There’s a lot of great answers here. See a doctor. But here’s a tip for memory.
Accept you can’t remember stuff and stop trying.
Externalize your memory and put it on other people. Here’s what I mean.
My wife calls and asks me to stop at the store and starts telling me a list of a few things she needs me to pickup. I say “Sure I’m happy to help. Can you txt me the list so I don’t forget? I’ll leave it unread to remember to look at it.”
I then read it and mark it unread. Over the next hours before I go to the store the little notification icon will bug me and I’ll go to read it only to realize it’s the grocery list. And then mark it unread. When I leave I’ll go to the store and look at the list while I get things. Then I double check the list and my cart before I checkout. Same with people I work with. “Sure I can send you that report and you shoot me an email so I don’t forget?” I’ll leave that unread or pinned till I do it.
When someone asks me to remind them of something I say “I’d love to but there’s no way I’ll remember to do that.”
I use kanban / trello to organize my work tasks and make notes immediately because I just accept I won’t remember tomorrow.
Once I started doing these things I have way less anxiety about forgetting. I think people rely on remembering stuff way too much. It’s like keeping your money in a pocket with holes in the bottom.
Bonus: remember names by making a big deal about it. “What’s your name?” I then use it several times. And when I forget then I just ask them “What was your name again?” I say the name that comes to mind when I see them “Your name was John right?” If they say “No it’s Steve” then I say “Ah Steve. I was so close!” And we laugh. Honestly they probably don’t remember my name so this whole schtick helps them too.
Seeing a doctor for a referral to see a psych should be step one here.
But man… time blindness? I’ve recently started using an Apple Watch to set reminders, timers, calendar events, and alarms. Game changer!
Some days I can make over 30 reminders for that day alone, and the cool thing about this is that I can’t forget any items because it’s all externalised.
In contrast, keeping your TODO list internalised is like walking to a room for a specific purpose, not remembering what you needed to do when you got there, or worse do something ELSE in that room but because you’ve achieved something you go back to what you were doing before and only a few hours later when you’re in bed you realise you forgot to do something critical
Externalize your memory and put it on other people. Here’s what I mean.
My wife calls and asks me to stop at the store and starts telling me a list of a few things she needs me to pickup. I say “Sure I’m happy to help. Can you txt me the list so I don’t forget? I’ll leave it unread to remember to look at it.”
I then read it and mark it unread. Over the next hours before I go to the store the little notification icon will bug me and I’ll go to read it only to realize it’s the grocery list. And then mark it unread. When I leave I’ll go to the store and look at the list while I get things. Then I double check the list and my cart before I checkout. Same with people I work with. “Sure I can send you that report and you shoot me an email so I don’t forget?” I’ll leave that unread or pinned till I do it.
When someone asks me to remind them of something I say “I’d love to but there’s no way I’ll remember to do that.”
I use kanban / trello to organize my work tasks and make notes immediately because I just accept I won’t remember tomorrow.
Once I started doing these things I have way less anxiety about forgetting. I think people rely on remembering stuff way too much. It’s like keeping your money in a pocket with holes in the bottom.
Bonus: remember names by making a big deal about it. “What’s your name?” I then use it several times. And when I forget then I just ask them “What was your name again?” I say the name that comes to mind when I see them “Your name was John right?” If they say “No it’s Steve” then I say “Ah Steve. I was so close!” And we laugh. Honestly they probably don’t remember my name so this whole schtick helps them too.