Yes, we’re productivity dummies, we learn from so many things, yet our ADHD makes us forget what we’ve learned. It fucking sucks right?!

“I forgot my AirPods”, “where’s my phone?”, “Fuck! My keys!”
Remember the last time you said this?
Maybe you’ve said it once in the past week, possibly 2–4 times.
I did this, at least 12 times a week.

That’s almost twice a day.
I realised that this happened to me a lot once I moved to a new apartment.
I kept putting my belongings in different places.

Hi, I’m Damian, and I’m here to tell you that, the best thing is, we can actually remember what we’ve learned.

Below I have 2 different scenarios. They’re both me.

No Home (Doesn’t have a specific place for things)
Has Home (Has a specific place for things)

No Home

Just got home, keys in the right hand, phone in the left hand.
Walk straight into the kitchen. Remembering the Ben n Jerry’s dopamine hit I’ve been craving after a rough day.
Pull Ben n Jerry’s out of freezer with right hand.
“I need a spoon, but I need to put my phone down”
Walk into the room and put the phone down.
Go back to the kitchen for a spoon, picking it up.
Ben n Jerry’s in the right hand, a spoon in the left.
Walk into the living room.
Sit on the couch.
AirPods case so bulky it’s pushing into quads because jeans are getting too tight.
Take them out and put them on the couch armrest next to you.
A few hours later…
Walk into bedroom at 1am after procrastinating sleeping.
Sit on the bed.
There’s a lot of shit on the dresser, including the phone, but no AirPods or keys in sight.
Have to find my keys and AirPods.
Walk around the apartment once. Nothing.
Walk around the apartment and start walking into the rooms.
Found the AirPods on the floor next to the couch. Realising, my elbow knocked them off the armrest.
Now … the keys?
Do another sweep of the apartment, nothing.
Remembering you walked into the kitchen straight after getting home.
Walk into the kitchen, look around, nothing. Time to open shit.
Draws, nothing. Cupboards, nothing. Fridge, nothing. Fuck!
Open the freezer. Nothing. Remembering the Ben n Jerry’s again.
Open the freezer again to have a better look.
The keys were in the freezer. facepalm
Walk back to the room.
Take off shirt, socks, shoes, and fall into bed.
Turn to your right,
Your phones dead. You start charging it.
You lay back into bed.
You can’t sleep because charging your phone overnight is bad for the battery health.
You stay up looking at the ceiling, struggling to sleep and struggling to stay awake.
You pick up your phone while it charges. It’s 2.37am.
A bit of Instagram, a bit of TikTok.
You realise your phone’s on 80% and won’t charge anymore because Apple is trying to protect your battery.
It’s 3.21am.
You stop charging your phone.
You lay down.
You Finally Crash!
You wake up exhausted. New day, same you.

Has Home

It’s all about making good habits.

Arrived home, place keys back into pocket, then took shoes off at the door.
Walk into my bedroom, put my keys, phone, AirPods down on my dresser (Their Home).
Put my phone on charge.
Walk out of my room.
A few hours later…
Walk into room at 1am after procrastinating sleeping.
Get naked
Lay in bed, it’s midnight, Keys, AirPods and fully charged phone on your right.
Take phone off charge.
Put it down.
Fall asleep at 1.23am after a little bit of gaming.
Wake up more refreshed than usual.
Actually feeling ready to have a pretty decent day.

Which one of these 2 scenarios sounds more like you?

You may resonate with the first scenario
Or the second
Or both
It doesn’t matter where you’re at, as long as you continue to improve and remember where you put things more frequently.

What I’ve learned is:

There’s a home for everything.

I tend to have a home for most things in my life.
Whether it’s at my place or out and about.

My Place

The home for my keys, AirPods, and wallet are on top of my dresser.
The home TV remote back on the living room table
The home for my kitchen scale is on top of the microwave, so it’s easy to access and put back.
The home for the milk is in the fridge door
The home for meats about to expire are on the top shelf of the fridge, so I can see them first and eat them soon.

Out and about

Keys and AirPods in the left pocket.
Phone in the right pocket.
Bottle of water in left hand, then in the cupholder in my car.

Find a spot and put your item of choice there.

Try to always put it back
The more you put it back, the more autonomous it’ll become, the more it’ll become a habit.

Since I move my phone out of its Home frequently, I have a backup in place.

I have 2 HomePods, so whenever I lose my phone, I call out “hey Siri, where’s my phone?” and it starts beeping.

Just like we have a Home we come to, our belongings need a Home to be kept in.

How to start

Have a Home

Choose a spot for everything that you tend to lose (Phone, Keys, Wallet…).

Remind Yourself

Put them back in the same spots, (post-it notes help)..

Take it Easy

Be easy on yourself throughout the process because practice makes permanent.

”What we repeatedly do becomes who we are.” – Aristotle

Remember, the more you put it back, the more autonomous it’ll become, the more it’ll become a habit.

Bonus Tip

Use this method for everything in your household (eg. knives, forks and spoons in the top drawer in the kitchen…).

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