ADHD here. Remembering things is a lost cause for me.
Instead, I lay physical “traps” for myself. Things in physical space that hinder my autopilot, snap me out of the trance, and give me a chance to reorient my focus into something more productive.
It’s not foolproof. Far from it. But it does help a lot.
Edit:
Just thought of another one I do: I have a phone casing that lets me keep cards in them. One of my credit cards go there, of course.
But the more important thing in there is my apartment access card. If I ever forget to bring my phone, I will only get as far as the security door outside before I realise I have to turn back.
No diagnosis here, but I do stuff like this.
I’ll be traveling, so I make a checklist of stuff I need to bring. But I need to make sure that on the morning of the trip, I re-check the checklist. So I put it with my keys the night before. I’m not gonna go out without my keys, so I will see the checklist.
I have such a hard time remembering to look a checklists, even putting it somewhere noticeable i seem to desensitize my eyes to it’s existance 2 days later
It sure takes conscious effort. My brain sees a list I’ve seen before and puts on a bloody perception filter
I do the same, and once I have the luggage, and backpack or whatever I count the number of “things” (2 luggage +backpack, three is it’s also a bottle and so on) to take around, and repeat the count everything I move through the trip…
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Everywhere bag gang go! I have a messenger bag with everything in it. It goes where I go, and I do not lose physical contact with it outside.
Can’t forget anything if you bring everything with you. Taphead.jpg
This is the way. Although not foolproof, somehow 😭
Catch me muttering darkly about being careless with things as I nudge the cat carrier out of the way on my rush to the vet, arriving sans cat.
The adhd gremlin is surprisingly adaptable.
I tie my car keys to my laptop bag so I don’t go to work without it.
“Go put your keys in the fridge” is what my MIL says when she wants us to take home leftovers. But it hinges on remembering to bring your keys 🤔
I wish this worked for me. I’ve put things on the doorknob of my bedroom and still forgotten to take them out of the house. Setting reminders on my phone works though for some reason
I am soo blind to phone reminders. I have one go off every day telling me what to take to work and it’s just a thing that exists that I jus switch off daily without thinking. Can’t even be bothered to remove it.
My plan A – tie the lanyard of my keys to whatever I need to take with me.
B – Walk out and put it in the car the night before. Interestingly, this is the most annoying to actually do, but I have never regretted it afterward.
I try to put my clothing hamper on my bed when doing laundry at night, so I don’t forget to move it to dryer. If its morning and I plan to leave, I put it in front of the door if I remember to.
I have a dumping area in the kitchen where I eat my breakfast and drink my coffee. I shove anything I need to remember in what will be my eye line when I sit down.
I have tried the tip someone gave me once of putting house keys on top of lunch box on fridge as well so as not to forget it. Pretty good idea!
I have a routine of just pulling my lunch out when I get the milk for my coffee at the moment though and that’s working quite well.
I have a routine of just pulling out my lunch when I get the milk for my coffee
I think someone once told me that this is called “habit stacking”. It’s when you take a habit that you already do every day (like brushing your teeth) and mix it with something else you need/want to do (like listening to an audiobook)
I do this too. But every once in a while I’ll move it out of the way on autopilot 🥲
Oh, definitely.
I guess a way around it is to block your door with something that’s actually physically inconvenient to move out of the way. But that runs the risk of me just giving up and going to bed for the day.
I have to do this in the mornings with my work laptop. We’re encouraged to bring our work laptops home in case something comes up and we need to work from home. However, on a few occasions I’ve forgotten to bring it back with me, only realizing as I’m pulling into the parking lot, or, on one occasion, literally as I was walking to my desk, “Let me just get setup and… oh shiiiiiiiiii.”
