LPT: If you are trying to remember something later tell yourself why it matters.

r/

Your brain is more likely to hold onto information if you link it to emotion or purpose. Instead of just repeating a fact or reminder, think or say out loud “I need to remember this because..” Whether it is locking the door, grabbing lunch or an important date trying the information to a reason helps your brain flag it as important making it easier to recall when you need it.

Comments

  1. AutoModerator Avatar

    Introducing LPT REQUEST FRIDAYS

    We determine “Friday” as beginning at 12am Eastern Time (EST: UTC/GMT -5, EDT: UTC/GMT -4)

    I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

  2. keepthetips Avatar

    This post has been marked as safe. Upvoting/downvoting this comment will have no effect.


    Hello and welcome to r/LifeProTips!

    Please help us decide if this post is a good fit for the subreddit by upvoting or downvoting this comment.

    If you think that this is great advice to improve your life, please upvote. If you think this doesn’t help you in any way, please downvote. If you don’t care, leave it for the others to decide.

  3. Kemal_Norton Avatar

    I usually connect the thing to remember to another action, like “I have to close the window when I’ll touch the front door to leave”. Then when I’m touching the front door handle, I remember the window. Does this work for other people too?

  4. Fetlocks_Glistening Avatar

    “Because I’ll fail the damn exam otherwise!?”

  5. Embarrassed-Ad-3730 Avatar

    When I’m obsessed with remembering something, I sometimes summon sanity and say to myself: if you can’t remember it, it wouldn’t be that important, so if I miss that memory later, it will just appear.

  6. Necessary-Top2402 Avatar

    yup. definitely helps. when i have to remember why something is IMPORTANT for me to do, I have to remind myself of what the possible negative consequences are if I forget to do it

  7. JamesEconomy52 Avatar

    If it’s really important, I‘ll deal with it right away, but if it’s not due yet, I‘ll probably set an alarm to remind myself, even if I can remember it.