When one of my vegan friends comes to visit, I serve him coffee with almond milk. Since he’s the only one in my life who drinks almond milk, I like to send the leftover milk home with him, so that it doesn’t go to waste. But inevitably after a good long chat, we say goodbye and dammit, I forget to send the milk home with him. The last time he visited I was determined not to forget. That’s where a banana, taken from the fruit bowl and placed on the floor in the hallway comes into its own. There’s no way you can ignore that reminder. There. Almond milk saved.
Reminders are a wonderful thing. I have them on my phone – alarms and notifications and calendar entries. I have them on my fridge – a prescription to be filled, a receipt from the dry cleaner to prompt collection. I have them by my front door – a stack of books for the library, a bag of clothes for donation, a letter to be posted.
But not all reminders are effective. I know someone with so many audible notifications on their phone that the constant “ping” has become white noise. I know someone else with so many “bills to pay” stuck to the fridge that they have become invisible and missed the payment deadline.
Ultimately, reminders only work if they result in the desired action. As organisers, we need to find the most effective reminders, based on the client’s unique situation. The best reminders come at the right time, grab your attention and make it easy to take the right action.
Here are a few of my favourites:
- The colourful mind map on the wall next to my desk, reminding me of my priorities.
- The weekly notification on my phone to “have an effortless weekend”. It works every time to slow my busy mind and slip into weekend mode.
- The poster on the back of a friend’s toilet door, depicting a large family of rabbits, with the words “don’t forget to take pill”.
What sort of reminders work best for you?
Like this post? Here’s another article about reminders used in an effective way.
