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Do you ever do a job or task over and over again?

Natasha0717

Natasha0717

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I know this is form of OCD.  I will find myself doing a job, particularly a small job, over and over again.  It's not that I didn't do it right the first time, it's more like the job seemed to fly by so quickly, that I start to believe that maybe I didn't do it at all.  This comes with rituals as well.  For example:  When I clean my fish tank, if it seems as if I did the job really quickly and I forgot to count how many times I went back and forth to the sink, then maybe that means I didn't do it at all.  So I repeat the job, and this time I remember to count every time I go to fill up the water pot, and then the walk back to the fish tank.  That's what I call a "marker."  I've "marked" the job by adding some counting to it.  And if I know that it took me 3 trips to add some new water back into the tank, then I know for sure I did the job.


Do you do anything like this?  Do you have any little tricks or reminders that you keep in your head to remind and convince yourself that, YES, I have done this job.  Now I'm finished.  I DO NOT need to do it again.   :wacko:  
 
Alex

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Sometimes we need to double check things and I only do this when I am tired or when I am being distracted. My father has a bad habit of checking what you have done as he doesn't trust people. He asks me to lock the doors and then checks it, but his actions are annoying as I had to tell him it makes people nervous and cause anxiety. You need to trust yourself, and then if you do you won't need to double check.


I do this more right now as I have so many interruptions and distractions in the house, but on my own I don't need to.
 
Natasha0717

Natasha0717

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Alex said:
Sometimes we need to double check things and I only do this when I am tired or when I am being distracted. My father has a bad habit of checking what you have done as he doesn't trust people. He asks me to lock the doors and then checks it, but his actions are annoying as I had to tell him it makes people nervous and cause anxiety. You need to trust yourself, and then if you do you won't need to double check.


I do this more right now as I have so many interruptions and distractions in the house, but on my own I don't need to.
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I agree, Alex.  When I'm completely alone and doing simple tasks around the house, (like cleaning the fish tank), I usually have no problem doing the job(s) only once.  It's when others carry on a conversation with me, or when there's a TV going in the background and I'm partially-listening to it, that's when I start having doubts about whether or not I did the job completely and correctly.  Some family members of mine already know not to speak to me while I'm cleaning the fish tank in particular.  :laugh:   Others, well, they forget. And then they see me doing the job over again and ask me why.  I simply say, "because I wasn't paying attention to what I was doing the first time."  And I guess they get the hint.  I don't mean to be rude about it, but with enough distractions, a 5-minute job can easily turn into a 30-minute job.  And the fish really don't need that much new, fresh water.  By repeating the job, I'm actually ruining it.  (The water parameters can change too quickly and shock the fish if you give them more than a 50% water change.)  So I need to keep that in mind. 
 
Nakitakona

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Yes, for it is a routine job and I am not getting tired or bored. Another point of doing a job over and over is for mastery or just keep yourself busy. It is not a problem for it is your routine job. However, you should be smart enough not to be a hard working.
 
pwarbi

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There's certainly a big difference between just double checking things and doing things over and over again in an OCD type of way. Yet again though I feel that a lot of why that happens is simply down to a lack of confidence in yourself, and you don't feel that just doing things the once is going to be good enough. We tend to analyse too much what we have done and that then means that e find fault in every little aspect, even when there is no fault there and we feel the need to do something over and over.again.


The people that are more confident about their selves and the more outgoing, happy go lucky people don't fall into that trap because they are confident to know that even if what they have done once is wrong, they can fix it at a later date or disregard it as not important anyway. Those of us who are over critical of ourselves and lack confidence in our own abilities will let things play on our minds until we can't relax until we have done something over and over 
 
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biege

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Yes. Daily task at work are very habit forming and sometimes when I feel like I'm not doing enough, I revisit my work and do it again if I'm not satisfied. It's kind of bothersome sometimes but I guess it's a good way to stop worrying about some other stuff and it's also a good way to kill boredom. The only problem sometimes is that I look at other people's job and I have this urge to help them do the office task if I feel that they lack something. I also have a tendency to criticize people's work in a sense that I want to finish it myself next time. It's bad I know, that's why I'm trying to restrain myself.
 
Natasha0717

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biege said:
Yes. Daily task at work are very habit forming and sometimes when I feel like I'm not doing enough, I revisit my work and do it again if I'm not satisfied. It's kind of bothersome sometimes but I guess it's a good way to stop worrying about some other stuff and it's also a good way to kill boredom. The only problem sometimes is that I look at other people's job and I have this urge to help them do the office task if I feel that they lack something. I also have a tendency to criticize people's work in a sense that I want to finish it myself next time. It's bad I know, that's why I'm trying to restrain myself.
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I know what you mean.  Because sometimes I think there are some jobs in this world that can only be done "correctly" by ourselves.  


Like with my fish tank (I know, back to the fish tank,)...I know that no matter how many times I would try to explain how to do the job perfectly, meaning cleaning it, maintaining it, caring for the fish....nobody will know the exact way I do it.  Because it varies from day to day.  Sometimes I need to clean one of the filters.  Some days I don't.  Some days I know to just leave it alone. Some days I need to vacuum the gravel only, and other days I need to do a partial water-change without vacuuming the bottom at all.


I just know I can't (and won't) go on vacation anywhere for too long, simply because nobody will know how to take care of these fish the way that I do.  ;)
 
Claraviolet

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I know that feeling all too well. What if I forget to do it? What if I thought I had done the task but actually didn't touch it? What if there is something wrong with the way I have completed that task?


I can go on and on with my questions. Usually these questions make me do the task again and again or at least check whether the task is done perfectly or not. I am a bit obsessed with perfection too. I don't want others to point at me for something. So, I kinda make sure that everything is done perfectly and smoothly. I have been trying to reduce the number of times I check whether the task is up to the mark or not....but so far I haven't really succeeded.
 
biege

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Natasha0717 said:
I know what you mean.  Because sometimes I think there are some jobs in this world that can only be done "correctly" by ourselves.  


Like with my fish tank (I know, back to the fish tank,)...I know that no matter how many times I would try to explain how to do the job perfectly, meaning cleaning it, maintaining it, caring for the fish....nobody will know the exact way I do it.  Because it varies from day to day.  Sometimes I need to clean one of the filters.  Some days I don't.  Some days I know to just leave it alone. Some days I need to vacuum the gravel only, and other days I need to do a partial water-change without vacuuming the bottom at all.


I just know I can't (and won't) go on vacation anywhere for too long, simply because nobody will know how to take care of these fish the way that I do.  ;)
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Come to think of it, I was like that before when I still had my aquarium. Whenever I see dirt on the aquarium, I always clean the tank until I no longer see any molds and fish poop. I was not aware back then that fish gets stressed as well and me doing the cleaning every now and then kills them, I feel so bad now as I remember those stuff. Aside from cleaning the thank every now and then I also replace and rearrange the decorations inside the fish tank. There was one time wherein I also did a cesarean on one of the fish that is about to die, I feel so anxious seeing the fish having a hard time giving birth to her babies as it was swimming up side down, and one of the babies got stuck, so what I did, I opened the stomach of the fish to let out the babies and then the mom died after. Since then, whenever I see a fish that's about to give birth, I wanted to help it remove the babies off its belly. 
 
Natasha0717

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Claraviolet said:
I know that feeling all too well. What if I forget to do it? What if I thought I had done the task but actually didn't touch it? What if there is something wrong with the way I have completed that task?


I can go on and on with my questions. Usually these questions make me do the task again and again or at least check whether the task is done perfectly or not. I am a bit obsessed with perfection too. I don't want others to point at me for something. So, I kinda make sure that everything is done perfectly and smoothly. I have been trying to reduce the number of times I check whether the task is up to the mark or not....but so far I haven't really succeeded.
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Yep, it really does have so much to do with perfection. If the job isn't done perfectly, then I believe it shouldn't be done at all, and that's how I get the thought, "Then maybe I didn't do it at all." And then I do it over again. That must be where that thought stems from.

I have even gone as far as having family members "watch" me do a job, so just in case I need to ask them later, they will reassure me that I've done it. o_O Sometimes I feel sorry for my family. :D I don't know how they tolerate me..
 
tyche

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That repetitive thing only happens to me when I jot down numbers for the first time, because I might mix the digits incorrectly. Apart from that, I don't have the urge to do chores and other stuff over and over again. It would be quite a hassle having an OCD of that kind.
 
Alexandoy

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Pardon me if this comment is not directly related to this thread although it is similar. I have noticed myself to repeat an activity maybe as an outlet of frustration. Last night I was searching for a document in the cabinet and I seem not to find it. After an hour, I go back to the cabinet and search for it again. That happened 4 times until I realized that maybe the document was really misplaced. I tend to do that when I do something that is not accomplished. I don't know if that can be considered OCD.
 
Jasmin Cottontail

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Natasha0717 said:
I know this is form of OCD. I will find myself doing a job, particularly a small job, over and over again. It's not that I didn't do it right the first time, it's more like the job seemed to fly by so quickly, that I start to believe that maybe I didn't do it at all. This comes with rituals as well. For example: When I clean my fish tank, if it seems as if I did the job really quickly and I forgot to count how many times I went back and forth to the sink, then maybe that means I didn't do it at all. So I repeat the job, and this time I remember to count every time I go to fill up the water pot, and then the walk back to the fish tank. That's what I call a "marker." I've "marked" the job by adding some counting to it. And if I know that it took me 3 trips to add some new water back into the tank, then I know for sure I did the job.


Do you do anything like this? Do you have any little tricks or reminders that you keep in your head to remind and convince yourself that, YES, I have done this job. Now I'm finished. I DO NOT need to do it again. :wacko:
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I actually experience the same things for years now and I can't even remember when it started. I'm not sure though if it's the same thing but they are also tasks that I'm not sure if I did them already or did it right. Like when I just washed the plates and would check it a moment later if I already did, and sometimes would smell the plates if I was able to rinse them properly, something like that. I'm not sure though if it's just a form of OCD or if it's memory related.
 
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