Tricks to Counter the Absent Mind

[Sytze]

Then my suspicions were right.

[Luis Antonio]

See, you're not that absent minded

[Darth Zenemij]

Yeah that stupid ball thing that goes black or red when you have forgotten something.I still remember that,how odd!I once forgot who my girlfriend was and called her the name of my Ex!!!.(odd as this may sound)We were sleeping and I got into a real deep sleep and was in a good mood,Usually I tend to forget things if I am in a good mood,So I go to the bath room to pee,Go back twards the bed,get under the covers and said,"How are you today Hiena"?...My girlfriends name is cassandra...She got pissed as hell!...But there are numerous things that I have forgotten,But that one is the most,Embarissing Hilarious and non-forgettable moments.

[Xandax]

Luckily I never forget my keys.... now my cellphone I often almost forget at work. And the trick of connecting it with keys wouldn't work for me anyways, because my phone is on "silenced" so it dosen't annoy me when people call ... so wouldn't be able to call it and find out where it is located

My problem is that I seemingly is loosing the ability to speak plainly these days and more and more giberish and half finished sentences, is comming out of my mouth when trying to communicate with co-workers...... dang it, why can't they read my mind instead would make it much easier....oh - scratch that

[Magrus]

Originally Posted by Darth Zenemij

Yeah that stupid ball thing that goes black or red when you have forgotten something.I still remember that,how odd!I once forgot who my girlfriend was and called her the name of my Ex!!!.(odd as this may sound)We were sleeping and I got into a real deep sleep and was in a good mood,Usually I tend to forget things if I am in a good mood,So I go to the bath room to pee,Go back twards the bed,get under the covers and said,"How are you today Hiena"?...My girlfriends name is cassandra...She got pissed as hell!...But there are numerous things that I have forgotten,But that one is the most,Embarissing Hilarious and non-forgettable moments.

I had that problem when I was oh, 15 or so. I was irritated by all the childish games my peers were playing as couples and ranted about it and someone bet me I couldn't get a girlfriend. I bet him I could could get more than one, and did, five. Keeping there names straight got me into all sorts of trouble. Pet names work wonders though. Also, never, ever attempting that again. Too much stress, luckily they didn't decide to kill me too.

[Georgi]

Originally Posted by Gwalchmai

I rely on habit for most things. Keys and wallet are always in the same pocket. When I change pants they get transferred immediately. Phone goes next on the counter next to the charger. If anything has to be taken to work the next day, it goes next to the phone.

Yeah, I generally have a routine for things - my keys/wallet/phone are mostly where I always put them. The thing I forget most often is if I've left my phone in the bedroom charging.

Originally Posted by Luis Antonio

I dont forget in wich places I put objects on, but I have a memory problem with my tasks. So I need to keep an agenda and a schedule always by my side, or I'll soon be completely lost.

Its terrible.

I'm sure being distracted by spam all the time helps immensely.

[Macleod1701]

I tend to right notes on myself, some days I manage to cover my whole arm in little notes........and sometimes still manage to forget things

[frogus23]

Originally Posted by dragon wench

So.. finally, I decided to attach them to my cell phone.

I'm afraid to say this is a follproof plan to lose your keys & phone at the same time

I also lose everything - forks end up in my pockets, my keys in the oven, gloves in somebody else's oven, glasses cellotaped to the inside of a cake tin where I thought they'd be obvious...

Th easiest way to cope is to fry your memory with solvent abuse until not only do you lose everything, but you forget what you lost soon after losing it This way you get to figure out what you really need in life and what you take for granted - you will be pleasantly surprised how many essentials you can live happily without if you've forgotten you ever had them!

EDIT - this also maked cleaning easier. You throw away everything on the floor, regardless of whether it's your keys, wedding ring, skull of Jesus Christ etc. This saves the distress of being reminded how awful your memory is.

[Georgi]

Originally Posted by Macleod1701

I tend to right notes on myself, some days I manage to cover my whole arm in little notes........and sometimes still manage to forget things

Oh, I do that too. Maybe not to that extent, but hey, you can't lose a note if it's written on your hand. Unless you wash it off.

[Magrus]

Originally Posted by frogus23

EDIT - this also maked cleaning easier. You throw away everything on the floor, regardless of whether it's your keys, wedding ring, skull of Jesus Christ etc. This saves the distress of being reminded how awful your memory is.

So YOU have his skull then. I've been wondering where I could find it.

[jopperm2]

@DW, my wife always loses her keys too! I think I'll try the whole cell phone thing with her. She can't lose that, with it glued to her head an all.

@Gwally. I'm like you. I use habit to keep things in order. my left pockt has my keys, my right has my money, inhaler, and miscellaneus items, right back pocket has checkbook and notes, left back poket has wallet. My wife is always borrowing stuff like my keys and putting them back in the wrong pockets, drives me nuts.

[dragon wench]

lol! Glad to see I'm not the only one here with a faulty memory Actually, it isn't even a case of bad memory necessarily, it's more that a lot of the time I'm on autopilot and not actually paying much attention to what I'm doing, which means I'll absently place things like keys into various pockets etc. without being fully aware of what I'm doing

@
Frogus, lol! Thing is, I have yet to lose my cell phone, probably because it is too big to just absently stuff somewhere, well bigger than my keys anyway.

@Gwally,
you know, maybe kids just have much better powers of memory and observation than adults do because I've noticed much the same thing with my son..
Regarding your wife and the remote control, I'd be willing to bet it is some sort of female conspiracy

@Jopperm.
well I find the key/phone trick works very well. It also ensures I have my phone with me when I go out. One of my SO's pet peaves was that I never actually carried it on me, so this is a sort of symbiotic solution

One of my worse encounters with being absent-minded occurred quite recently. Next Tuesday I'm flying down to Texas with my son for ten days. Well, last week it occurred to me that it might be a plan to locate my passport....as well as my son's birth certificate... So.. I began to search..
One of the first places I looked was my knapsack which I keep in the bedroom. That meant basically dumping its contents onto the bed... and I *thought* I had been fairly thorough in checking through it all.
Next, I looked through various drawers... no luck there either. I was beginning to panic by this point, especially since I had not come across the birth certificate either (would have been required in the event that I needed to have a new passport rushed)...
Then I went to check all of the files and folders near my desk... still nothing..
In desperation, I went through the crap from the backpack once more.... and I found the birth certificate. I breathed a huge sigh of relief because at least it would have provided an alternative...
I looked some more, still no passport

When my SO got home, he helped me... the very last place he looked was in a small bag I sometimes use... It was in there...
I placed the documents somewhere safe and made a note of where I put them by writing up a short Word document and leaving it on my Desktop

[jopperm2]

I have a safe bolted to the wall in my bedroom that requires a key and combonation. that's where i keep my passprt and birth certificate. It's hard to get a new passport in the us if you lose it. At least with any expediency.

[Magrus]

I've started making documents on my desktop for things I need to recall. My phonebook is copied there, if I lose the little book, it's on my desktop.

[C Elegans]

Originally Posted by frogus23

I'm afraid to say this is a follproof plan to lose your keys & phone at the same time

Exactly - when I was at uni I tried a combination system and ended up loosing everything instead, including keys, money and credit cards.

My mind is highly selective in what I loose and what I forget. I never forget I have an experiment at a certain time. I never forget the 28467529 things that are concering my research. I will however constantly forget mundane things such as where my keys are located or whether I paid that bill or not. Luckily, I have the best of coping strategies: my husband and Dottie

In the old days, I used to call home and leave myself reminder messages on my own answering machine. Nowadays I set my mobile on alarm and I send e-mails or ICQ messages between home and the lab. I have given up on notes long ago, I either don't see them or I loose them.