I have so many notes in my notes app, it's hard to find the notes i write down because there's so many. So.....
this post was submitted on 17 Nov 2025
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That's why I usually write notes in repeating alarms. The sound annoyance forces me to deal with them before they become too much. Either that or I directly write an event on the calendar.
If anything I only have light ADHD but I live by alarms.
I just keep rescheduling the calendar reminders because they always come up when I'm already doing something else.
This. It never works for me. They always happen at an inopportune time and I just swipe it away. 10 seconds later I forget I even swiped away something, so I don't even get to reschedule it.
If I stop to reschedule it, I lose my flow of whatever else I was doing and then that doesn't get done because the momentum is gone.
Also if you don't remember you wrote it in your notes app, how will you remember to look at the notes in time 🙈
You just make it a habit to always check your notes app either way. Just like you try to make it a habit to write notes even if it's minor.
It's always fun to see everything I was supposed to remember when I open the notes to remember something new
so real
Several times in my office notes i write something partially during a meeting, and end up blanking out later on what I meant to finish it with
My Notepad++ has 32 tabs open with notes, some I don't even remember what they're for.
I had too many notepad++ tabs, so I let the autism drive and organized them into a smaller number around general topics, like "work notes" and "reminders". But then it was too much of a pain to figure out which file I should choose in the moment, so I'd use an unnamed tab at the end to collect those hasty notes that I could go back and sort later when it was less immediate. Then the unnamed tab started to get long and unwieldy so I added a second unnamed tab.
I am up to seven unnamed tabs.
Even just the act of writing something down helps solidify it in your memory.
Also, since you have those tabs, you can just... flip through them and check. Then close out anything that's unimportant or past its usefulness. Its not like this information is "forgotten". You're just choosing not to look at it, for whatever reason.
This is one of the things that smart phones have done for me.
I may not remember I wrote it down, but I will remember where because it's in the notes app on my smart phone.
That being said, this obvious still doesn't really solve anything if I don't even remember there was something to be written down.
And it creates a brand new problem if I do remember because then I get caught up scrolling through notes trying to figure out what they mean, if I still need them, and lamenting that I didn't remember to check notes for these other things back then.
One white legal pad next to my desk, one pocket notebook and travel pen in my pocket. Have a thought or idea, write it down. Every Saturday I type all those notes into a running Google doc for the year and then put a check mark next to it on the paper.
I have a doc for every year. I regularly go back and read though them starting with the most current year and working back. If something is completed or used in a project I use the mark through function on that entry so it can still be read in case it could be helpful again but to signify that I've used it.
It's not a perfect system but it's helped me a ton.
Bold of you to assume I thought of having something to take notes on handy when I need to take notes....
I have a notebook at home and a pen. These two things are somehow never at the same place and time.
I have a notebook in my car, specifically for writing down things when I’m out driving somewhere.
Sometimes I spend so long trying to find it under all the rest of the crap in my car, that when I finally get down to writing, I’m lucky if I can recall the thought at all.
Never leave the kitchen while cooking, unless you want to eat charcoal or burn down your house. Especially if your laptop or TV is on, or to check your phone.
i set timers when i leave. usually like "simmer for 30 minutes". actually also when i stay, i don't know how long is 1-2 minutes (has it been 20 seconds or 5 minutes??)
but it also help that my place is small enough that i can see or hear the stove from everywhere lol
This is why I carry a pen and little pocket notebook. And I keep all my pocket stuff in the same place every night before bed. Can't (usually) lose anything that way
yup. Everything i own has a specific place it goes, and it doesn't go anywhere else, or i will never see it again
I have a super power. If I was paying attention and not just in my own head ignoring you as you talk, I can repeat most conversations word for word for up to a day. And I can easily give a detailed summary for up to a month.
Acting on any of these memories is the challenge. The executive disfunction is the crippling part.
That and paying attention in the first place.
That said, I can also remember where I left off when I get distracted. This helps but not much.
Deal with it everyday. It's funny and I hate it.
This morning at work i turned on a water valve to fill a big tub of water that would take 15 minutes to fill. I ran across the room to grab my notebook and pen to remind myself. While running to get the pen i found some of my tools out of place as always and started to arranged them. In those two seconds I forgot the notebook and the water, I arranged the tools and left.
When I come back an hour later the water is overflowing and flooding the room.
This is my life, getting distracted by butterflies and forgetting everything
Relatable
Say what you want to remember to yourself 20 times in a row. This pushes it into long-term memory. It helps.
If you’re a more visual person (or have a visual imagination), I find that remembering the context helps recall. Like, where I am, who I’m with, what I was doing, etc.
There’s also classic mnemonics, like acronyms, but done visually. Sometimes I imagine a scene that can immediately recall the thing I want to remember. It’s hard to describe in words, but then again sometimes the thoughts I want to remember aren’t necessarily in “words” anyway.
while like, jumping in a circle
Stacks and stacks of notes I'll never reference again.
If it helps, there is evidence that you don’t actually need to reference them. Just writing them down helps the memory process.
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-writing-by-hand-is-better-for-memory-and-learning/
Yeah true I do feel like it helps in that way, and if I didn't put it down it would probably disappear. I suppose it's more of a matter of following up on the notes, I'll have all sorts of ideas and then don't do anything with them.
My entire college career lol
I have dozens of notes in my notes app I forgot existed.
My Google Keep is several gigs in size at this point.
I just bought a handle for a set of pans with removable handles because I was 100% sure I had bought the pan and needed the handle. Now I have two panless handles.
Thank God for Trello. Since I started using it about a year ago, anything I put in there gets done. Also I found out that if you put a Party Popper (🎉) emoji in the title of a list, then whenever you pick up a task and move it to the next stage it blows confetti all over the screen. Yay! pat on the head dopamine 😁 Who's a good boy? I'm a good boy that's who!
I'll remember this advice
Pen and paper notebook. One for Home and one for work. I use notes on my phone when I don't have my notebook and copy them later on. Nobody at work knows that I have terrible short term memory because I "remember", checks notes, everything.
No the adhd demon is the guy that makes you forget
The adhd lady tells you to write it down
But you have to actually put it on a good place and for that the adhd demon is actually quite dope
But the adhd lady can be a bitch and tell you too much to write down
Then you need the adhd bro and it is also easy for that part to go overboard and start eating cereal for food even though you need normal food with nutrients
For that you have the adhd fruits, they do great barbershop explanations but suck at understanding when to take a breather so it can get quite hectic but for that there's amphetamines
I just picked a couple apps. Obsidian is a good one, but you have to want to open it because there's no widgets. So my ideas go there. But I also have an open source app from F-Droid simply called Tasks that has a really sleek homescreen widget.
Now every time I open my phone those unchecked tasks taunt me and I MUST check them off. If I don't because I'm being lazy it starts to eat at me that there's an unchecked overdue task. Must. Do. Dishes.
If it’s something important and that I need to remember that day, I still write it on the back of my hand. If it’s for later, it goes into my calendar with a reminder a week out, a day out and at time to leave.
You'll see it in a moment of clarity, 2 weeks later when you walk past the whiteboard you bought a few months ago to "finally get your shit together"
The post it/note/reminder/calendar entry has no power either
i set reminders, countdowns, put everything in my calendar, i'd be lost without them
how did we ever exist before smart phones?!
for real! luckily i was born late enough ^^
my solutions so far
1 set a reminder with notification, especially if it's more than a few days out
2 write on the day to-dos on my wrist, (if i write it on my palm, i forget and wash it off usually)
I'm going to write it down but just in a different place this time and I'll abbreviated things and write super fast. It's good though I'm making a mental note that I'm doing things a little different this time but at least I'm writing it down. Has anyone seen my glasses? Shit I really need to get glasses, I don't think I rescheduled that optometry appt. Does anyone else smell bacon. I smell bacon right now.
Sometime I forget that I can even write.
Lol my current morning 🤣