Here’s the thing… It doesn’t matter what age you are, it doesn’t matter who you are, trying to keep on top of everything, how to remember things gets trickier by the day. And if not the day certainly by the month or the year! We have so much stuff to remember – and I’m not just talking about walking into a room and trying to remember what you’ve walked in there for – I’m talking about all the everyday things we need to remember to do, to action, to remind ourselves to do. There’s just a lot of it
So, how do we remember things?
In my opinion (and it is my opinion), to start off we need be little more forgiving of ourselves. We need to accept that we are not perfect, and we will forget stuff – that’s what people do. Obviously, there are things we would rather not forget, there are things it’s a very important to remember, so how can we do that?
- Multitasking does not help. It’s something that can sometimes be seen as a strength but it means we don’t focus on the task in hand. Stop – try to do one thing at a time and do it well.
- Don’t over list. Writing endless lists feels overwhelming, so keep your lists simple. Have one brain dump list and then each day, pick out five tasks that need to be done that day and work through those tasks.
- If possible, try not to duplicate all the things to do. Rather than put something in your phone diary, on your desktop, AND in a paper diary, keep it all in one place. If you really need to separate things out – use one diary for work and one diary for home, keeping it simple. See tip 1!
- Use technology when it’s useful. If you’re not a Facebook lover, and therefore endlessly prompted about various birthdays, find a birthday app, which syncs with your phone to send you reminders when birthdays are coming up. You can even ask them to remind you a week or ten days before.
- Create visual prompts. There is nothing wrong with a shopping list attached to the fridge that you or family can add to. The same goes for family calendars or a monthly calendar for yourself. Stick it to the fridge and you can see what’s coming up over the next few weeks – it really will be a great way how to remember things that are coming up!
Ultimately, you need to find methods that work for you. Give yourself permission to sometimes forget things. Don’t strive for perfection, as no one else is managing it! Be kind to yourself and work out the best way for you on how to remember things.
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