By that I mean what are some powerful and simple basic applied techniques or behaviors that are really useful you’ve developed or discovered in your life that makes things work or improve.
Lets keep them simple and powerful 🧙♂️
Let people on the phone know that you don’t mind if something is taking a bit longer and that you’re cool and with them whatever happens. Say something like, its okay I’m not in a rush ☺️
They’ll appreciate taking some of the pressure off and showing you are a receptive audience (you’re rooting for them) and I’ve found it to get superior outcomes since I started doing it, even tho I was always generally polite previously
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!!!
They already have our email addresses and our mobile numbers. They should be sending us calendar invites, not some scrap of cardstock I’m gonna lose. My therapist has a system that sends text reminders. Why is my doctor not up to speed.
And have a calendar app that lets you either or both:
- enter the appointment in text and it automatically recognizes the date and processes it (natural language entry)
- has buttons for easy tweaking of the day with standard units like 30 minutes/1 day/1 week/1 month that you can press in combination to easily taptically schedule it
Just a normal alarm timer app.
Forget appointments? Lose track of time when doing things? I set timers. Most apps allow recurring timers. For example I got one going off twice each day to remind me to drink some water.
I gotta leave in 40 minutes so I got some time to read or whatever. If I don’t set an alarm I’ll lose track of time and be late. Easy fix.
As far as habits go.
Be honest with myself about my shortcomings. If I start gaming at 9 pm it won’t be half an hour. Be honest. Go to bed now or accept it will be midnight.
No, I won’t just do that later. I will forget. Write it down or do it now. Else I will forget.
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.
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
Here’s my quick timer shortcut I built to keep on my Home Screen. Maybe it will be helpful to someone.
Edit: forgot to link the shortcut 😂
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
