Works For Me Wednesday #11 - Now what was I going to do? :)

I tried something new last night and this morning. And it worked!

You see, I have a horrible time remembering things lately. If it doesn't get written down, blogged about or put in my Outlook calendar, it generally doesn't happen. Here's an example. I know I scheduled the next appointment to get my hair trimmed when I was standing there paying for my last haircut. I believe that the appointment was for sometime in October. I usually get a nice reminder call from my haircut place to help me remember when to drag the kids down there and find ways to keep them amused while my hair gets washed and trimmed. Not so this time. Here it is November and as my bangs fall into my eyes, I realize that I probably should call my hair stylist, profusely apologize for standing her up and figure out exactly when I was supposed to be there. However, I'm too embarrassed to call her and admit that I forgot, so I supposed I'll be peering at the computer screen through a haze of bangs for a while yet.

This morning at 8:00 am I had a dentist appointment. I had entered this appointment on my Outlook calendar and a friendly reminder popped up on my screen yesterday letting me know. However, this was no guarantee that I would remember the appointment come 7:30 am. My morning routine is somewhat flexible, but in the half-awake state that is typical of me before oh 8:00 or 9:00 am, anything that is out of the ordinary generally doesn't get remembered. One option was to paste notes all over the house in the hopes that I would actually be functioning well enough to read at that hour. When I thought about it last night, I was too tired to go in search of a pad and pen so needed to find a quick and sure way to remind myself in the morning that something was different.

It really was a simple solution actually. All I did was move a pair of shoes. You see, I tend to keep things in the same places whenever possible so that I can find them when I need to (my hubby and kids don't always go with this plan, but I try hard - at least for the stuff I know we'll need to grab quickly). Especially in the mornings when we're in a rush and everyone's tired and grumpy. So I simply picked up Becca's shoes from where they normally sit next to the diaper bag, and put them on the kitchen counter (yes, on top of a paper towel!). Still in plain sight so I wouldn't be searching all over the house, but the act of having to look someplace other than where I was used to blindly grabbing them from would (I hoped) jar me into some form of mental wakefulness to remind me that there was something I had to do.

Yes, it was that easy. And it actually worked too! This morning I saw the shoes on the counter and remembered that I had to head to the dentist after dropping Becca off at daycare instead of straight to work. I think I may have to change up what I use as a reminder or where I put it so I don't just end up changing my routine, but I'm liking this way to let myself know that there's something out of the ordinary and I'd better think about what it could be.

Yes, I'm playing mind games with myself. But hey, if that's what it takes... It works for me! :)

Check out more Works For Me Wednesday at Rocks in My Dryer!