Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.
Speaker 1: Good Morning, This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.
Speaker 1: Today's tip is about how to stop forgetting things. We
Speaker 1: all forget things sunglasses on a glaringly bright day, to
Speaker 1: stop by the dry cleaner on the way home from work,
Speaker 1: to get tickets to that concert before it sells out.
Speaker 1: If you've got a busy life, forgetting things can be
Speaker 1: incredibly frustrating. It feels like such an avoidable waste of time.
Speaker 1: One of the most heartbreaking entries I ever saw on
Speaker 1: a time log was from a woman who had been
Speaker 1: up multiple times during the night, but whould still summon
Speaker 1: the energy to drive herself in the snow to the
Speaker 1: gym at six am. Then, wearing her snow boots, she
Speaker 1: looked in her gym bag no shoes. On her time logs,
Speaker 1: she wrote, no spin class today. Fortunately, there are you
Speaker 1: strategies you can use to stop forgetting items and tasks
Speaker 1: for objects. Be ruthless about giving items a home. In
Speaker 1: my house, shoes, coats, and sports equipment are always in
Speaker 1: the mud room where we enter the house. There is
Speaker 1: absolutely no other place these items can be. Anything found
Speaker 1: elsewhere is immediately returned to the mudroom, just as you
Speaker 1: might return a fork to the silverware drawer if you
Speaker 1: happen to find it elsewhere. This is how we get
Speaker 1: out the door on time, well most days. Likewise, after
Speaker 1: I run, I immediately returned my driver's license and house
Speaker 1: key to my purse. I do this first thing upon
Speaker 1: walking in the door, before I even get a glass
Speaker 1: of water. Otherwise I know I would always be fishing
Speaker 1: them out of the washing machine. As for tasks, keep
Speaker 1: a list somewhere that you trust you'll check frequently. I
Speaker 1: mean multiple times per day. I use an old fashioned
Speaker 1: paper planner that I always have on my desk. Because
Speaker 1: I were from home, I can look at the planner
Speaker 1: on weekends too, But if I worked in an office,
Speaker 1: i'd carry it home with me for my days off.
Speaker 1: I put both work and personal tasks on there. The
Speaker 1: way I see it, I am one person. I have
Speaker 1: one set of hours, so I keep one list, because
Speaker 1: if I had two lists for work and home, I'd
Speaker 1: be dropping balls left and right. I'd forget that work
Speaker 1: task I had to do over the weekend, or to
Speaker 1: call the dentist's office during business hours. I also suggest
Speaker 1: putting time bound items on your calendar for the day
Speaker 1: when you'll need to think of them. So, for instance,
Speaker 1: this year, I saw that summer reservations opened up on
Speaker 1: May one for this restaurant I really wanted to try,
Speaker 1: but I know often sells out almost immediately. I put
Speaker 1: a note from Mace first, of course, so I could call.
Speaker 1: But and this is key. I also put a note
Speaker 1: on April, which was the friday before May one. I
Speaker 1: planned my weeks on Fridays. Putting a note on the
Speaker 1: friday before I plan to do something means I can
Speaker 1: check any specific logistics and make sure I don't miss
Speaker 1: my window. So if tickets for something go on sale
Speaker 1: at midnight Pacific time on a day, that's a different
Speaker 1: matter than ten a m. Eastern. If ten a m.
Speaker 1: Eastern is my window, I can suggest someone call me
Speaker 1: at ten thirty rather than ten. I know this sounds intense, perhaps,
Speaker 1: but this is how I routinely get tickets to things
Speaker 1: that sell out in minutes. It's not that I have
Speaker 1: a perfect memory, far from it. Instead, I figured out
Speaker 1: how to use my planner and my calendar to magnify
Speaker 1: my limited brain power. Now I don't walk around with
Speaker 1: my planner all the time, of course, but I've noticed
Speaker 1: that I almost always have my phone with me. That's
Speaker 1: why some people keep their to do lists on their phones,
Speaker 1: and that can work. I don't like to do that,
Speaker 1: but I do know that I check my inbox frequently
Speaker 1: when I am at my desk with my planner, So
Speaker 1: if I'm out and about and think of something, I
Speaker 1: will email myself notes. Then I can transfer those notes
Speaker 1: to the planner at a later time. Of course, then
Speaker 1: there are those times when you're on the go and
Speaker 1: will need to remember something sooner than the next time
Speaker 1: you get to your desk. For instance, maybe your spouse
Speaker 1: calls you at work and asks you to get one
Speaker 1: thing at the store on the way home. For something
Speaker 1: like this, I'll often write it on my hand. My
Speaker 1: hands are usually in my field of vision, and most
Speaker 1: pinnank only lasts for about two hand washings. You probably
Speaker 1: wouldn't do this if you're about to go meet with
Speaker 1: your CEO, or your hands will be photographed or something,
Speaker 1: but my life is not that glamorous. It works fine
Speaker 1: for me. Finally, one of my favorite hacks is borrowed
Speaker 1: from my high school chemistry teacher. She was always willing
Speaker 1: to lend people calculators or books, whatever they forgot. There
Speaker 1: was just one condition. If you borrowed something, you had
Speaker 1: to give her one shoe. She had learned that people
Speaker 1: would leave without anything else she collected as collateral like
Speaker 1: a student I D card or something. But no one
Speaker 1: walked into the hallway wearing one shoe. The physical sensation
Speaker 1: of something being wrong would nudge the rowed item back
Speaker 1: to the front of that person's brain. Now, I'm not
Speaker 1: saying you should try this for getting back items you
Speaker 1: lend to colleagues. But if you're working at your desk
Speaker 1: and there's something you really need to remember as you're
Speaker 1: leaving and you're not sure you will remember it, you
Speaker 1: might take off one shoe. When you get up to go,
Speaker 1: You're missing shoe will force your brain out of automatic mode.
Speaker 1: You'll think, oh, yes, I'm supposed to stop by Pete's
Speaker 1: desk because I'm giving him a ride home today. You'd
Speaker 1: hate to remember this when you're fifteen minutes down the freeway.
Speaker 1: What tactics do you have for remembering things? I'd love
Speaker 1: to hear your tips. You can email me at Before
Speaker 1: Breakfast podcast at iHeart media dot com. In the meantime,
Speaker 1: this is Laura. Thanks for listening and here's to making
Speaker 1: the most of our time. Hey, everybody, I'd love to
Speaker 1: hear from you. You can send me your tips, your questions,
Speaker 1: or anything else. Just connect with me on Twitter, Facebook
Speaker 1: and Instagram at Before Breakfast pod. That's B the number four,
Speaker 1: then Breakfast p o D. You can also shoot me
Speaker 1: an email at Before Breakfast podcast at i heeart media
Speaker 1: dot com that Before Breakfast is spelled out with all
Speaker 1: the letters. Thanks so much, I look forward to staying
Speaker 1: in touch. Before Breakfast is a production of I Heart Radio.
Speaker 1: For more podcasts from my heart Radio, visit the i
Speaker 1: heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to
Speaker 1: your favorite shows.