This is Steva Robbins. Welcome to the get it done guys, quick and dirty tips to work less and do more.

Listener Stacey writes in, how do you track something going forward? For example, next time I go for an oil change, make sure to ask about discounts on a lifetime supply of paisley colored motor oil.

I don't have an exact date for the event, nor do I have a,

to-ask mechanic, page in my planner. How would I track in a regular event like that?

Stacey, memory is hard. Now sure, the ancient Greeks memorized six-hour poems word for word,

but we're more advanced than that. We recognize the superiority of staring comatosa to screen, blankly scrolling

a Facebook feed, and letting our devices do all the hard work. You want to remember irregular

events. A second semester quantum mechanics student would have some sort of proof for why you

can't both identify an event and have what you need to have when you get there. But I've

never taken quantum mechanics, so I'll tell you how to control the uncontrollable.

It's all about triggers.

Find what will trigger your future action, and connect your reminders and your reference material

to that trigger.

For tasks, connect notes to-do items, some things you do because they're on your task list.

Whether you use one master system to organize your life, as described in my earlier episode,

whether you use a paper system, my favorite, or an online task management system like to-doist,

my other favorite. At some point, you will actually select a task from your task list as the thing you will do next.

Side note, my favorite way to scan and select tasks from your to-do list is the Autofocus

4 Task Management System by Mark Forster. There are links to all of these things at get-itdungi.com

slash tasks.

If you use an electronic task management system like to-doist, you can add

attachments and notes to any individual task. You're reading a magazine and you find a fascinating

...