What is the most OCD thing you do?

[Pura Vida]

Originally Posted by The Watchman

Do yourself a favor and get one of those garage door openers (or add-on devices - MyQ is one of them) that send you a notification when the door goes up and down. It also lets you open or shut it remotely, by phone. It saves me a lot of circling the block. Now I just check the phone constantly.

Family members are a bit lax about keeping the garage door closed, so it was a constant worry.

That's what we have (MyQ). In addition to the push notifications, it also allows the user to set a time to close the door, as a fail safe. So, we have it set each evening to close automatically, just in case someone forgets (which has happened once or twice).

[Tahitijack]

Garage Door....return several times a week to make sure I closed it.

Door locks check several times a night to assure they are all secure.

[jseth]

This is hilarious! A lot of the behavior mentioned has me realizing that I do a lot of things repeatedly... not sure that qualifies as OCD, however; quirky? yeah... curious? sure... but OCD?

I realized in the past couple years, that I count, a lot! Mostly in seconds, like gauging how long I hold a stretch, or checking to see how my internal clock is calibrated to the timer in the microwave... but I will just count, for no apparent reason. I frequently find myself doing it, just because. Or making up things to "measure"... how long does it take for me to walk from here to there, in my tiny home? Can I feed the dog, refill her water bowl, get the half and half out of the 'fridge, all before the microwave finishes pre-warming my coffee cup for 53 seconds?

Idiosynchromatic, certainly... still don't know if I'd call it OCD...

[ozzman]

Originally Posted by jseth

This is hilarious! A lot of the behavior mentioned has me realizing that I do a lot of things repeatedly... not sure that qualifies as OCD, however; quirky? yeah... curious? sure... but OCD?

I realized in the past couple years, that I count, a lot! Mostly in seconds, like gauging how long I hold a stretch, or checking to see how my internal clock is calibrated to the timer in the microwave... but I will just count, for no apparent reason. I frequently find myself doing it, just because. Or making up things to "measure"... how long does it take for me to walk from here to there, in my tiny home? Can I feed the dog, refill her water bowl, get the half and half out of the 'fridge, all before the microwave finishes pre-warming my coffee cup for 53 seconds?

Idiosynchromatic, certainly... still don't know if I'd call it OCD...

Not OCD, thankfully your just mad. But so is the rest of the world

[Pura Vida]

Originally Posted by ozzman

Not OCD, thankfully your just mad. But so is the rest of the world

*you're

This seems like the perfect thread to make this correction.

[fumei]

Originally Posted by Pura Vida

*you're

This seems like the perfect thread to make this correction.

Now that's funny!

Not quite OCD, bit it would depend on who is doing the diagnosis. It is teetering on the edge. Regarding "counting"...

I did a lot of sleep studies (as a patient) at the Sleep Clinic at the University of BC. The main sleep clinic in the country - or it was 30+ years ago. The techs were always amazed when they talked with me in the morning. I could tell them to within 5 seconds how much sleep I had, scattered over 20+ wake/get ups during the night. Normally people are way way off judging how much sleep they get. They almost always think they get less than what they really got. I am (or was) very very close to the tick count. They asked me how.

I told them I am constantly counting. Apparently even when I sleep as I rarely get my time signal off the correct/current one. I can (without checking a device) tell what time it is within 10 seconds. Alas, this "gift" (?) has been steadily diminishing over the last five years. Most days I am pretty close, but some days I am waaaay off.

My lady friend's kids were fascinated, and were always asking me what time it is. Without doing anything (and I have no smartphone to look at) I would say what time it was. When they asked me how, I told them I have a counter in my head; it goes tick tick tick. That makes me think of that old (perhaps tasteless) joke that ends with:

[Thick German accent] "We haf ways of making you talk".

[Pura Vida]

Originally Posted by jseth

This is hilarious! A lot of the behavior mentioned has me realizing that I do a lot of things repeatedly... not sure that qualifies as OCD, however; quirky? yeah... curious? sure... but OCD?

I realized in the past couple years, that I count, a lot! Mostly in seconds, like gauging how long I hold a stretch, or checking to see how my internal clock is calibrated to the timer in the microwave... but I will just count, for no apparent reason. I frequently find myself doing it, just because. Or making up things to "measure"... how long does it take for me to walk from here to there, in my tiny home? Can I feed the dog, refill her water bowl, get the half and half out of the 'fridge, all before the microwave finishes pre-warming my coffee cup for 53 seconds?

Idiosynchromatic, certainly... still don't know if I'd call it OCD...

I do a variation of this. Rather than simply counting, I will estimate how long it takes me to do something... kinda like an over/under from my previous estimation or attempt (sometimes trying to improve my performance). In my job, despite being an office job, we manage our time down to minutes (and sometimes seconds; it's not uncommon for a meeting host to say, "we'll wait under 10-12 seconds and then begin"), so my time management has to be razor sharp. If I place something in the microwave, I predict whether I have enough time to run out to the garage for a beverage and how much time will be remaining when I get back. In the evening, my daughter and I watch "Jeopardy," and I know that each commercial break is usually 2:25 long (granted, I just skip forward on the recording; I don't watch live... no time to waste on commercials).

This thread is bringing out a lot of my special "traits."

[ozzman]

Originally Posted by Pura Vida

*you're

This seems like the perfect thread to make this correction.

Thank you

[H165]

A few of the behaviors listed above are commonly agreed and recognized symptoms of OCD. Nothing extreme though.

Count to myself every repetitious task like stair climbing or stirring paint.

Me too. I think it's just boredom and curiosity.

My specialty is carrying paper goods. I know the exact trigger. I went on a date when I was 17, and I was ambushed by cold symptoms (a major school formal dinner and dance). I was without any tissues in my pocket or easy to get Kleenex or paper towels. It made for a miserable date, miserable evening, and never-forgotten lesson - carry tissues. It has turned into a somewhat harmless obsession over the intervening 55 years. OTOH, if I spill something, I'm better prepared than the stereotypical Boy Scout

[Steve-arino]

I wear ear plugs every night to sleep. Since my now grown adult children (30 and 27) were babies. Sleep was, and is, precious.

Please don’t tell anyone.

[Horsehockey]

Originally Posted by Steve-arino

I wear ear plugs every night to sleep. Since my now grown adult children (30 and 27) were babies. Sleep was, and is, precious.

Please don’t tell anyone.

My lips are sealed. I’m a plugger too. Silence is golden, golden….

[frankmcr]

Originally Posted by EZYPIKINS

First thing I do on a new guitar is cut off the strings put my strings on. Adjust truss rod. Check and cut nut slots so first fret doesn't note sharp.

Install new bone nut and <etc.>
.

That's not OCD. That's AGF.

[The Squirrel]

I can never remember if I locked the front door. I sometimes check it three or four times before I can drive away.

[fumei]

Originally Posted by The Squirrel

I can never remember if I locked the front door. I sometimes check it three or four times before I can drive away.

That is also teetering on the edge of OCD. It is likely that the repeated checking is based on a (perhaps hidden) thought that something bad will happen, so I better check.

I did that with the tie the left shoe first thing. I had a strong feeling that if I didn't something bad will happen. It took deliberate - I will do the right first, darn it - and persistent efforts to get rid of that feeling. Now, 99.32% of the time I do my shoes randomly. Or whichever one is closest.

Yes I know it is a very rare thing for anything to be truly random. Grinding a mirror for a telescope was the biggest help. When you are grinding a mirror you do NOT want to get into a pattern, pushing the grit covered tool. But humans love patterns, so it takes real effort to not do something. The purpose is to make hundreds and hundreds of motions from and to all directions. The aggregate result of all those "random" motions is ONE curve (a parabola).