Checking stuff repeatedly.

[Claraviolet]

I got a bit of OCD. I want everything to be perfect. When I had to do something like packing or entering data and writing programs etc, I kinda check like at least 5 times before allowing myself to take the next step. It's annoying for other people who work with me a bit but I couldn't help myself. 


I don't want face the consequences if something goes wrong. Not just that, I kinda wash my hands a bit more and if possible, I would always opt for clothes that cover my entire body except for my face. I hope I can get over these things someday but right now, it's just hard to ignore the others remarks about all this.


Anybody here know what I am talking about?

 

[sidney]

Well I do something similar, especially when it comes to writing down something important, like a phone number, address, email addy, etc. I also wash my hands twice when I have been out, but that's pretty much it, aside from double checking if the door is locked or if my things are all still in my bag. No excessive double checking for me.

 

[Aree Wongwanlee]

Sometimes I do check. Like, for example, before I go out of the house, I make sure that I have all my keys with me. Once, I had the unfortunate experience of locking myself out of my own house with the keys inside the house. Now I have my house keys tied to a string which is attached to the sling bag I always carry when I go out. So, there's no way I would be locking myself out of my own house again.

 

[Alex]

I've always been a perfectionist and used to check, double check and then triple check. As I have gotten older I have accepted that perfection rarely exists and I used to frustrate myself by trying to be perfect when it wasn't always possible when it involved other people.


I think if you do get distracted it is a good idea to check things. My dad has a very bad habit of asking you to do something when you are in the middle of doing something else, for example I will be emptying all the bins in the house and replace the liners, and he will suddenly give me a list of things he wants from the garage. He didn't actually need them that minute, but he chose to ask when I was in the middle of doing something else, so then I have to check what I do because he distracted me unnecessarily.


These days it's better to check as people are often on their phones and forget to lock doors, or even look where they are going. The other thing is to do one thing at a time and then you don't feel the need to check if you know it was done right the first time.


In a work situation you do need to check, but maybe just a couple of times.

 

[djanx]

Yes, I understand what you're talking about. But, I use quotes for things that help me with this stuff. First of all, "Great Artists Ship!". This means that you have to settle for good/excellent instead of perfect. There is no such thing as perfection because you don't have infinite time to do things no matter what field you are in! Another quote that I repeat to myself is "IF you don't make a mistake, you didn't really do any work!". Mistakes are fine. You know how many mistakes Edison made? He didn't even call them mistakes or failures. But, he was unsuccessful a thousand times before he was able to create the first working light bulb. Mistakes are ok as long as they're not disastrous mistakes. You know what disastrous mistakes are? Moving to the wrong city, marrying or staying with the wrong person, taking on more debt than you can handle, Gaining weight because of laziness, etc. These are real mistakes that impact health, wealth, or happiness. The rest of the stuff doesn't matter!

 

[clair02]

There was a time when I would check the door repeatedly to see if it was locked if I had to leave the house for some reason. I would check it three or four times, sometimes stopping my car outside the gate on the street to run back and check again. I don't quite know when this stopped, I just noticed that I worried less and less as time went by. I'm just grateful that it's stopped now. 

 

[jy76]

Losing keys and other things might get someone into the habit of checking things too much.   However, a moderate amount of checking can be a good thing.  Well, for one thing, a person who never checks things might turn into the type who loses things, and losing things can be a really tragic situation.  Am I correct?

 

[thisnthat]

I've always been a perfectionist and used to check, double check and then triple check. As I have gotten older I have accepted that perfection rarely exists and I used to frustrate myself by trying to be perfect when it wasn't always possible when it involved other people.

Oh, my goodness. I think we are related. I used to push myself to exhaustion and exasperation trying to make everything perfect. I've mellowed with age. I wish I would have learned this lesson much sooner.

@Claraviolet I too find myself checking things over and over at times. I've had a bit of short term memory loss due to illness, and it makes me feel a bit less confident in my writing. I don't write nearly as much as I used to because of it, since I have to check and recheck (even more than I used to do).

I also check to make sure the coffee maker and stove are off, more than once. This usually only occurs when I'm going someplace a bit far from home and know that I won't be back for several hours.

 

[AngelaMc]

I got a bit of OCD. I want everything to be perfect. When I had to do something like packing or entering data and writing programs etc, I kinda check like at least 5 times before allowing myself to take the next step. It's annoying for other people who work with me a bit but I couldn't help myself.


I don't want face the consequences if something goes wrong. Not just that, I kinda wash my hands a bit more and if possible, I would always opt for clothes that cover my entire body except for my face. I hope I can get over these things someday but right now, it's just hard to ignore the others remarks about all this.


Anybody here know what I am talking about?

I know exactly what you are talking about. For me I have to check the stove knobs 3 times and also make sure the coffee pot is off, before leaving to go to work. This absolutely drives my Son crazy but I can't stop it.

 

[janemariesayed]

In or out of the house, I have to check where my keys are. If I am out of the house it is worse. I have to check where they are every hour at least. When I am indoors, I have to check exactly where they are when I come in. Sometimes my dogs will want to go outside and I don't have time to put my keys where I want them. That is when I end up losing them. I always used to lose my keys and I am somewhat paranoid about it. If I keep a check on them and always have them in the same place then it isn't so bad. I can be doing something totally different and suddenly think to myself 'where are my keys' and I go and check.

 

[Zeesi]

I check certain things repeatedly because they are important. I have been in my car, quite a-ways away from home (not miles and miles, but...) and I have turned my car around, drove back home, so that I can go inside and make sure that I turned off my stove. I've done this more than once, so these days, prior to going for a drive somewhere, I like to check my stove several times before I leave my house, so that I have peace of mind that it is indeed off.

I constantly wash my hands, but I think that is just being diligent about not spreading disease, and not catching any diseases. A couple of acquaintances of mine lack this habit, and it is hard for me to deal with. One of them wanted to cook something in my kitchen. I knew from experience that she wasn't big on hand-washing, so I told her that before she cooked anything, she had to wash her hands first. She seemed offended. Oh well, my kitchen--my rules.

I also check the washing machine several times after I take a load of clothes out, to make sure that none of my garments have stuck to the side. I want to make sure that I have everything out, same goes with the dryer. After I dry a load of clothes, I have to double and triple check to make sure that all is clear.

If I didn't do these things, it would cause me anxiety, so it's best for me to do them and feel comfortable.