A friend left something at my house one day. No big deal — except when she realized it, I had left the house and couldn’t go back for a while. So I had to remember to get the item when I got home and put it right by the kitchen door to take when I saw her the next morning. No big deal, right? Ha! It was pretty much guaranteed that wouldn’t happen without some help.

What irritates you? To what will you pay attention without effort? Know what bugs you and leverage it.

In the instance above, I asked someone nearby to text me a reminder. I then ignored the text. For some, that would not work. For me, it worked like a charm. Those notifications BUG me. The little red badges must be addressed. They are turned off for all but a select few apps, forcing me to pay attention to what I value but allowing space to address everything else at the appropriate time. Because I didn’t “read” the text, the notification stayed on my phone until I could take care of it. Yes, all went back where it belonged because I knew what would bug me.

How might this work for you?

• Do you need to trip over stuff? Some people walk around anything without noticing it, so putting something in the car to leave the house works better than by the door. Some of us will take care of what is in front of the door before we walk through it or what is on the table when we sit down.
• Do you listen to input? It may be helpful to have someone verbally remind you. I’ve used children’s memories for last-minute lists in the store. (All that unused real estate…) It needs to be the right person, yes, but asking someone to frequently or specifically ask you a question — or remind you to do something or stop you from feeding a bad habit — can be quite effective.
• Do you read the sticky note on the door? If you can blissfully ignore the neon square and bold marker writing, don’t waste money on those. But if the note-on-the-door trick catches your eye every time, use them up.
• Do alarms keep you on track? Set them. They don’t just work to get up in the morning. Your phone can be a great tool. Even kitchen timers are valuable.