How to trick people into believing you have a good memory
Photo by Emy Girard on Unsplash
TL/DR:
Your task system works like external memory. Only, more reliable.
Maintaining a system takes less time than you think, and that time comes back to you (several times over).
Treat your task system like an engine that moves your day forward, not a cluttered garage of stuff to do.
Update in the moment: do a task, update the task, move onto the next task so that “update my task system” never becomes the task
Become reliable, without relying on memory.
The Whole Shebang:
“You remembered!”, she said sounding pleased and a little surprised, as I handed her the magnets.
“Oh, I didn’t remember, I just added it to my task system”, I said.
“Same thing”, she quipped.
“But, is it?”, I thought.
You see, a few days before we’d been chatting about making ceramic magnets at the pottery studio, and I mentioned I’d bring her some magnets to glue on her pieces, because she didn’t have any, and my tiny order from Amazon (I know, I’m sorry, mea-culpa, but it’s so darn convenient) netted me about 50 extra glue-on-able magnets. And let’s just say, that’s too many magnets for any one person.
In any case, right after I said it, I whipped out my phone and immediately added it to my task system, for the next day I was planning to be at the studio. Because I know myself and I sure as hell know that if I tell someone I’ll do something, and I don’t write it down, well, it’s never happening. And I like to think I’m a woman of my word.
Now, when I just said “task system”, I’m betting you had some sort of gut reaction, and that you probably fall into one of these 2 camps:
You can’t live without your task app or
You’ve had such bad experiences with task apps, you’re willing to risk it by trying to rely on your memory to manage it all
If you find yourself in the first camp, well, I’m preaching to the choir; feel free to stay (and feel both seen and applauded) or go (because you’ve got things to check off your list!).
But if you find yourself in the second camp (where you likely have a graveyard of abandoned task apps on your phone, full of things you didn’t do 5 years ago) will you let me try to shift your perspective?
And before you say it, I’ll say it:
“I’ve tried using a task app in the past, but it was more work than it was worth."
“I tried using a task app, but with all the overhead I was spending updating things, I could have just been DOING the things.”
Have you ever said something like that to yourself?
If so, you wouldn’t be the first.
In fact, I hear both of these statements all.the.time from new coaching clients and when I lead workshops for corporate clients.
Look, I get it.
You’re moving fast, you’ve got more to do than you have time to do, and the emails and Slack messages wait for no one.
But I’m gonna argue 2 things:
Maintaining your system is a lot less work than you think.
Any time you put into maintaining your system will come back to you…in spades.
Unfortunately, there is no such thing as a system that maintains itself. (Not task apps, not physical organization systems, not engines, nada!)
And yes, even those fancy AI powered task apps still require input from your human brain.
But if you start thinking of your task system as fine-tuned engine that moves your day forward and makes sure you are also a “person of your word”, and stop thinking of it as a cluttered garage full of things to do, you’ll spend less time updating, your system will never get stale (meaning that you won’t be too afraid to open it for fear of seeing all the “overdue” items with their scary red exclamation marks) and you’ll feel a whole lot more in control of your time.
So, how do you turn your task system into a “reliable memory machine”?
It’s actually simpler than you might imagine:
Make sure it’s thorough, and contains everything you need to do. (This way you don’t have multiple to-do lists making it hard to prioritize)
Ensure that every task has a small, clear “next action” (to help you avoid procrastination)
Co-opt the “due date” field to mean “do date” so you can sort your system by when you need to take action (instead of by when something is ultimately due, so you have a whole lot less mental math to do)
Make it easy to access (therefore reducing friction related to using it)
Add the app to your phone’s home screen
Keep the window open on your computer all the time
Install every integration that makes sense (email, Calendar, Slack, Teams, etc.)
Start your day with your task app and keep it open all day (instead of checking at the end of the day to see what you did, and what you didn't, and realizing more of it falls in the latter camp). Evaluate new tasks against your plan as the day goes on.
As you complete a next action, update the task accordingly, in the moment. Think to yourself: “do a task, update the task, move onto the next task”
When you start thinking of your task system as an engine rather than a repository, good things happen.
In addition to getting that nice little dopamine hit every time you check off a task, or a next action, and move it forward, you also get a boost from seeing your “today” list getting shorter as the day goes on, and you have the added benefit of not having to “update your task list” later, (which, let’s face it, you weren’t likely to do anyway).
You save tons of time overall because it’s a lot faster to document what you are doing when you’ve just done it vs. waiting until later when you’ll need to think about it again (Did you really send that email? Or is it still in drafts?).
AND, last but not least, you’ll trick people into thinking that you have an amazing memory, or, rather, you’ll simply become the most accountable version of yourself. The one who always does what you say you will when you say you will. And that feels really good.
And, if you’re not yet using a task system/app, but have a sneaking suspicion that using one might help you to do more and stress less, well, there are 4 ways we can work together:
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