This month, we’re excited to share a guest post from Executive Functioning Success and Seeing My Time founder, Marydee Sklar. Marydee dives into one of the most common executive function challenges and offers practical ways to outsmart your brain’s limits.
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When writing about Executive Functions, my inspiration typically comes from my Seeing My Time private clients. Sharing their insights and experiences can be very helpful for others with time-challenged brains. Our brains love to learn through stories; stories “stick” in people’s minds.
A recent-ish blog, The #1 Executive Functioning Lie We Tell Ourselves, came from a client who had been experimenting as a “Time Scientist.” She tracked how long she thought basic activities would take – like washing the dishes or sending an email – and then recorded how long they actually took.
This client discovered that she kept telling herself tasks would “just take a minute.” Wrong. She timed a lot of things to prove otherwise. The only thing she found that actually took a minute was doing four squats.
Later, at my family dinner table, I shared the story, especially the powerful insight that practically nothing takes just a minute. This, I explained, was the #1 executive function lie we tell ourselves, setting us up for frustration.
I mentioned I was thinking about writing a blog post about this “lie,” and the family agreed it would be a good topic. Then one family member chimed in: “I tell myself a different lie: I tell myself I’ll remember to do something. And then I don’t.”
“Oooh, that would make a great follow-up blog!” I said.
And then I immediately had the next thought: How am I going to NOT forget this idea? I can forget things in the span of five feet.
Do you also tell yourself the “I’ll remember” lie, and then you don’t? Forgetting is very easy to do. Our environments bombard us with constant distractions: new thoughts, ideas, and demands. But only a small amount of what enters our working memory makes it into long-term brain storage.
How to Stop Yourself From Forgetting
Since I can’t personally count on my brain to remember, my strategy is to store those thoughts in an external location. That means I have to write them down.
My favorite place to do that is in my Seeing My Time Adult Planner System. There are a few pages specifically designed for writing down projects and goals. One of those pages is dedicated to blog topic ideas. This works because I know I will continue returning to my planner again and again. It acts as a secondary “hub” outside of my brain.
So that evening at the dinner table, I quickly excused myself, explaining that I needed to write the idea down before I forgot it.
Here are some other places where I record things I don’t want to forget:
- The little “don’t forget” box on my day planning sheet. I use it often throughout the day.
- When out and about, I text myself a message. Once I am home, I transcribe it to my planner.
- If Brainstorming, I write it on a whiteboard.
- When cooking, I jot notes in the margins of cookbooks for next time.
- During planning, I use sticky arrow labels on my weekly or daily plans.
- If scheduling, I set alarms on my phone or devices.
- On the monthly pages of my planner, I track things like when I fertilize the garden.
If you’re someone who falls for the “I won’t forget” lie, give yourself a break and just write it down. But don’t write it just anywhere. Write it in a predetermined location where you know you’ll see it later and be reminded.
It makes life so much easier.
Little by little…
