…is that you have to remember to read them!
Of late I’ve missed a couple of events because I (ahem) forgot them. They were written down on the calendar, all right. I just neglected to look at the calendar that hangs on a wall in my office.
I used to have Google or iCalendar send me those pesky daily reminders. Didn’t take long for me to learn to erase those things from notice. Eventually quit posting appointments & tasks, because the nagging emails were always such a low priority in the foggy universe that is my attention span. And because they annoyed. I came to hate them.
For someone who grew up in the world of analog writing, a physical calendar with a pretty picture to decorate the wall and pretty little squares in which to scribble reminders works a lot better. It does not nag you. It sits there looking handsome and suggesting, quietly, that you take responsibility to look at the damn calendar yourself. In fact, I just bought a 2015 calendar (“Folk Art”: Costco impulse buy).
But now that I’m old, I’ve also come to understand that unless a Note to Self is taped to the kitchen door, where I’ll see it on the way out to the garage, there’s a very good chance I will. not. remember. That’s because I’ll forget to look at the pretty calendar…
On the kitchen door, eh?
So yesterday I ran by Staples and picked up one of those erasable whiteboards with a generic month painted on it. Yup. And stuck it on the door smack-dab at eye level, where I’ll be forced to LOOK AT IT as I fly out the door.
Now we’ll see how long it takes me to learn to space that, too…
Never, I hope: To avoid that, I’m only entering the most important things that are crucial to remember and unusual events that are so far off-routine that they could be easy to forget. All of the rest of the stuff goes on the paper calendar in the office.
This could be the answer to a growing problem. At a certain point, you can write yourself reminders, but it’s no joke to say you may very well forget to read the reminders. With a calendar right in my face, unavoidably, maybe I’ll notice what I’m supposed to be doing before it’s too late.
Oh Funny,
I have a pretty pictures calendar on the end of my kitchen cabinets – the pictures are covered by our clock. I have the birthdays of sisters in law, brothers in law, neices, nephews all written on this calendar. It faces the stairs from our bedroom. I know the dates are marked – I occassionaly look at them, but never in time to send a card LOL.
I like your idea, but I’m pretty sure my husband would take it down and suggest I just use what I already have LOL!
There are advantages to living alone.
Heh heh! My sister-in-sin found these long, narrow calendars that seem to be designed to list people’s birthdays and other significant recurring dates. I think each page is either a month or a week. She fills in a year’s worth, come January, and then — get this!!! — she posts it in the bathroom, right next to the throne. When you’re sitting there, you can’t miss it! 😀
When I was in school, I had my day planner, and EVERYTHING was in the day planner. After graduating, I tried for a few years to continue to use a day planner, but it just didn’t work very well – and I tried a desk calendar, and that didn’t work.
Ultimately what I found worked for me, was putting things into my phone’s calendar, and having it BEEP at me. Even when my cell phone was just a phone, it had enough of a calendar to do the job – and now with my smart phone, it’s connected to my calendar in my email – so now my phone just tells me what to do, and when to do it 🙂
I used to have one of those, too. Same experience: in the real world, it didn’t seem to do the job.
Personally, I just loathe being beeped at or spoken to by a machine. That’s why the e-mail calendar was a FAIL for me: too annoying.
But judging by today, this new scheme seems to be working. There’s room on there for the To-Do list, which means the To-Do’s are not on a scrap of paper that’s bound to get itself lost. A lot got done today, and I didn’t forget anything. Uhm…that I can recall, anyway… 😉
I know exactly what you’re talking about! I find that what works best for me is writing what needs to be done that day on a whiteboard. I love to mark through the tasks as I complete them, then erase them at the end of the day. For everything else, I use my trusty 4″ by 6″ notebook which stays in my purse.
I’ve used the notebooks since I was teenager. I also hate to be beeped at and nagged by technology, so as long as they make paper notebooks, I’ll be using them.