Friday Five - April 22nd

Being a busy person these days is challenging. There is not a lot of separation between work and home and causes trouble with keeping your information straight. Having a good system in place helps tremendously and being able to have good time management skills is key. Sometimes though you still need extra reminders to make sure you don't forget things.

It is challenging for me to keep track of everything, between my day job, working as life coach, writing a novel, and managing my household filled with family and pets; I get very busy. Sometimes I am so involved with one project I have trouble remembering when it is time for the next even with a well documented system. I have had trouble in the past with remembering phone calls or doctors appointments. These days I don't have as much trouble with it, but I thought I would share my tips for combating forgetfulness/absent mindedness.

So this Friday Five is five things to help combat forgetfulness:

1. Alarms/Prompts/Reminders - Writing things down often helps with remembering. Having reminders posted, setting alarms, and creating prompts can be helpful to you. While I use an electronic calendar to keep up with my appointments and to do list. Often to make sure I am able to remind myself when I have a big project I am working on, I will set alarms on my phone to make sure that I stop and prepare for my call or appointment.

2. To do lists - Another aspect is to make a to do list the night before for the next day - a list of reminders as it were. This not only helps me get focused in the morning, but also helps me sleep as then I am not worrying about what I might forget the next day.

3. Intention - You have to want to remember. You have to be conscious of what is going on in your life. Remembering what is important helps as much as writing it down. Reviewing what you need each morning can help you organize and keep track of your day, set alarms as needed, and increase your chance of remembering things as needed.

4. Friends - For important tasks I will ask a friend to remind me of tasks. This is especially helpful if I am trying to remember something that is days away. When I have a lot on my mind, it is easy to lose track of time. Having a friend remind me of important tasks often makes a difference. (And it gives me a chance to catch up.)

5. Not stalling - Procrastination is the enemy of getting things done. Pressing a snooze button, or awaiting five more minutes can cause you to be distracted and miss an appointment. Or just cause you to be late for an important event.

I hope these tips will help you be more resourceful and remember things as you need them.