/1. Use one of the writing utensils in my pocket to write on a post-it note (also in my pocket) “door locked”. (I always keep three pens/pencils in my pocket and a small stack of post-it notes to write myself reminders, etc.)
/2. “Cool, that sounds really interesting...let me write down the title so that I don’t forget.” ->write on post-it note and slip back into pocket. (Of, if you don’t want to interrupt the convo, just remember it until the end and write it down then.)
/3. There’s an obnoxious alarm that goes off in my dorm if someone keeps a door open too long, so someone’s put up a sign that says “Shut the door FULLY”, but it looks like “FLILLY” and greatly amuses me. In this case, I might copy “Shut the door FLILLY” onto an 8.5x11 and tape it to the fridge. (Because why not associate a positive emotion with a reminder?)
/4. Pull out my phone, etc and just get a list of directions from google maps that I can keep with me. If that fails, write down reminders to myself while talking to the local (and clarify/double check my interpretation to make sure that it’s accurate.) Make sure that I know the general direction, etc, not just the roads. (But seriously, Google maps.)
/5. I’d look at this. Also, I’d make sure that I understood each ingredient of the speech, why it was where I placed it, and what purpose it served. Maximize the number of mental interconnections between the various components that you’re trying to remember—the more sense that structure makes, the better I think I’d remember it.
/6. Look at the first five digits, try to remember them (say them out loud while trying to remember, because multiple sensory inputs are good.). Look away from the paper, say the digits out loud. If you got it right, repeat for the first six digits. If you got it wrong, do the first five digits again (and again after that to make sure they stick) before moving to the sixth. After you get the sixth, try remembering the first seven digits, and so on until you get to the whole thing. But honestly, this is too much micro-optimization for my taste. Not much time is wasted by just looking at the card for a couple of weeks.
/7. Use post it notes. I don’t have a less obtrusive solution for ideas that you have while in bed—if they’re important enough, I get up and write a post-it.
/8. Who are the main people that you want to keep in touch with? Why? How can you help them? How can they help you? Try to really grok what you’re trying to do there, and why you care about connecting with each of the people. Then create Google contact entries for each, containing their name, a photo (found on the web), and brief answers to the above questions/reminders in the “notes” section. On a related note, I have trouble remembering name-face connections, so I keep many Google contacts entries and sort them into groups. Before I go to an event where I’m likely to see people in a group, I browse the contacts under that group to remind me of names and faces.
/1. Use one of the writing utensils in my pocket to write on a post-it note (also in my pocket) “door locked”. (I always keep three pens/pencils in my pocket and a small stack of post-it notes to write myself reminders, etc.)
/2. “Cool, that sounds really interesting...let me write down the title so that I don’t forget.” ->write on post-it note and slip back into pocket. (Of, if you don’t want to interrupt the convo, just remember it until the end and write it down then.)
/3. There’s an obnoxious alarm that goes off in my dorm if someone keeps a door open too long, so someone’s put up a sign that says “Shut the door FULLY”, but it looks like “FLILLY” and greatly amuses me. In this case, I might copy “Shut the door FLILLY” onto an 8.5x11 and tape it to the fridge. (Because why not associate a positive emotion with a reminder?)
/4. Pull out my phone, etc and just get a list of directions from google maps that I can keep with me. If that fails, write down reminders to myself while talking to the local (and clarify/double check my interpretation to make sure that it’s accurate.) Make sure that I know the general direction, etc, not just the roads. (But seriously, Google maps.)
/5. I’d look at this. Also, I’d make sure that I understood each ingredient of the speech, why it was where I placed it, and what purpose it served. Maximize the number of mental interconnections between the various components that you’re trying to remember—the more sense that structure makes, the better I think I’d remember it.
/6. Look at the first five digits, try to remember them (say them out loud while trying to remember, because multiple sensory inputs are good.). Look away from the paper, say the digits out loud. If you got it right, repeat for the first six digits. If you got it wrong, do the first five digits again (and again after that to make sure they stick) before moving to the sixth. After you get the sixth, try remembering the first seven digits, and so on until you get to the whole thing. But honestly, this is too much micro-optimization for my taste. Not much time is wasted by just looking at the card for a couple of weeks.
/7. Use post it notes. I don’t have a less obtrusive solution for ideas that you have while in bed—if they’re important enough, I get up and write a post-it.
/8. Who are the main people that you want to keep in touch with? Why? How can you help them? How can they help you? Try to really grok what you’re trying to do there, and why you care about connecting with each of the people. Then create Google contact entries for each, containing their name, a photo (found on the web), and brief answers to the above questions/reminders in the “notes” section. On a related note, I have trouble remembering name-face connections, so I keep many Google contacts entries and sort them into groups. Before I go to an event where I’m likely to see people in a group, I browse the contacts under that group to remind me of names and faces.