Lets talk about our procedures \o/

[RubenX]

I have procedures for everything I do. I rarely discuss them because people think I'm weird when I do. But I examine every single repetitive task in my life in *great detail* and I come up with procedures to make the task easier, more efficient, hard to forget, etc. I'll start with key-chains:

My Key-chains Procedures

* The key chain itself must have a device to attach it to my pants. Something like this.
Reason 1: If it's not attached to my pants, I'll loose it.
Reason 2: If I put it inside my pocket, it will scratch the cellphone or any other thing there.
Reason 3: If I put it inside my pocket, it gets on the way of looking for other things also in the pocket.
Reason 4: While waking, I can swing my arm close to my waist and feel that the keys are indeed there.

* When approaching the car or the home I will unclip the keychain from my pants and have the relevant key ready.
Reason : I don't have to waste time standing by the side of the door looking for the keys, I'll have ready.
Curious fact: I know exactly how many steps it takes me to perform this procedure for every key on my key-chain.

* I put color coded rings on all keys that look similar so I could tell them apart faster.

I have probably hundreds of these little procedures. Folding T-shirts is a procedure, making rice is a procedure, parking at home is a procedure. People don't notice but every single detail of this procedures is a carefully planned action for a very specific purpose. I never ever break a procedure. If a procedure can't be executed I causes me great stress and the task gets delayed. For example, if I can't find my rice measuring cup, I sat down have a mini-meltdown about loosing the measuring cup. Then I spend some time looking for said cup. Then I spend some time carefully evaluating the remaining cups, trying to determine which cup is better suited as replacement for the lost measuring cup. Then I'm gonna think about procedures to "not loose" that item again... it never ends and rice never gets done.

 

[Cerulean]

I have things like this, mostly steps that I have to follow or else I'll get disoriented or forget steps. Getting ready in the morning, driving to work, getting ready for bed- anything that moves my day along is something I have a routine for. My work day can't have a routine because I have dual responsibilities as an assistant and as tech support for our office, so my day may be ten of one hundred possibilities in any order. Today I was pulled out of my quiet reading/lunch corner for, and I quote, a "power point emergency". I wonder if that's why I need so badly to have the routines in my personal life to keep me sane. 8 hours a day of unpredictability is enough, when I go home I want to do the same dang thing every day!

 

[Bay]

I am very particular about how I make tea. I always preheat the cup with boiling water before I put in the tea bag (I only buy PG Tips). I always steep my tea for five minutes, and time it with the timer on the microwave (when home) or with my phone (when out), no more, no less.

I have my rituals for all sorts of things, and in spite of being laughed at because of them, I find them to be very satisfying. If some element cannot be reproduced as usual, I find it stressful. I can relate to everything you have said, RubenX.

 

[King_Oni]

Whoa... procedures and repetitive tasks. It's the one exception I scored negative about on my tests for Asperger's.

I'm all over the place, all the time as if a bomb exploded. If anything I lack no coherency in doing my things. And as such I feel really stressed out if I have to keep with a repetition... if I have to do the same thing twice, I'm bound to try 2 approaches, both to see what's more effective (for future things) as well as to keep it "interesting" (especially since I lose interest in things really, really fast and as such wont pay attention either)

 

[Simply a Bibliophile]

I am very particular about how I make tea. I always preheat the cup with boiling water before I put in the tea bag (I only buy PG Tips). I always steep my tea for five minutes, and time it with the timer on the microwave (when home) or with my phone (when out), no more, no less.

I have my rituals for all sorts of things, and in spite of being laughed at because of them, I find them to be very satisfying. If some element cannot be reproduced as usual, I find it stressful. I can relate to everything you have said, RubenX.

I'm a big PG Tips fan as well, and I always wash out my teabag. God knows why.

 

[Pella]

Doing dishes, and eating mostly.

 

[Angelus]

I have similar procedures for everything I do as well. I have a daily morning routine and if anything happens to force me out of the routine, something will be forgotten like brushing teeth or grabbing my wallet. I prefer to do my shopping aisle by aisle, that way I may see something that will trigger my memory and I won't forget it. My wife and I like to go garage sale shopping. I plan the route and where to make eating stops. If the route gets disturbed...so do I.

 

[RubenX]

Doing laundry is another task I have broken down in many little procedures. The first thing I do is to prepare large space area (you will see why later). In the past I had several folding tables I would assemble temporary for this. Now I use other surfaces like the kitchen table, the couch and a bed or 2... sometimes a few chairs. If there are dirty dishes on the kitchen table, or toys on the couch, then cleaning up these areas becomes a pre-requisite for doing laundry.

Once I make an assessment about the available space, I verify the status of the hampers and baskets. In my method, dirty clothes go on hampers and clean ones go on baskets. Sometimes family members use baskets as hampers and hampers as baskets. I go around the house sorting this stuff up and procuring a good amount of empty baskets which I'll need later on in the process.

Once I have space and baskets, I divide the tasks into "stations" and each station have a routine:

Hampers Station:
* While there are hampers with dirty clothes, take hamper to washer.

Washer Station:
* If washer is empty, dump load into washer and start cycle.
* If washer is not empty an cycle is not done, wait till cycle is done.
* If washer is not empty but cycle is done, move to wet clothes into basket and send basket to dryer queue.

Dryer Station:
* If dryer is empty, dump wet clothes and start cycle
* If dryer is not empty but cycle is not done, wait till is done.
* If dryer is not empty but cycle is done, put dry clothes into basket and send basket to the sorting queue

Sorting Station: (this uses all the available space I cleared out before)
* If there's nothing to sort, wait till we have something.
* If there's something to sort, sort clothes into piles.

Note: This creates a lot of little piles on the couch, tables, chairs, beds.. etc. Son's undies is a pile. Daughter's shirts is a pile, etc. I do not move forward until all clothes are clean and sorted into piles.

Hanging Station:
* While there's something to hang, put clothes on hangers and take to closet.

Drawer Station:
* While there is something to transfer into a drawer, move pile to it's assigned drawer.

Note: If I find an item that has no assigned drawer, a drawer must be assigned and properly labeled. Never underestimate the OCDness and here's an example:

I do laundry for myself and my two kids. Occasionally I find a load of girlfriend's clothes in the dryer which I put in a basket and leave on the bed so she could deal with it later. I've never asked her but from prior relationships I've learned NT females don't like having a properly labeled drawer with a clip art of a bra. So I leave those items outside the scope of my laundry procedures.

 

[Cerulean]

I would put PJs at the top, then underwear, then socks, because that's how they sit on my body. I like to order things like that.

 

[2wheels4ever]

Whoa... procedures and repetitive tasks. It's the one exception I scored negative about on my tests for Asperger's.

I'm all over the place, all the time as if a bomb exploded. If anything I lack no coherency in doing my things. And as such I feel really stressed out if I have to keep with a repetition... if I have to do the same thing twice, I'm bound to try 2 approaches, both to see what's more effective (for future things) as well as to keep it "interesting" (especially since I lose interest in things really, really fast and as such wont pay attention either)

I am most like this - I've lived most of my life as ADHD - though for a long time I had a certain order for tasks once I switched on the computer, and sites I'd visit in a certain order. The only real thing I still do is with meals; use cutlery with a certain design with a certain type of plate, then I tend to eat the meal in reverse: vegetables, grains, then the meat

 

[Angelus]

Ruben...that's almost just like my way of doing laundry! I got the piles all over the table, sofa, lazyboy, etc. Makes it quick and easy to get the clean clothes to their final storage location in their proper order...towels, washcloths, socks, underwear, shorts, folded/rolled shirts, pants, hanged shirts, kids' socks, kids' PJ's, kids' pants, kids' shirts. Same order...every time.

Doing laundry is another task I have broken down in many little procedures. The first thing I do is to prepare large space area (you will see why later). In the past I had several folding tables I would assemble temporary for this. Now I use other surfaces like the kitchen table, the couch and a bed or 2... sometimes a few chairs. If there are dirty dishes on the kitchen table, or toys on the couch, then cleaning up these areas becomes a pre-requisite for doing laundry.

Once I make an assessment about the available space, I verify the status of the hampers and baskets. In my method, dirty clothes go on hampers and clean ones go on baskets. Sometimes family members use baskets as hampers and hampers as baskets. I go around the house sorting this stuff up and procuring a good amount of empty baskets which I'll need later on in the process.

Once I have space and baskets, I divide the tasks into "stations" and each station have a routine:

Hampers Station:
* While there are hampers with dirty clothes, take hamper to washer.

Washer Station:
* If washer is empty, dump load into washer and start cycle.
* If washer is not empty an cycle is not done, wait till cycle is done.
* If washer is not empty but cycle is done, move to wet clothes into basket and send basket to dryer queue.

Dryer Station:
* If dryer is empty, dump wet clothes and start cycle
* If dryer is not empty but cycle is not done, wait till is done.
* If dryer is not empty but cycle is done, put dry clothes into basket and send basket to the sorting queue

Sorting Station: (this uses all the available space I cleared out before)
* If there's nothing to sort, wait till we have something.
* If there's something to sort, sort clothes into piles.

Note: This creates a lot of little piles on the couch, tables, chairs, beds.. etc. Son's undies is a pile. Daughter's shirts is a pile, etc. I do not move forward until all clothes are clean and sorted into piles.

Hanging Station:
* While there's something to hang, put clothes on hangers and take to closet.

Drawer Station:
* While there is something to transfer into a drawer, move pile to it's assigned drawer.

Note: If I find an item that has no assigned drawer, a drawer must be assigned and properly labeled. Never underestimate the OCDness and here's an example:

I do laundry for myself and my two kids. Occasionally I find a load of girlfriend's clothes in the dryer which I put in a basket and leave on the bed so she could deal with it later. I've never asked her but from prior relationships I've learned NT females don't like having a properly labeled drawer with a clip art of a bra. So I leave those items outside the scope of my laundry procedures.