--- date: '2024-02-28' title: 'Everything is a checklist' description: 'The author ruminates on routine, mental health and productibity.' tags: ['health', 'productivity'] --- Everything, *everything*, can be a checklist. - ✓ Wake up at 4:15am - ✓ Start exercising by 4:30am - ✓ Throw TV or movie on in the background - ✓ Aim for 1600+ calories, be satisfied with anything over 800 - ✓ Finish exercising by 6:35am - ✓ Check off what was watched on [Trackt](https://trakt.tv) - ✓ AirPods in, start an audiobook or text to speech in [Readwise Reader](https://readwise.io/read)[^1] - ✓ Check [Todoist](https://todoist.com) - ✓ Make coffee - ✓ Feed all 4 dogs - ✓ Feed the guinea pig - ✓ Do dishes - ✓ Start laundry - ✓ Take medication - ✓ Drop the kiddo off at school - ✓ Check my calendar - ✓ Start music - ✓ Start work - ✓ Meetings - ✓ Code reviews - ✓ Tickets in, tickets out - ✓ Pick the kiddo up from school - ✓ Finish work - ✓ Hang out with the family[^2] *Check, check, check, clear the queue, close the rings, get to zero.* I know this looks neurotic, it is neurotic because *I'm* neurotic. I always have been, or at least as long as I can remember. I've got anxiety and this helps me cope with it — other things do too, but routine is important and, when you get right down it it, that routine is a series of boxes that get checked.[^3] *Check, check, check, clear the queue, close the rings, get to zero.* > "I'm on a good mixture, I don't wanna to waste it" > - The National, *City Middle* [^1]: At 2x, [sorry Keenan](https://gkeenan.co/avgb/hot-take-its-okay-if-we-dont-consume-all-of-the-worlds-information-before-we-die). [^2]: This is the **BEST** part. [^3]: This also explains a why I have ~37,000 completed tasks in [Todoist](https://todoist.com).