You are on your way out the door, rushed again, but you can’t find your keys. Has that ever happened to you? Do you find yourself looking for things time and again, not knowing where you left them?
It’s not memory loss, it’s just disorganization. Here are four secrets to help you never lose anything ever again!
Photo by Eduard Militaru on Unsplash
#1 – Have a Drop Zone with designated spaces for your things
I’ve written another blog on this topic, but I think it bears repeating. You need to have a space to put your things when you walk in the door to your home. This is called a drop zone and it should be organized.
Whether it is a key ring, a drawer, a closet, whatever,… you need to incorporate this into your interior design. Check out that blog post for some useful tips to setting up your own personal drop zone.
#2 – Design a space for everything & put everything its place
This goes hand in hand with lifestyle and design. If you create a space, like a drop zone, you need to use it for it to be effective.
That said, if you have installed a keyring for your car keys, you actually need to use that ring or your keys won’t be there when you go to look for them.
Just having a drawer doesn’t cut it either. You need to organize that drawer so the space is set for what you intend to store there.
Photo by Sanibell BV on Unsplash
If you have portable chargers, a Swiss army knife, miscellaneous coins, and the like, be sure that your drawers have a specific spot for those items. Just tossing everything into a drawer doesn’t work.
If you are looking for something and it’s not organized, you will still need to rummage through everything else to find it. It is also worth noting that if you have a specific spot for an item and it isn’t put away there, you will notice that it is missing.
When you open a drawer and a spot is empty, go and find what should be there so it is there when you need it. Having a designated spot for your items is super helpful in staying organized.
#3 – Plan your day in advance & prep at night
This is a huge element in staying focused and not losing things. Read my blog post about planners, get a planner and USE IT!
I like to schedule my tasks and I really believe this is key in staying focused and organized. What do I mean by planning a task? I’ll reiterate this item from my other blog post here because I really think it is crucially important.
If you have an errand to run to the DMV to file paperwork or update your license, you need to move that from your task list to your agenda and schedule that time. Set a reminder so you are alerted as to the upcoming task.
You have a list of tasks that you need to complete. That’s great, we all have that. Every evening, you should go through that list and look ahead to the next day to see how and WHEN you can get these tasks accomplished.
Every day should be FILLED with your tasks on your schedule. If you can’t schedule your tasks, you need to lighten your schedule or delegate the task.
When you have your day ahead scheduled, set out the items that you need so you can simply pick up and go in the morning.
For instance, if you have a yoga class scheduled for 7:00am, don’t leave it until the morning to locate your mat, blocks, towel, and water bottle. It’s too much. Do this the night before and have everything set to go. If you need time to find one of the items, you can do that the night before so you’re ready to go in the morning.
#4 – Always look behind you when you leave
I started teaching this to my kids when they began traveling with me. They were probably just two and three at the time, but I would give them little tasks like this so they had a sense of importance and inclusion on our trips.
Every time we left a ticket counter or got up from a waiting area, I would ask them to look behind us to be sure we weren’t leaving anything. A considerable number of times we would have a straggler power cord, a jacket, or a hat that could have gone missing!
I use this with my everyday errands now and it really helps! As I’m leaving a store or the self-checkout, I always stop and look behind before leaving the podium to be sure I have everything. My wallet, my debit card, a water bottle, whatever…
It is truly amazing how many things we accidentally leave behind and almost lose due to the average rush and hustle of daily life!
Bonus Tip – Get In The Habit Of Tidying Up Before You Go To Bed
Photo by Edgar Castrejon on Unsplash
Have a tidy up every night before you go to bed. I can’t tell you how much this helps with organization!
Before you turn in after a long day, clear up in the kitchen and living area.. I’m not talking about any deep clean, just go around and put things away.
Replace the pillows on the sofa, put the remote controls back on the table, place the dishes in the dishwasher, (and run it while you sleep), double check that your phone is charging and that your keys are where they need to be for the morning.
This exercise takes just five or ten minutes and it can be a lifesaver in the morning in the event your alarm doesn’t go off, there’s a power outage overnight, you oversleep, or you are just rushed for no other reason.
If you incorporate these steps into your daily life, I can guarantee you that you won’t be losing things the way you may do now. I haven’t lost anything in a long time, we’re talking maybe twenty or twenty-five years! That’s a pretty good record. Want to join me? Follow up and let me know how this helps you!
