You forgot that thing you were supposed to do for your boss. And that favor your were going to do for a friend. Or even to pay that bill that was due。

　   Are you guilty of saying that you are going to do something and then don’t because you forgot? Forgetting is not an excuse, it is a root cause of your productivity issues. Whether it is todos, appointments, obligations, or bills… forgotten tasks often cause more work down the road。

　   Here are 10 Ways to Stop Forgetting &Get More Done:

　   Set an Alarm – We all have alarm clocks on our phones, yet few of us use them. Setting an alarm is the simplest way to remind yourself. Need to call that customer back by end of day? Set your alarm for 5PM. A simple alarm is the down and dirty way to jog your memory。

　   Put it On Your Calendar – Calendars are often underutilized. Don’t just make appointments for meetings, but also for tasks that you need to do. This not only reminds you, but has the added benefit of allotting time to get the work done。

　   Write it Down (on Your Todo List) - What do you put on your todo list? Many people only write down the big things. Ironically, the big things are usually pretty easy to remember. It is the small ones that you need to write down. Put it on your list… that is what it is for。

　   Set a Reminder – Alarms are great for one-offs. However, for regular or repeating tasks go ahead and set a reminder. For example, I have a reminder on my iPhone that goes off every Wednesday at 7AM to tell me to put the trash out. 9 times out of 10, I have already put it out. But, the few times I hadn’t… it worked like a charm。

　   Do It Now, So You Don’t Have to Remember Later – This one sounds like cheating, but the best way to avoid forgetting a task is to do it immediately. When appropriate, do small tasks right then and there. If it is only going to take a few seconds or minutes… Just Do It Now。

　   Have Someone Else Remind You – A little accountability goes a long way. Have a family member, friend, or even co-worker hold you to performing a certain task. (BTW, kids are very good at this… my 8-year old son reminds me of things I “said I was going to do” all the time…)

　   Put It On Automatic – One of my favorite ways to avoid forgetting tasks is to put them on automatic. Set and forget. This works great with AutoPay for bills. Get creative, you will be surprised how many things you can automate. For example, every six months Amazon automatically sends me a new water filter for my fridge. I don’t have to remember or even go out and get one。

　   Don’t Say Yes In The First Place – Want to avoid forgetting that favor that you promised? Or that extra task you agreed to take on? One of the best methods is to say “No” in the first place. If you are overloaded with your own work, don’t agree to take on more. You are just setting yourself up to disappoint others。

　   Have Someone Else Do It – If you can’t do it, delegate appropriate tasks. However, just remember that when you delegate, you still have to remember to follow-up. After all, you can delegate the doing of the task, but not the accountability.

　   Use Your List! – Your todo list should be your best friend. It should remember so that you don’t have to. If you are following rule 3, then your list will have your back. When your list reminds you of something you forgot, you know it’s working.

　   你忘記了上司交代過的任務，或是忘記要去給朋友幫個忙，又或是甚至忘了付到期的帳單。

　   你要去做某件事然後沒完成，然後因為忘記了。這樣子你不會覺得愧疚嗎？忘了不是藉口，而是生產效率問題上的根本原因。無論是待辦事項、約會、債務或是帳單等等，被忘記的這些任務經常也會導致更多工作難以完成。

　   下面就是讓你不再忘記的10招，挽救你的爛記性：

　   鬧鐘定時。手機上都有鬧鐘的，但是我們卻很少用到。定個鬧鐘是提醒自己最簡單的方法。要在當天結束前電話回訪客戶嗎？定個下午5點的鬧鐘提醒。簡單的鬧鈴提醒是喚醒記憶最低級也最粗糙的方式。

　   標在日曆上。日曆通常沒有被充分利用。不要只是把會議約見標在上面，也要把你需要完成的事項標上。這樣做不但可以提醒自己，而且還有助於完成工作的時間分配。

　   寫下來(寫在待辦事項清單上)。你在待辦事項清單上寫了什麼呢？很多人就只是寫下大事情。諷刺的是，記大事情通常都相當容易。而那些小事情才是你真正需要寫下來的。把它們寫在這張清單上，這才是它的真正功用。

　   設置提醒。鬧鐘對於一次性提示非常有效。但是對於定期或是重復的工作，就來設置一個提醒吧。例如，我在iPhone上設置了一個提醒，讓它在每週三早上7點鐘的時候提醒我丟垃圾，10次中有9次我都已經把垃圾丟了出去。但是也有為數不多的幾次是我還沒有去丟垃圾……這種提醒就像是個魔咒似的。

　   馬上做，這樣你就不用之後還要記著了。這一條看起來比較投機取巧，但是避免忘記一項任務最好的方法其實就是馬上著手開始做。在適當的時候立馬著手做一些小事情。如果這些事情完成只需要分分鐘時間……那麼現在就馬上做吧。

　   讓其他人提醒你。問責製作用非常大。讓一位家庭成員，一個朋友，或者甚至是同事約束你將要履行的某一工作。(順便說一句，孩子做這個很在行……我8歲的兒子經常提醒我那些我講到“我要去做什麼什麼”的話語……)

　   設置自動模式。我最喜歡的避免遺忘的方式就是讓事情自動化模式進行。設置然後就可以不管了。這點在自動清還帳單上非常奏效。多點創意，你就會驚喜地發現很多事情都能自動地完成。比如，每六個月亞馬遜都會自動寄給我一個新的冰箱水濾器。這樣我就不必記著或者出去自己買一個回來了。　

　   剛開始就別答應。想避免忘記答應了的幫助請求嗎？或者是答應完成的額外工作？最好的方法就是一開始就不要答應。如果你自己的工作已經都超負荷了，就不要再答應接受更多了。這樣你就不會讓別人失望。　讓別人去做。如果你自己不能做，就把合適的工作委派給其他人。儘管如此，要記住當你委派下去任務的時候，你還是要記得跟進。畢竟你委派的只是工作的執行，而不是工作的責任。      

　　使用清單。待辦事項清單是你最得力的朋友。有它來記住事情，你就不用記著。如果你遵守第三條，那麼清單絕對能幫到你很多。當清單使你想起一些忘記的事情，你便知道它奏效了。 (來源：江滬英語)