Last Place You Looked

I have absolutely terrible “object memory.” I have a pretty bad memory in general, and my whole life I’ve built systems to not rely on it as much as possible.

I am very fastidious. I keep excellent notes and a very well-organized calendar. Those are helpful with a lot of tasks, but it’s not exactly practical when it comes to where I put my keys. (Although I am one of those people that takes a picture of my parking spot and the nearest marker whenever I park in a lot or garage, and that helps tremendously.)

When it comes to physical objects, especially the small kind that frequently change location in the course of normal use like the scissors, my wallet, or the remote, the only system that’s worked for me is to be an absolute maniac about always putting them in the exact same spot every time they leave my hand. I have dedicated places for everything I own, and they only go in that spot if I’m not actively holding them.

For a glimpse of how severe this problem is for me: One time I looked for my keys for almost an hour before finding them three inches to the left of the dedicated key tray. They were on the same surface! They were in plain sight! But as soon as they weren’t in the key tray, I couldn’t even remember the last time I’d touched them.

Another trick my father taught me that’s very helpful for unusual circumstances, such as remembering to lock your door before going on a long trip or needing to put things down while you’re away from whatever your “key tray” is: At the moment you do the thing you want to remember, also do something wildly silly, like hop on one foot while going “bippity boppity boo” and sticking your tongue out. It’s absurd, but you will remember that you did that, I promise you, and the memory will most likely also contain the details you need to recall later.

Memory is one of the least reliable subroutines of the human brain’s operating system. I know mine is especially terrible, but everyone’s is a little bit terrible. To the extent that you can, form habits instead; those tend to sustain much more durably.