Or: How I had completely unnecessary life crises three times this school term just because I'm bad at remembering things So. I do this thing where when I read something important that I have to do in the future, I mentally remind myself to do it, and then it completely slips my mind when it's important. This term, I did that with the deadline for submitting a housing fee so that I can sign up for housing next year, leading to me having to sign up to live with a stranger in a dorm i didn't want instead of in a dorm i wanted with my friends. And then again with re-submitting assignments that failed to send the first time to my professor, leading to me nearly failing a class. And then again today with picking up the forms I need to check out of the dorm for the year. How do I stop this?
writing things down can help. on your arm, in your phone, on whatever's near. the repetition, even if you lose the note itself, can be helpful, at least in my experience.
This might sound insultingly obvious, but I'm serious - start building a habit of physically writing down absolutely everything you need to remember. Keep a small date planner on you at all times and write things down the moment you get the date. Check through it at least once or twice a week on set days, after something you do every day anyway - like getting up. Consider also keeping a wall calendar in a place you will see it often, and writing things down there as well. It sounds like an enormous pain in the ass, and it kind of is to get started, but once it becomes a habit it's not intrusive at all. Most people have to write things down to remember them reliably. If you have ADHD like I do, it's an absolute must to write things down and then belt-and-suspenders it by writing it down in another place - or two (like reminders on my phone or computer) - so if this sounds like a bit much, that's where I'm coming from. Do the date planner and a once a week check in at the very least.
a way of doing this that I've found really helpful is to have a one-touch note app on my phone's main screen - i.e. I open the app and can start writing in one touch. any more steps than that and i'm up the creek. usually I can manage to put an appt in my calendar, but if I don't have a set time/date for something, yeah, straight into OneNote.
the app sounds like a good idea- my problem is i usually ruminate on making a note of something for a second and then don't. the problem is remembering to check and re-read that thing.. I keep my computer at bedside and check it first thing in the morning, and if i'm not living at home i also eat my breakfast in my room and generally.. stay in my room unless i have to go outside, i don't eat meals at consistent times, sometimes i snack instead of eat meals, so there's not something i reliably do once daily. this is also how i still can't manage to remember to brush my teeth, i snack while nighttime browsing a lot and i don't usually eat a discernible breakfast or plan tooth brushing into my time when getting ready for class //is a mess
also, yayy i can still get my form, but blehhh, i have to wake up at 8 to get it =m= oh well, my fault
I also have a habit of forgetting very important life things that end up kicking my ass later on, and yeah, I've found that there is probably no efficient way of remembering things with a shitty memory except constantly reminding yourself and refreshing those things in your head. Trying to get up the energy to make reminders for yourself really is annoying to keep up with, but it does help a ton. Like Mercury said, you have to belt-and-suspenders it and give yourself at least one safety net. I like to put one alarm reminder on my phone, one on a to-do list on google docs, and one handwritten sticky note on top of my phone just in case. If it's super important, I also ask one of my less-forgetful friends to remind me the day of the event. Forgetting to do reminders in the first place though, is also a thing I do all the time. I usually combat that by sending a message to my friends to remind me, because i find IMing a lot less taxing than writing down stuff on Notes.
One time I forgot a doctors appointment cause I was making cosplay. That was freaking hilarious (mostly because it was a routine checkup and cost me nothing to reschedule it) Yeah, I just need to actually do the Put A Note Down thing when I think I should. I used to do habitrpg to keep track of things but then i... kept forgetting to check habitrpg.... even when it was open in a tab... mmrrr. i'm tempted to try having a phone alarm going off daily to tell me to check my list of things to do every day, but i feel like that might get annoying fast..
if it gets annoying, might it force you to make the habit so as to get rid of the annoying reminder? (just a thought)
@amberbydreams the habitica app is actually functional now so downloading it might help! I was excited to discover it had updated a bunch!
I tend to remember things pretty well, so this stuff may be insufficient or not helpful, but what I do: daily calendar reminder on my phone to take my meds Note that syncs across all devices with things I need easily accessible to memory (my working note is the one that has a fic title I want to use, a list of the teas we need, updated as we use stuff, the row I'm on in my current knitting project, and where I am in a work thing) - new things that I might forget go there or get their own note. I usually do a new note for class times and locations until I remember consistently. Google Calendar, which emails me and sends up notifications on my phone. I put social engagements and major project deadlines in that, with notifications popping up at various times. daily to-do lists, usually based on memory and habit but sometimes in consultation with my calendar It's also been really important for my productivity (I work from home and took a bunch of online classes) to not take my computer to bed. I leave it in the living room, but if you have a desk area with a comfy chair, that's an idea that doesn't mean you have to leave your room. Having the computer separate means that I get up and eat breakfast and shower before I open it up and close it and brush my teeth and put in my retainer before I sleep, and having that routine has been helpful for me.
