Touch everything
Explanation based on my own experience:
I can’t find something. It’s literally right in front of me, but there is a mix of things and I JUST DON’T SEE IT. Grr.
I start on one side and start touch everything one at a time until it somehow magically appears. It was there the whole time.
If I sense that this type of thing is happening and I’m looking only visually, it’s not there. It’s just not there.
Touch works better than eyes.
For me I have to ask where it is. Literally. Ask out loud while I’m looking for it, typically to an audience of no one, but sometimes my gf, “Where in the FUCK is my ITEM?”. Without fail, my eyes will immediately land on the subject of the rhetorical query, and it is always on a surface that I have very nearly, but not quite, comprehensively searched multiple times.
Some people perform the object’s action, eg moving hand back and forth when looking for the pizza wheel in a drawer full of utensils.
I go blind most often looking for text on web pages. Usually I hit control F and search for the word.
Me too for control F!
Sometimes if I’m walking through the house looking for something it helps me focus if I call to it. “Glasses! Where are you?” Stupid, but helps me. Otherwise I’ll switch rooms and not remember that I was even looking for something. Maddening.
I have designated places for all my stuff. Unless I’m interrupted by something important, I always put the object back in its right place. In my 20s I used to spend easily 30mins a day searching for stuff, but these days its a rarity.
I will try to envision me using that object, and mime putting it down when I’m done with it. Sometimes that’s enough to trigger the memory of where I left it.
That’s a really interesting idea. I’m definitely going to try this.
Although I bet it wouldn’t of caught on during the pandemic.