Making critical items unforgettable

Something may be important, but that doesn’t guarantee we’ll remember it. 

Sometimes the most critical items fall through the cracks in our process and thinking.  

Anniversaries, medication, promises – all easy to agree to and easy to forget. 

If we want to ensure that these things are never forgotten, then we need to build them into the critical path of an everyday process. Tether them to something that’s never forgotten. 

Putting medication on top of house keys, creating multiple calendar reminders that appear in different channels, noting commitments next to more frequently reviewed items. 

The trick is for us to spot that something is critical the moment it arises and treat it with the appropriate respect by tying it to something important. 

Items put in the bottom drawer (actual or metaphorical) are likely to stay there until you clean the drawer out. 

For critical items, we need to build them into the system so they become unforgettable.