Good Ways to Remind Yourself by Meggin McIntosh, PhD

Sometimes even the best intentioned folks forget to do something. It’s not malicious, it’s just unfortunate. Use any or all of these ideas when you’re concerned about remembering something (and we all need to be concerned about this).

1. Put the item on your planner (smartphone or paper) and then LOOK at your planner every day.
2. If it’s something that’s happening today, don’t forget the value of a good old-fashioned kitchen timer.
3. Call your home phone and leave a message for yourself, especially when you want to remember to bring something to work from home.
4. If you have Outlook or another similar program, put it in the calendar so you’ll see it immediately upon opening the program.
5. Use your cell phone alarm. Remember that you can set this for a one-time event, or to call you every Wednesday just before the morning meeting.
6. Have your assistant call you on your cell phone.
7. Pay a reliable teenager in your family to call you just prior to the event. Charge them the agreed-upon price if they forget.  (One of my good friends who has teenagers uses this and it works!)
8. Place the ever-popular Post-It® in the middle of your computer monitor.
   Note: This will only work if it’s the ONLY sticky note on your monitor and if you essentially never use this method!
9. Put a note in your ticker file (your 1-31, day-at-a-time file) and then LOOK in this file every day.
10. Pay close attention to the item as you hear about it. It’s surprising how much you can remember if you really concentrate.

Forgetting is sometimes an annoyance, sometimes an embarrassment, and sometimes a deal-breaker.  Use a system that works for you.

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