Whenever I left home after making a cooked breakfast, I would worry that I’d left the gas on. I’d always have to go back and check, but of course the burner was off. I’ve fixed this by noticing that I have noticed that I’ve turned off the gas. Is there a common name for this pattern?
One technique I read somewhere is doing something unusual (like reciting a line from a song or rubbing both ears) while you do the thing you’ll want to remember, so that you’ll only need to ask yourself “Did I rub my ears?” instead of “Did I turn off the stove?”
I don’t know if there is a name for this, but I’ve heard of people who take a time-stamped picture of the stove just before they leave, to help them cope with an OCD symptom like that. It is somewhat better than the old approach of carrying an iron with you to avoid worrying whether you turned it off :)
Whenever I left home after making a cooked breakfast, I would worry that I’d left the gas on. I’d always have to go back and check, but of course the burner was off. I’ve fixed this by noticing that I have noticed that I’ve turned off the gas. Is there a common name for this pattern?
One technique I read somewhere is doing something unusual (like reciting a line from a song or rubbing both ears) while you do the thing you’ll want to remember, so that you’ll only need to ask yourself “Did I rub my ears?” instead of “Did I turn off the stove?”
I don’t know if there is a name for this, but I’ve heard of people who take a time-stamped picture of the stove just before they leave, to help them cope with an OCD symptom like that. It is somewhat better than the old approach of carrying an iron with you to avoid worrying whether you turned it off :)
Thankfully I don’t have anything like that. Mentally telling myself “yes, I see that I’ve turned off the stove” is sufficient.