Charts and schedules motivate me, sometimes ridiculously so (as I am about to show). Often the intrinsic payoff for accomplishing a task pales beside the fulfillment I feel as I place a clean check mark within the lines of that little box on a “to do” list. But what's wrong with it if it helps me get things done? During completion of the objectives on a list I have a sense of control; afterward, an indisputable visual proof of progress. How can this be a bad thing?
Well, for one, at times my day-to-day self seems slave to someone else, to the occasional part of me that emerges for planning sessions to make charts and “to do” lists during small bursts of discontentment. Lately that part of me has gotten out of control. Here is a somewhat useful chart I made to develop good habits, but here is a useless chart made to determine what I will eat for breakfast and another for bathroom usage. Here is a “to do” list I made for the current hour.
I’m beginning to think I should seek professional help for my habitual chart-making, but who should pay the psychiatry bills? If this inclination sprouts from a childhood of chore-charts and, as early as age 7, forced distribution categories on my allowance, the bills will goes to my mother. If the chartist in me is genetic, my HMO should cover it.
But it’s almost 10 til, I need to wrap this up. I’ll pencil in “attempt resolution to chartist problem” for sometime next week. Time to check out more charts!
