Did I Lock the Door? How to Stop Forgetting Small Tasks
Have you ever been out and about and suddenly got a minor panic attack over whether or not you locked the door when you left the house? And the air conditioner... Did you switch it off? Misremembering if you’ve done mundane everyday activities is a common occurrence, and it happened to most of us at least once. A recent study sheds some light on the psychological reasons behind these confusing situations, and how to remember the small tasks better and stop worrying.
The study was conducted at the University
of Illinois and published in the journal Personality and Social
Psychology Bulletins. The main conclusion is that when we intend to do
something, the brain creates a false memory of completing the task,
which is why after some time has passed we are unsure of what really
happened.
To test the theory, the study participants were asked to choose job
applicants and to either decide they want to hire them or actually call
and offer them the position. Later on, the same participants had to
report whether they’d acted on their decision or only had the intention
to, and many of them were unsure, and could not recollect.
How to avoid forgetting the small tasks
Now that we're aware that our brains can play tricks on us, it’s
important to come up with ways to act on our intentions in order to
remember our actions. The most obvious trick is to act immediately. If
it’s a small task that doesn’t require time or preparation, like
switching off the lights just do it the moment the thought comes to you.
“When we form an intention at the moment such as 'I'm going to sign
that form now,' and it's an activity we routinely perform, we want to
complete the task when we form the intention. Otherwise, we don't
actually sign the form. And the reason why is because the thought of
wanting to sign the form can be misremembered as actually having signed
it," explained Dolores Albarracin, Ph.D., co-author of the study and a
professor of psychology at the University of Illinois.
Another method is keeping a to-do list and
only checking a task once it’s actually performed. This is the method
the researchers found most practical. The rate of misremembering
increases when a person’s physical movements mirror the steps he would
take to actually do the chore. For example, if you think about texting
someone while on your phone, your brain is likely to believe you’ve done
it although, in reality, you were just scrolling social media.
Likewise, the physical act of closing the door when you leave the house
is likely to lead you to believe you’ve locked it.
If this kind of thing happens to you often, to-do lists are worth a try.
Make sure to write them by hand, as studies have shown that typing
something out actually makes it harder to remember. At the end of the
day, we’re all human and have a lot on our plates, so making a small
habit to be more organized might prove very helpful.