My wife just mocked me for this again, so…
Does anyone else make a to-do list (get cat food, fix the washer, check on insurance, etc.) and then add stuff you’ve already done just so you can check it off? I got up this morning, got a return authorization for an item from Amazon, and then later added it to a to-do list I was working on…just so I could then immediately cross it off.
Please don’t tell me I’m the only one who does this. I’ll cry if you do.
Please don’t cry.
I used to do that sometimes at work, when I had to account for various steps in a project, either to myself or to my boss.
But I’ve never done it at home that I can recall.
I add things that I can easily do right away, like while I’m making the list, so it looks like I accomplished something and don’t get discouraged about how many things I have to do.
Absolutely. Only if it was something that needed to be done as much as the things actually on the list though, otherwise that’s cheating.
Half the point of the list is the psychological boost you get from crossing stuff off. Why deny yourself the pleasure?
raises hand
I started doing this after I sent the rent check twice. I used to think I could remember everything I had to do and never made a list. I sent the rent check two weeks early because I had the money at the time and didn’t want to spend it. When the end of the month rolled around, which is when I usually sent the check…I sent it again. Luckily, my landlord was nice and asked me if I meant to do that and was nice enough to hold the second check until next month. Now I make a list so I can remember what I have already done so I don’t try to do it again!
I’ve always done this. Then I went to a workshop on time management for busy execs, and the presenter recommended adding items already completed and crossing them off. She said it gives you a better idea of what you’ve actually accomplished, frees your brain so you can better address remaining items (something about the act of crossing them off), and helps you write better a better list tomorrow.
So you see, your approach is quite smart!
I definitely do it for two reasons: the psychological boost of having accomplished something that needed to be done and to organize (in my mind) the nebulous ideas about what needs/needed to be done. If I don’t make a list (even if it includes things that no longer need to be done), I have these vague ideas that there are things that need to be done, but they just sort of rattle around in my head.
Anyway, the mocking comes…no matter what.
I’m scatterbrained (I heard that snicker). So I’m a to-do list maker. I would do the add and cross off. It seems very plausible. I would never remember to, though
Just put “Add items to my list and cross them off” onto your list of things to do 
[del]Post to this thread.[/del]
I would if I could find my paper list. The last time I saw it was when I was digging in my bag at the car wash today. The first thing on the list was ‘get car washed’. Now I’ll never know what else I was supposed to do today.
Yes, I do it all the time. We are a silly species. 
I’ll sometimes do a chore, write it on the list and immediately cross it off.
That way, later in the afternoon when I remember the chore, but forgot I already did it, there will be a written record of completion when I go to add it to the list again.
I don’t do it at home because I don’t keep “to do” lists at home, but at work? Oh yeah. As one of my current coworkers recently pointed out “hey, we know that bit is done, since there’s nothing to do. That’s an item standing at 100% completion! I want more like that! Would it be too evident if we add ‘have lunch’ to the list of tasks?”
For someone who does keep to-do lists at home, I think it’s perfectly normal. It helps you track that this task is indeed done, which is half the purpose of a to-do list.
Since I mostly keep track of tasks using Google Calendar*, sometimes I do add tasks just to check them off so that I have a record of when I did stuff for later.
*It remains an egregious failure of Google Calendar that there is still now way to edit an event to make it a task and vice versa. You have to delete one then re-add it. It’s simply idiotic that they won’t fix this.
I make to-done lists all the time. Helpful in assessing where you are in a project. Also helpful in a motivational sense when struck by feelings of procrastination. You got up, took a shower and took out the garbage, you’re killing today already, so hop to!
It depends. If it was a list I made for me, then probably not. If it were my “honey-do” list, then absolutely! I want credit for every last non-redeemable, non-transferable brownie point I got comin’ to me!
The first item on any to-do list should be “Make a to-do list.”
I knew exactly what you meant as soon as I read the thread title. I do it all the time. Nice to know I am in good company.
No, it should be “Start a to-do list”