[bctt tweet=”Physical reminders make achieving objectives easier. “]
We are too hard on our brains. I love being hard on mine. I’ll find myself sitting around and blaming my brain for mistakes. My self criticism isn’t helpful, in fact, it is cruel. Cruel enough to paralyze.
But, through the lense of self-doubt, improvement is difficult. Changing the mindset to growth instead of fixed helps us see the problem in a new light.
Our brains are not the problem. The problem is we rely on it to do things it isn’t good at. The brain sucks at memorization because it doesn’t have to do it anymore. Phone numbers go in your phone, the oven has a timer, and the TV show ends on the hour. Trying to remember or keep track of things aren’t in our best interests, we don’t have to do it throughout the day, so why try?
That’s where checklists come in. I love checklists. But with checklists, it is easy to forget where you are. A static list somewhere in your room isn’t helpful when you are in the thick of a task.
That’s where physical reminders come in.
Physical reminders make achieving objectives easier. By having something represent the task in front of us, its easy to remember what is happening. It takes pressure off our brain.
Using physical objects to represent a checklist is a great way to make sure all the boxes get checked off.
When I wake up in the morning, I lay everything I need to do or a symbol of it on my bed. It forces me to make my bed, and I see exactly whats in front of me. I can’t skip a step, because if I do, when I put on my last piece of clothing (which signals I should walk out the door) it will stick out like a sore thumb.
James Clear‘s blog says it best.
In 1993, a bank in Abbotsford, Canada hired a 23-year-old stock broker named Trent Dyrsmid.
Dyrsmid was a rookie so nobody at the firm expected too much of his performance. Moreover, Abbotsford was still a relatively small suburb back then, tucked away in the shadow of nearby Vancouver where most of the big business deals were being made. The first popular email services like AOL and Hotmail wouldn’t arrive for another two or three years. Geography still played a large role in business success and Abbotsford wasn’t exactly the home of blockbuster deals.
And yet, despite his disadvantages, Dyrsmid made immediate progress as a stock broker thanks to a simple and relentless habit that he used each day.
On his desk, he placed two jars. One was filled with 120 paper clips. The other was empty. This is when the habit started.
“Every morning I would start with 120 paper clips in one jar and I would keep dialing the phone until I had moved them all to the second jar.”
—Trent Dyrsmid
And that was it. 120 calls per day. One paper clip at a time.
[bctt tweet=”Using physical objects to represent a checklist is a great way to make sure all the boxes get checked off.”]
As you can see, physical reminders are awesome. Something as small as paper clips can change your life.
From the desk of Adam Thomas 