Community Chat

[jlkz]

How often have you said "I won't forget this: it's important"?  Well, long ago I found too much happens and time clouds the memory.  Today I did a paper update.

I started a loose leaf section behind my desk calendar and jot down whenever something important occurs:  beside the month and day, I briefly note the item, e.g., new garage door, shingles vaccine, vacation, accident, death, graduation, new car, etc.

It's amazing how much has happened since I started it in the 80's.  It has also resolved arguments:  we got the ___ installed in 1993, we gave parents 50th party in ...Etc.

Doesn't have to be fancy: just make a note.  In the future, you will be glad you did it.

[silkyk]

DH set us up with a family log book on the computer and we write down everything that is important when it happens. Things you might want to check on later for the date. It sure solves a lot of arguments and mysteries. Look in the log.

[jlkz]

I type up my annual logs on the computer.  It is good to have a paper backup just in case that computer acts up and destroys your data.

I always advised my career career counseling clients to do the same.  Same goes for anything that you don't want to lose.  I keep certain things in our safe deposit box.

[sidsmom]

I used to keep extensive logs for my work in customer service.

If one of my managers would ask,

'Sounds familiar...didn't this customer call about this exact same thing 4 yrs ago?.'  I would walk over to my master ID file, find the notebook, flip to the page...boom!   The look on their face was amazement!  They loved me.

Electronic records have their place, but there's something about the written format which really works.  Don't know why...just does. 

[millieshops]

@sidsmomFor me, writing something down in my own hand seems to stick better in my memory.  Probably because that was my only choice for so very many years before computers became ubitquitous.

[chrystaltree]

.....I am speechless.  I don't have a great memory, I never did.  But I'm organized and a smart enough to know what is important and what is not.  I don't have to remember every thing that transpires in my life....lol.  I don't need to know when I purchased my microwave, I just need to know that the warranty  with the sales slip attached, is in the trunk where  I keep those things.  Smart phones, tablets etc help me stay organized and the information I need is always a few taps away.  I was late to the cell phone party, I was one of the last people I know to own a tablet.  I hung onto that leather planner that held my life for longer than necessary.  I am not a technology driven person.  But embracing just a little of it has benefited me greatly.  

[silkyk]

This reminds me of once years ago we were at a restaurant and the fella sitting next to us was writing away and anyway he told us he wrote down everything he did every day and the time he did it. I asked him why and he said "in case I need an alibi".

[brewhaha]

It didn't help me. I put my log in the fireplace.

[jlkz]

@brewhaha

Great...but did you light the log?   Too late to "spark" your memory. ( lol )

[jlkz]

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@millieshops wrote:

@sidsmomFor me, writing something down in my own hand seems to stick better in my memory.  Probably because that was my only choice for so very many years before computers became ubitquitous.

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You remember what you wrote better because you have used a physical sense, I.e., the writing it out.

Adults learn and remember better the more physical senses they use in the first place.