On Checking Off the Checklist

I love checking things off a list.

From what I’ve read, I think this is because I’m part of the blessed cohort of ADHD brains out there and the checklist, more than reminding us, gives a nice dopamine hit when you check something off. No idea if this is true, but it definitely feels true.

I track a about a dozen daily tasks for myself now from brushing my teeth and putting on sunscreen to daily exercise and gratitude practices. Things that I truly do enjoy doing but absolutely would forget to (or just lose motivation to always do) if I wasn’t so damn driven to check the box and get rid of that notification telling me I have something to complete. Yes, brushing my teeth should be its own reward, but a checked off box is so much better.

This is another thing that sucks about being sick btw. Because you know what you shouldn’t do when you have the flu, a cough, and a 102 degree fever? Pull-ups, push-ups, and a 3 mile loop around the house. And so my streak dies and the circle is left unclosed.

I’ve been debating whether to add the daily writing into the tracking app. On one hand the tracking “system of record” for writing is the blog itself, but there’s been enough days where I’m getting close to the line and almost forget that I think having the regular reminder sitting there through the day will actually be quite good.

You do want to maintain some healthy boundaries here though - you want to be controlling it, not it controlling you. I realized a few years back that my Inbox Zero habit was me covering up my habit for people pleasing by telling myself it was just a task management system. No, I did not need to end every day with a totally clean inbox, especially when plenty of those messages were things I didn’t even ask for in the first place!

And there we go, another day down ✔️

PS: If you want a task-tracking app like this, Streaks is great