Since the calendar has already been mentioned, I’ll drop another of my tools.

I check my pockets every time I leave a space, and confirm I’ve got Wallet, Keys, Phone. I do this at any transition: Leaving the house, a taxi, the office, a plane.

Got kick started into the habit when I lost a big (for a kid) chunk of money. Felt so bad that I started the checks, and haven’t lost any of those three in many, many years (ง’̀-‘́)ง

Whenever I close something that locks, I touch the key that unlocks it first. This has saved me many times from locking myself out of the house and locking my keys in the car or trunk

Making lists and time blocking

Prep Bags: I keep a bag for each activity i regularly engage in (work, theatre, choir, social clubs) and it holds my accoutrements for that thing. When I remember i need to bring something to the next meeting/rehearsal/whatever. I drop it in the bag. If I am doing a one off activity, I’ll start a bag a day or few ahead of time.

Small things have homes: Car/house keys live on key hook, other dailies live in bowls near my bed.

Multiples of things: I keep separate charge cables each for home, work, and car. I keep an extra, hairbrush and hair ties at work. My old earbuds live at work in case I forget to put my new ones in my work bag when i am done with them.

Don’t take the appointment card from the doctor’s office. Just put it in your phone calendar.

You might think if you take the card, you can refer to it later, or put it in the calendar later, but these are lies. LIES!!!

In my head it does not exist. Never trust myself to remember anything, write everything down in a system you trust (TickTick for me). In the same vein when leaving tasks halfway I write myself what I had planned to do next and all the details I can quickly jot down, even if they seem obvious or like I won’t forget them.

Online calendar with a widget on my phone’s homescreen that shows the upcoming week’s appointments, so that I constantly see them by accident. And a habit to always put important appointments in the calendar immediately when I’m made aware of them or plan them.

And always have the calendar open in a browser on the computer.

Getting rid of as many time wasters as possible. Reddit, Instagram, etc. They never, ever end. With Lemmy, I’m done my feed in five minutes. YouTube is still a challenge though.

When I’m at my doc for refill or something similar, I always book the next appointment before I leave. And every appointment is written on the calendar app with alarms. No I don’t need you to write me the next appointment on paper, your paper doesn’t have glow light and sounds so I won’t look at it.

Notifications from Google calendar - if it’s not there, I will forget.

Also, in terms of motivation - if I don’t have a purpose and a goal (however small or insignificant it may be) - then I will be stuck and won’t be able to do literally anything. So I always need something to work towards.

Always determine the first action or step to a task/project to give you a specific, predetermined place to start on the task and get your first “win” towards completing it before you add it to your task list

You can decide on the rest later but get your subconscious working on it by making that first decision and the rest you can leave until you’ve completed step 1

Apple user here: Shortcuts.

Being able to design lil applettes that take a click or two out of doing a task is a lifesaver.

For instance, going into the clock app and setting a timer is at least a 9-step process (starting from unlocking your device). I made a shortcut to make it a 5-step process.

When I’m trying to hold something in short term memory (especially during a conversation), it’s a struggle

Write it down/put on your calendar now. You’re not going to remember to do it later and then you’ll completely forget it. Even if you’re sure you’ll remember it this time, you won’t. Just write it down. And make a habit of checking your calendar frequently. Like multiple times a day. Putting it in your calendar and never seeing it again doesn’t help.

Schedule just about everything. Even the things you didn’t think you’ll need to schedule. Schedule what time you’re going to work out, or play video games. Put an event in your calendar to make that phone call to your insurance company at a specific time instead of remembering to do it after they’re closed every time.

Alarms on my phone to snap me out of hyperfixating on things to the point where time becomes meaningless.

Alarms for everything!

And goblin.tools