What Did You Forget Today? 🤔
Forgetting is overlooked when we think about behavioral change. Simple things like voting in elections or taking medication are easy efforts but often get neglected due to forgetting.
How bad is forgetting? On average, adults forget four things per day.
Forgetting to do things is a combination of a busy life and limited memory.
The obvious solution is to set a reminder on your phone or watch. My experience with this solution has been poor. 8 out of 10 times, I ignore the alert and go about my business.
It is counter-intuitive. I set an alert with the intention of doing that thing when it's time but then don't. It's more evidence of the behavioral intentional gap. What I say I will do and what I actually do are not in sync.
I've written about friction as a culprit. If it's difficult, remembering isn't going to make me do it.
But what if it's easy? Lately, I have been forgetting to track my weight. I do this daily. Get on a scale. Input my weight and body fat % into a spreadsheet. It takes 2 minutes.
I want to be consistent though. Getting on the scale around the same time before my first meal. Often, I'll remember later at night and be annoyed at myself for not remembering.
The solution to forgetfulness isn't remembering. It's planning.
Plans have to be thought out. Plans make you commit. And the best plans are cue-based. Use time/place/how to turn vague actions into clear actions. Another form of a cue-based plan is doing it after an established habit you already have.
I've talked about this before but there is one more ingredient to make cue-based plans better. Finding the right time.
Cue-based plans work better when you set them up during structured parts of your day. They shouldn't be running into conflicts with other plans. A study on medication adherence showed mornings were the best time. Since mornings are often predictable and less busy.
This is why I meditate first thing in morning. It's not because I am a morning person. I've experimented with it later in the day. Work starts and other things crowd my mind. Forgetting occurs not because of memory but conflict.
Of course, the lesson isn't favoring mornings over the afternoon/evening. Personalization is essential. It's about finding quiet time for behavioral change.
TL;DR: Remedy forgetfulness with cue-based plans that are executed during less hectic parts of your day.
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As always, thank you for reading.
Irfan
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