Comment by gleenn
2 years ago
I love physical algorithms and data structures in every day life. My little computer science brain is simple but if I can remember small tricks, particularly with the arrangement of everyday things, I find joy somehow. A couple of my favorites are like if I need to remember to do something in the groggy morning, I put either my wallet or keys wrapped around something weird. When I awaken and go to find those items, I am awoken to the specific thing to remember to do or bring. I never forget my wallet (very fortunately for me), so if I find a large paper or pen or something very odd in the fold which would absolutely never belong there under normal circumstances, then it triggers the reminder. It also helps that I usually just forget the memory /trigger/, not the actual memory of what to donor bring. Another simple one is I rotate a couple supplements. How do I recall which to take? I stack them. I always put the one I /should/ take next on top. The way I remember this is I fall back to a base case: say I forget my little trick, well, I tell myself to grab the top one. So either I remember my trick, or I do the simple thing and just grab the top one. Either way I have at least made it through today with the correct one. Then I put it on the bottom and am primed for being forgetful tomorrow. I am still working on arranging shirts in a fifo queue in my closet on the rack. Or more clever, I put it back on the top and treat the rack as sort of a heap data structure, things worn recently are always to the left. If I want to wear it not so much, I put it deeper down the line. Then when searching I always start from the top (left for me) and know I probably wore a lot of these items recently. This also helps because I tend to wear only a fraction of my shirts, usually my favorites. Again, they are towards the left so they are easier to find.
I put things in my shoes. Then I remember when it’s time to leave!
When I sleep in unfamiliar surroundings, I always put my loose items, watch, ring, sunglasses, wallet, phone (called EDC these days?) in my shoes. That way I'm guaranteed to not misplace them and forget them the next morning.
I think I also do most of these. Clothes in FIFO queues, except I have three queues for T-shirts, for best, decent, and doing housework quality. Stick a post-it note on my glasses or shoes to remind me to do something. Or use a weird item to jog my memory if I don't have a post-it to hand. Leave medication out on the bathroom sink if I need to use it the next morning. Leave the bedroom wastepaperbasket on the bed if the bins need to go out later. And the takeoff points someone else suggested - things to go downstairs pile up at the top of the stairs, things to go to he kitchen pile up on the cupboard by the kitchen door, etc.
On clothes, I suggest a FIFO order, then occasionally garbage collect from the out end to identify clothes you haven't worn in a long time and keep skipping over when it's time to dress. Get rid of them or move them into cold storage.
> A couple of my favorites are like if I need to remember to do something in the groggy morning, I put either my wallet or keys wrapped around something weird. When I awaken and go to find those items, I am awoken to the specific thing to remember to do or bring.
Oh man I love this technique. I use it all the time. One morning when I was running late and had to fly out the door or else miss the bus, I threw the toothbrush I just finished using in the middle of the floor in front of the door as I ran through through the room. Got home 10 hours later and "why TF is my toothbrush in the middle of the living room? ... Oh yeah I need to pay the eye doctor bill." Works great, I love it.