I am a very visual person by nature. I'm one of those people that can remember a face, what someone was wearing, the details of a space I view in one of my clients homes, etc., but I'm HORRIBLE with names. So as someone who is so visual, it would make sense then to learn that I use visual reminders around my home and office as a way to remember to get something done and stay organized. If you are a visual person, this method of reminding yourself to do something might just be for you. It's the old "string tied at the end of your finger" trick and it really does work!
As I was bringing in the mail the other day and quickly doing my mail sort, I discovered a reminder card for my kids dental appointments. Knowing I needed to get on this and make these appointments, I took the reminder card over to my computer and placed it on top of the keyboard knowing that this would act like a reminder for me the next morning when I sat down to begin my day. This visual cue to do something is something I've done all my life, but for some reason noticing what I had just done with the appointment card caused me to really notice all of the ways I remind myself to do things throughout the day. I thought sharing these with my readers might be of benefit -- and if you have trouble remembering to get things done, leaving yourself visual cues might just work for you like it does with me.
First of all I'm a huge post-it person. I use them constantly when I'm working to write myself reminders to make a call, put a date on my calendar, lists of items I need to purchase for my office or even bring with me to an appointment. At any point in time, if you were to look in my office you'd probably see post-it notes on the bottom of my computer screen with notes to remind me of things to get done during the day. I have a friend who uses post-its around her home to remind members of her family to remember items as they walk out the door in the morning and she even leaves herself notes. The back door that leads to her garage is always full of reminders and acts like a family bulletin board. Sometimes she'll even post a little "I love you" note for her children to see as they go off for the day.
Something else I find myself doing constantly is setting up reminders for myself to do something by literally leaving items in my path. That way I'm sure to notice the item in my path and know I will be reminded to get what ever it is done. For example, when I'm planning to take in the cleaning, I will pack it up and either set it on the counter near the back door or even set it on the hood of my car in the garage so that I'll remind myself to bring it with me as I go out to run errands. I also have a countertop in the corner of the kitchen that I keep my purse on and find myself gathering items for my errands in this space. Here I gather things that need to go to the post office, be returned, dropped off, etc. For me, leaving these items next to my handbag is my visual cue the next morning letting me know what needs to be done.
Just this morning I caught myself and my husband leaving ourselves some other visual cues. It was one of those moments that caught me off guard because I really moved through the motion of leaving these cues for myself with little thought. I noticed a prescription was now out, so I put the bottle next to the phone to make sure I called in a new order. Then after I used hand lotion I noticed I was nearly out and left the bottle on my bathroom counter so that I'd be sure to write it down on my list. I laughed when I noticed that the day before I had left out my empty vitamin bottle and that my husband had left out his empty deodorant bottle on his side of the bathroom counter leaving me a visual cue to buy some for him the next time I head to the store. He, of course, claims it was out to remind HIM that he was out!
Being such a visual person it should be no surprise that I find ways to stay organized by using cues that jump out into my line of vision but it is surprising to see just how many I use. What visual cues do you find yourself using?
No comments:
Post a Comment