Your apps can be real forget-me-nots
I’ve been a chronic forgetter for as long as I can remember.
For decades, I’ve been telling my family and friends that I forget pretty much everything unless I write it down. If you didn’t see me write it on my to-do list or calendar, I would say, it had already been forgotten.
I had a system, though. I never left home without a pen and pad in my pocket. When I got back, one of the first things I did was transfer anything I’d written on my pad to my to-do list or calendar, which were oldschool, made out of paper and a fixture on my desk.
It wasn’t until a few years ago I felt Apple’s digital tools were ubiquitous and reliable enough to replace my paper-based list and calendar.
In the beginning, I tried adding everything I wanted to remember to a bunch of different calendars in iCal (now known as Calendar). But with literally hundreds of items on my to-do list, and dozens of time-based items already on my calendars, it quickly became overwhelming. I tried color-coding, selectively disabling and enabling calendars, and more. But the system always felt imposing and out-of-control.
Along the way I’ve tried many Mac and iOS apps purported to organize thoughts and ideas, including OmniFocus, Things and many others. While many users find tools like these useful, I found myself spending far too much time organizing and rearranging my things, and far too little time actually doing them.
After years (decades?) of research, I’ve finally put together a system that checks all of the boxes for me. It’s easy to manage, use and share. It’s always available and, best of all, there’s nothing new to buy or learn. My system uses only apps and services already installed on your Mac and iDevices, namely the Calendar and Reminders apps and Siri.
Here’s how it works: When I need to remember something, I merely ask Siri (on my Mac, iPhone or Apple Watch) to remind me of that thing at a specific time and date.
The item is recorded on my default Reminders list and I am reminded (with an onscreen alert and sound) at the appropriate date and time.
Since I’m never far from one of my Apple devices, my reminders are almost never forgotten or ignored.
Finally, there’s one more trick I use to help me remember things at the right time: Location-based reminders.
For example, I’ve got the address of my local grocery stores (all H-E-B) in my Contacts. So, I merely say, “Hey Siri. Remind me to get some milk when I’m near H-E-B,” and the next time I’m near an H-E-B, I’ll get an alert on my phone or watch saying, “Get some milk.”
I’d love to see a paperbased to-do list do that.