It’s NaBloPoMo Day 9!
Today’s confession: If I complete something that wasn’t on my To Do List, it takes every ounce of my being not to write it on there anyway, just so I can cross it off.
I love lists. I really love my To Do List. The thrill I get from checking things off the list gives my heart a little jolt.
Back before all my life was computerized, I had a physical To Do List. I’d physically write things on the list and physically cross them off the list. When I switched to an electronic version of my To Do List, I wondered if erasing pixels on a screen would give me the same satisfaction as crossing things off a list.
It does.
There is something about seeing that blank space where there once was a task that just makes my heart go pitter-pat.
That being said, if I happen to do something that wasn’t on my list, I don’t get the same feeling of satisfaction by completing it, knowing that it won’t be crossed off (albeit electronically) my list. In fact, there are times when I will put it on the list and immediately remove it.
Oh, the feeling of accomplishment! The sense of achievement when I cross it off the list is almost worth the silliness of putting it on there in the first place.
Plus, it could be worse. I mean, I stopped putting “make a To Do List” as the first item on my To Do List years ago…


Sadly, I’m the very same way. I *do* add things to my list, just to check them off. All.The.Time.
I do the same thing, though I’m a physical list person still, so I do get to cross things off. Whatever does it for you, right?
You are so not alone- I do the same thing =)
I am a complete proponent of doing this.
I do this all the time!!
I used to love to-do/goal lists, especially in high school when I willingly took advice from magazines—articles like 10 Easy Steps To Popularity! I was convinced life could be tamed and wrestled to the ground if I kept lists.
I posted one such to-do list: http://www.lifenut.com/blog/?p=1227