"Mundane Systems": Does this happen to you?

[acyckowski]

I'm shaking my head all morning, wondering how the system broke down so completely, and how I didn't see it coming or adapt immediately.

Like all mundane tasks, over time I've developed a system for shaving, which has been pretty reliable. I need to shave daily, as I have a heavy beard and I am required to be clean-shaven for work. Typically, I don't shave on Saturday to give my skin a break, and then Sunday I shave before church because my wife insists God expects me to shave, even though Jesus had a beard. Anyhow, after not shaving on Saturday, my beard is pretty thick by Sunday, so I always replace my razor with a fresh one on Sunday. This ensures a nice clean shave all week, and cycles the blades regularly.

So, this weekend I decided not to shave either day. This morning when I went to shave, I noticed that it was taking forever to cut through all the stubble, more than I expected for just two days' growth. Because I don't give much thought to shaving--hence the system--I just noted the observation and got on with it.

About an hour later, as I was driving to work, it occurred to me that I had been using last week's blade instead of a fresh one. It seems that having not shaved on Sunday, I failed to replace the dull blade with a fresh one. However, today being Monday, it never occurred to me that I was using anything but a new razor.

Does anybody else have this problem? Creating a "system" for mundane tasks and then getting all hosed up if something changes?

[Jenny Penny]

This sounds familiar, if I'm understanding correctly. I think when our minds get stressed and antsy, we fill the empty space with whatever we can to occupy our active minds. For INTJs, this naturally comes as schedules and routines.

This is interesting (from personalitypage.com): When under a great deal of stress, the INTJ may become obsessed with mindless repetitive, Sensate activities, such as over-drinking. They may also tend to become absorbed with minutia and details that they would not normally consider important to their overall goal.

This definitely happens to me under stress. Not saying you're under stress, but that is how stress affects me. I find myself nitpicking everything and being very particular about how I do EVERYTHING.

[acyckowski]

No, in fact, my general stress level is very low recently.

I think what happened is quite the opposite: I was so tuned out to the mundane task, that I just wasn't able to make what should have been an obvious connection.

I didn't really have anything else on my mind, either, which is probably why I noticed that shaving was more difficult than it should have been.

[EsoteriEccentri]

D= I wish that I could do that. I just do things as soon as I remember that I need to do them. I do them, or I procrastinate. And I do things when I feel like it, unless I suddenly realise that we have to do X number of pages in our Art Journal for the next day and I get all flustered and start doing it.

I even have to think about doing the little things like getting dressed and brushing my teeth, and they are in no fixed order.

I'm pretty much as P as P comes. Some day I think I'll forget my "system" of breathing - e.g in out in out.

[suzyk]

If I can't make my bed everyday, I feel threatened. And I always drink my milk first, and then go for my bath and brush my teeth, I can't do it the other way around. Breakfast and hair combing come right after. And if my room isn't in perfect order, I get really angry.

[Doppelbock]

Changes to my routine always screw me up. If I drive my wife's car to work one day, for example, I'll arrive at work to discover I don't have the key to my office. It's on my keyring that I didn't bring today since I took the keys for the wife's car instead.

[Cuivienen]

I don´t have as fixed a routine for everyday tasks as many of you seem to have, but, like acyckowski seems to, I usually "tune out" while doing them automatically and meanwhile think about something completely different, like how I can improve an essay I`m writing or what else I still have to do a certain day and in what order to do it.

When I do that and something is different from the way it usually is/should be I often find myself confused or do not notice at all until something goes wrong - So sometimes I`ll suddenly find I poured orange juice in my breakfast cereal, locked my keys in my appartment or threw my bank card in the rubbish bin at my university with an otherwise empty paper bag (true story :confused:).

[Haphazard]

I can freak out in an extremely stupid way if I don't do a routine thing in a routine way.

For example, I usually wake up at 6:45, do self-maintenance things, and then go back to sleep at 7:00 and sleep until 7:50, at which point I go to school. This sounds like a horrible system that doesn't make any sense, but it gets me up in the morning and it also gets me nearly another hour of sleep without rushing me. One day I woke up at 7:30, though, and even though I had plenty of time to prepare for school, I absolutely freaked out and forgot most of the things that I needed for that day. I am absolutely ridiculous. :rolleyes:

Usually I ration out my homework into doable chunks at the beginning of the week, because my teachers are very predictable. Sometimes, though, they're not. Last week, I had an intensive essay to do, and I ended up rationing out that instead over the week instead of the work that I usually did, which I ended up having to cram on Thursday night.

When a particularly bad routine-jam occurs, well, that's usually when I get the most upset. In come the stress and emergency prioritizing, and if I can't get my ass into gear, I just forget the whole thing.

[malefide]

My routines are dynamic things. Which...may be a contradiction. But they are very difficult to "throw off kilter", but I can adapt them and adjust them almost immediately. I'm not sure why...maybe a developed P function in me or something.

[eclecticjoker]

My schedules are notoriously inconsistent, and I'm constantly late. I don't like being so disorganized, but I am and always have been.

There's a certain zen to my life once I have everything done and fall into a routine, but it only takes the slightest hiccup in my plans to send me right back out of control again. Part of that is that my daily schedules are all very different. I go to school at different times every morning, and I work retail so my schedule is different every week for that. I I knew that I'd be doing some specific thing each and every day, it would be much simpler to get a routine.

I'm pretty sure that I unconsciously prioritize things, though. Some things are important, some aren't. I work pretty much equally hard to be on time, but when the appointment is important, you can be sure I'll be on time. If it isn't... Who knows?

[Zilal]

At my former place of employ, there was a staff parking lot behind the building that was always full by the time I got in. So I always parked in the distant front lot. Whenever I did get the chance to park in the back lot, I would inevitably forget I did and walk all the way out front at the end of the day. So I gave up on the back lot.

Typically, I don't shave on Saturday to give my skin a break, and then Sunday I shave before church because my wife insists God expects me to shave, even though Jesus had a beard.

That was the funniest sentence ever.

[Darkmist]

Ah yes, routine. I must have my stuff in my order and my day ordered the way I desire. Not to say I can't alter it, if I do so consciously and willingly. If someone else purposely changes my way of living or people visit who demand I reschedule according to their needs, I'm flung off a cliff without a rope.

Maybe it is the thinking we all do 24/7. We're too busy with that important activity to deal with mundane alterations in our lives. Who needs added distractions from what is truly important?

We should harness brain energy, because I never shut down. Even in sleep, I dream a lot and usually remember vivid details. Ah the agony . . .

And yet, it's cool.

[eclecticjoker]

Apparently I get all the INTj mess without the awesome organization. D:

[DrEast]

Typically, I don't shave on Saturday to give my skin a break, and then Sunday I shave before church because my wife insists God expects me to shave, even though Jesus had a beard.

Perhaps she should argue, with some justification, that God expects you to love your wife and your wife insists you be clean-shaven.

[Haphazard]

Maybe it is the thinking we all do 24/7. We're too busy with that important activity to deal with mundane alterations in our lives. Who needs added distractions from what is truly important?

That's likely true. If I'm allowed to my own devices, I'll fall into a routine -- a strange one, but a routine, nonetheless -- and if my S friends and family ask me what I've done with my time, I won't be able to give them a worthwhile answer. With my N friends, however, it's a different story.

I look like I'm doing the same things over and over again on a normal basis, but every day is different. Every day lets me mull over a new topic. This just doesn't translate very well into the outside world.

[acyckowski]

Perhaps she should argue, with some justification, that God expects you to love your wife and your wife insists you be clean-shaven.

Perhaps, but I would counter that Christian obedience is not a categorical denial of autonomy....

Speaking of my beautiful bride, her ISTJ-ness is an eerie parallel to my INTJ-ness. Her routines are firmly established, and she is completely disoriented by deviation...but that's because she is beholden to the process itself.

[fuzein]

I can freak out in an extremely stupid way if I don't do a routine thing in a routine way.

For example, I usually wake up at 6:45, do self-maintenance things, and then go back to sleep at 7:00 and sleep until 7:50, at which point I go to school. This sounds like a horrible system that doesn't make any sense, but it gets me up in the morning and it also gets me nearly another hour of sleep without rushing me. One day I woke up at 7:30, though, and even though I had plenty of time to prepare for school, I absolutely freaked out and forgot most of the things that I needed for that day. I am absolutely ridiculous. :rolleyes:

Usually I ration out my homework into doable chunks at the beginning of the week, because my teachers are very predictable. Sometimes, though, they're not. Last week, I had an intensive essay to do, and I ended up rationing out that instead over the week instead of the work that I usually did, which I ended up having to cram on Thursday night.

When a particularly bad routine-jam occurs, well, that's usually when I get the most upset. In come the stress and emergency prioritizing, and if I can't get my ass into gear, I just forget the whole thing.
I always act in the same ways that you described. Having a set system always makes things easier because you really don't need to think about what to do next, you just do it.

[Grizzly]

I do tend to create a pattern for repetitive daily tasks (your shaving story hit close to home in particular.)

But I find that the pattern is the result of trying to complete the task in various step patterns and finding one that completes said task as quickly or easily as possible. Though I think I spend too much mental energy planning out the task steps.

For example : Shaving
-Always shave in the shower, saves time and it makes cuts less likely.
-Start with the lower front corner of the chin, as the blade is sharper at the beginning an d will not cause knicks or cuts.
- Finish the lower front face/chin area and make sure there are no unshaved patches
- next do the sensitive neck area below the jaw
-Complete the shave with the side jaw and mutton chop area (i.e. remove the mutton chops)

and so on, I wont bore you with the actual pattern done for each section but you get the idea.

But I don't really get worked up if the order is changed, i just make a note so next time it doesnt happen again.

[Flamethrower]

My routines are dynamic things. Which...may be a contradiction. But they are very difficult to "throw off kilter", but I can adapt them and adjust them almost immediately. I'm not sure why...maybe a developed P function in me or something.

I'm not hugely J so I am pretty adaptable too if my plans don't work out. But I love having a plan. I always start my day by getting my diary out and figuring out what has to be done (ah, not only for that day but usually several weeks in advance...) and then I make a to do list of what I need to get done that day. I would be embarrassed to show that list to anyone though coz it has everything on it I want to remember. I organise projects the same - break everything down into all the fine detail steps before I even start. I am totally lost if I don't do that. I have no idea where to start and do nothing instead. But once I have planned everything out if I get interrupted I can easily reorganize myself.

On business things that I have to do regularly (like accounts) I usually figure out the most effective way to do something and then make a task list so I don't have to keep rethinking it. And I will follow that. If I don't then, yes I can do something back to front and miss out something or make mistakes which I discover later.

Also if my watch is broken I get completely disorientated without it. Seems so stupid since you can just ask someone for the time. But I will be so preoccupied wondering how far through the day I am that I will forget half of what I am supposed to be doing. The daft thing is that when I do have my watch I don't really worry much about watching it all the time!

[acyckowski]

Also if my watch is broken I get completely disorientated without it. Seems so stupid since you can just ask someone for the time. But I will be so preoccupied wondering how far through the day I am that I will forget half of what I am supposed to be doing. The daft thing is that when I do have my watch I don't really worry much about watching it all the time!

I used to have that problem until I noticed the little clock in the bottom right corner of my screen. Now I'm good.

What's even cooler is if I move my cursor over the time, the date pops up. No more remembering to flip the calendar at the end of the month!

(No sarcasm intended. I'm dead serious)

[Flamethrower]

I used to have that problem until I noticed the little clock in the bottom right corner of my screen. Now I'm good.


Unfortunately even that won't satisfy me! I feel incomplete without a watch on my person. Nuts ay! I usually have to go out straight away and get new battery, watch fixed or new watch! The only time I am happy to be without one is when I am playing a gig. No one needs to know what time it is then!

[HousesOfApollo]

All the time. In fact, I just wrote up a thread about all the weird little quirks I have. Now I feel like I've just been shot in the belly. To my credit, though, I did do a few searches. This hurts me more than it does you. If you want to know what I have to say, just read my surefire dud of a thread: To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

This is why I'm not popular in most forums. I'll get so caught up with my own ideas that I forget to investigate the posts of others. Forgive me, please!

[Taberculosis]

No, in fact, my general stress level is very low recently.

I think what happened is quite the opposite: I was so tuned out to the mundane task, that I just wasn't able to make what should have been an obvious connection.

I didn't really have anything else on my mind, either, which is probably why I noticed that shaving was more difficult than it should have been.

I think you were just in the "zone" man.

[acyckowski]

All the time. In fact, I just wrote up a thread about all the weird little quirks I have. Now I feel like I've just been shot in the belly. To my credit, though, I did do a few searches. This hurts me more than it does you. If you want to know what I have to say, just read my surefire dud of a thread: To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

This is why I'm not popular in most forums. I'll get so caught up with my own ideas that I forget to investigate the posts of others. Forgive me, please!

No apologies necessary. I'm checking out your thread next.