My mind plays tricks on me

I'm not sure why this happens but I know it's not just me that goes through this.  I know the lyrics to about 80% of the 80's music yet can't remember if I brushed my teeth.  It's like my memory is purging all information that it deems unnecessary.  And why 80's music is not  a shock; I love 80's music. I could play it all day. Which I did when I had satellite radio. I think I had XM satellite about 3 years and I think I changed the station from the 80's on 8 to another stations a handful of times.  And the channel I went to was Christmas music and so that tells you how often I changed.

I had to give up XM because I wasn't branching out to any other music genres.  I think my memory of the 80's music was because I tend to remember stuff put to music. I just absorb it better then written or reading learning.  And I love to listen to music because I love the stories music tells.

You see what happened there?  I forgot the reason for the post and just kind of went in a different direction.  I hate that that happens more often then I'd like.  It happens mostly at work so I look like an idiot when I struggle to answer a question because I either don't remember the conversation or I completely forget to do what it was I was asked to do.

And I try to write things down but I then forget to check my notebook.  I have to put things on my calendar so I can remember to do something but that's only as good as me remembering to put it on the calendar in the first place. So, setting a reminder on my calendar for me to just remind myself if there is something I should be doing.  That seems like overkill but I don't think that is a bad idea or at the least, a good place to start.

Maybe I need to find my own virtual tie a string around my finger. Once I get it in my calendar I'm golden.  I can set reminder alarms and that helps me get it back in my mind and can address. I just need to find a solution that involves figuring out how to remind me to put my notes in the calendar....maybe a reminder every day to put reminders in?  Spend an hour or two each day just going through my notes and see what I have to do.  That's probably going to take more time then necessary but it takes 21 days to  change or create a habit, right?  And it would be nice to have a system that works. Just about everything else in my life is run on spit and shoestrings, why not a cobbled together organizational process.

I haven't exhausted the options for memory enhancements, I haven't done hypnosis or visual cues.  Not that I'm opposed to them but a $1.00 notebook sounds a little more feasible to me.  And it shouldn't take very long to get something in place and just be consistent with it for a month, just to see if I can change a behavior. It does take motivation on my part to follow through but I suck at follow through and consistency.


So maybe that is what I start off with on the calendar.  Remind myself to be consistent, even if that means dismiss the siren on the phone - not snooze.  And as I get better with being consistent, I then start putting things on the calendar to remind me to actually put action items on my calendar and then move my way up to no longer needing the calendar alarm system; I've been able to start working on projects without reminders.  I'm not holding out hope that I'll be perfect but I think I can improve enough to make less work for myself.

OK, see...I kind of like the song albeit it's got a potty mouth.  But it's the video that won me over....My Mind is Playing Tricks on Me by Geto Boys