, My executive function and ADHD is such that I could not even resolve this without help. It never occurred to me to use lists. I do not think like that. Yet again, a seemingly simple solution to a lifelong problem escaped me in true ASD style. Ask me to discuss a bonnard painting and i will however talk for hours about it.
I did this for 46 years - no lists. I forgot and muddled everything. Now that i am using shopping lists thanks to my psych who is a nice man - i am feeling much better about going shopping.

Toodle-loo lists topic

I make them if I have a bunch of things to be done in one day. I am moving house on May 15 so I have a number of things to take care of in order to make the move as smooth as possible.

Everything for the move is now done. I just need to pack, and I will start packing stuff I do not use daily, saving the most used for the day before. I still have a list to make for the day I move in, as in prioritizing tasks, and I will only do what I have to.

For other events I keep the list in my head.