How's Your Day Going?

Everyone has their own routine that they get into that helps them through each day. This keeps them from forgetting important dates and deadlines, as well as normal everyday items. So, what do you do when you add something new to your routine or have to change the routine for one reason or another in order to adapt to something you need to do for your family, say take your kids to school instead of your spouse because of a scheduling conflict with how it's usually done?

Some of us just try to wing it and hope it works out for the best, only to find out something didn't quite make the trip that you needed to. This happens to me ALL the time. I'm one that can be sort of stubborn when it comes to changing things I do, so when I do, I try to change as little as possible, which often results in me "winging it". And this almost certainly means I am going to forget something. It takes me a bit to learn lessons like this, funny enough because I'm in graduate school, which is basically a constant reminder that I don't know everything, yet I keep acting like I do when it comes to adding things to my schedule.

Because of this happening so often, I have started to change a bit. I'm finally learning! I'm sure my parents wish that would've happened a long time ago, like back when I was calling them because I forgot a book for class or a project on the table in high school. But hey, I'm here now! I've been doing a lot of research into how to remember new things. Basically, I have two take-aways.

1. Changing your environment from the norm is the best way to ensure that you have everything ready for your day.

2. My family and friends have been telling me to do these sorts of things all along.

We can look at things all we want to and do research and experiments until we have exhausted all avenues until we basically have a fact, but sometimes, the answer has been something that was always there, it was just understood.

So about the first point, Changing the Environment. This can be anything from tying a string around your finger to moving your stuff around to different parts of the room to help you remember there is something else to do. These work primarily because they make you step out of that comfort zone and into your active thinking area. When you do this, you'll hopefully run through everything you need because you have that new stimuli.

So, last night, I knew I had an extra errand to run on my way to work, so before I went to bed, I placed my backpack in a different spot than it normally sits, I put my shoes on a different level of the rack, and I didn't lay out my clothes. I put my backpack in a different spot because it was close to what I needed to grab for my errand, I didn't lay out my clothes so I had to walk by my backpack and the item in order to get them. And I placed my shoes on a different rack in order to give myself one last chance to rethink through everything.

This worked almost perfectly! I grabbed what I needed for my errand as I passed by it to grab my shirt for the day. I walked back to the room, changed, and did the normal routine with my dog before going and grabbing my shoes and heading out the door. Do you see what's missing? Yep! I left my backpack. Feel free to laugh. I work at the school I attend, so I bring my bag with me, so it's here and I don't have to worry about forgetting things. This usually works well except for if I forget my backpack. So, sometimes, you can make the plans and change things, but if you're off, you still may forget something. The big thing to remember is it's OK. We're human. We make mistakes. Oh well. Nothing really got harmed. I may be working on homework later than usual, but hey, I signed up for that. Should have left the reminder for the new item with just one instead of two. Maybe next time.

As for the second point, listen to people around you that are trying to help. My friends and family have told me to do little things like this in order to help me remember things for as long as I can remember. Listen to whomever is trying to help you out. Do it before you get older and are looking back at how stubborn you were and only really having the ability to laugh about it because your life could have been sooooooooo much easier had you let people help you out.

So hopefully this can help you! Next time you add something to your schedule, change your environment a little bit in order to get you thinking. Like this morning's example, it may not fully work, but hey, I remembered the errand! Practice doesn't really make perfect; perfect practice makes perfect, and sometimes in order to get there, you have to go through some trial and error to find what works for you. Don't be afraid to try!