How Do I Stop Losing Things?

Let's talk about simple ways to save time and energy. And since "Time is Money" we will also be saving money. Oh, and saving your sanity. You can never have enough sanity.

Hi I’m Rick Green and I want to know how to solve two challenges at once.


The first challenge is I want to stop screaming
I had it in my hand a minute ago, it being the stuff I use every day; phone, keys, wallet, scissors.


The second challenge, I want to stop wondering where are my spare glasses? Or where's the tape measure or my blood work form, you know, the things I don't use every day, or the things that go into seasonal hibernation; winter boots, summer shorts, car battery charger which we need right now, where is it? and I’m running all over the place. I want that to end and I want to know how to make it stop.


All right let's look at these two big time wasters. I’m out to conquer them because I don't have time to waste and the reason I don't have time to waste is that up until now I have wasted a lot of time.


The question: Where is the thing I was holding 10 seconds ago, or where is the stuff that we packed away for the summer, or for the rainy day?

The answer is not to work on my memory, yes we will look at short-term memory and long-term memory and how to improve it in other videos, but I have found through decades of hard work and personal experience that doesn't help me in the moment with the stuff that should be a no-brainer, the stuff that I shouldn't have to worry about remembering.


I don't need to work on my memory to find my toothbrush every day, that's not the challenge; this is about the stuff I lose all the time. The answer actually is prevention, prevention.


Let me explain, years ago when I was giving a presentation on how to present a great presentation, it was for demonstrators at a science museum and at some point one person asked um how do you get the audience back again after you've lost their attention? The answer is something that I had learned when I was practicing to become a world-class magician, which eventually I did not become, and I said the secret to getting the audience's attention back is don't lose it in the first place, right?


Direct their attention or in magic it's called misdirection in fact a horse ran through, you didn't even see it you're so focused on me. Amazing but if I don't use a number of tools and tricks and practices to distract your attention
[Video Clip of Rick doing magic in slow motion]
then not so amazing, you know where it is. Am I getting off topic here? Probably.


So the secret to not misplacing things is to have a place for it, that way you avoid the “what happened to the hand sanitizer? I had it in my pocket, where is it?” and then I find it upstairs in the bathroom and I haven’t been to the upstairs bathroom all day, but apparently…


You may have asked other people friends or family honey where is my purse, or honey where is the remote for the TV, honey where are the batteries for the remote for the TV, or honey where do we keep the flashlight?


Well here's a less common question one that I’ve never even asked ever, honey where is the cutlery? Where do you think it is? In the cutlery drawer, where it always is.


Now think about that “where it always is”, where it always is, oh can you imagine, can you imagine where's the cutlery? Where it always is!
In fact you could come to our house, I wouldn't bother it's a bit of a mess now and look at all the drawers that we have in every room and I bet you could pick out the cutlery drawer on your first guess. You'd probably go to the kitchen right? Good, good, top drawer by the stove, voila! You're right, the cutlery drawer, you found it.


If I came to your place I could figure out where you keep your cutlery and utensils in two or three guesses tops, whereas if I had to guess where you keep your earrings, or note paper, or place mats, candles, shoe polish, actually I know where we keep our shoe polish.


For a long time I did not have a place for things, no foam drawer, or wallet shelf, a key tray or a drawer specifically for my Fitbit and the charger, the list of excuses as to why I didn't exercise today.

Having a cutlery drawer saves valuable time, searching the whole kitchen or even the whole house every time you need a spoon? I mean really?? Check the bathroom, oh look in the broom closet, where are my socks? Check the china cabinet, and then… Dumb. Right?

This video is for entertainment purposes only. Copyright Big Brain Productions 2024. All Rights Reserved.

[LinaSpellman]

where the heck are all the videos though??!?? I NEED THEM IN MY LIFE!!!! what is happening to this channel??!!! please Rick!!!! bring them

[cuddlyfoxgirl]

Well, i'm gonna miss all the old videos from this channel, they were amazing.

[TBone]

The stack of books on the floor with "Organizing for the Creative Person" on top... So relatable.

[jackyclaiborne]

I have special places where I keep a lot of the things that I use or need, but often, I fail to put them back where they belong. When I discover that something is missing and not where it's supposed to be, and I don't know where it is, I ask myself, "When and where did I have it last?" The answer is usually, "I had it LAST LAST NIGHT!" But I don't know where I had it last! Why? My mind was out there, when it needed to be HERE as I point to my hand.
I feel that minimizing distractions and concentrating on the task at hand in everything I do is the key to avoid incidents of missplasure. As a general rule, I save music and TV for when I have time to sit down and relax, and don't have anything else to do. When I'm on my feet and going about things, I TURN MUSIC AND TV OFF! That's my effort to minimize distractions, and CONCENTRATE ON THE TASK AT I tell myself that the task at hand is as SERIOUS AS FLYING A COMMERCIAL AIRLINER!!! I need to keep my mind OFF OF AUTOPILOT, and in MANUAL FLIGHT! My conscious mind needs to do ALL OF THE WORK! My subconscious mind needs to TAKE A When it's time to go about things, my subconscious mind is the thing I wish I could turn off along with music and TV. I wish I could switch off the subconscious mind like the autopilot in an aircraft. That would do two things for me! One, it would prevent my mind from producing distracting thoughts. Two, it would force my conscious mind to do ALL OF THE

[michelegraybeal]

Great tips, Rick. My husband and I both have ADHD so you can imagine what a Gong Show it is at our house on a daily basis. Frustrating! Now, if we can only organize our thoughts... speaking of cherry pies, I just made a peach and blueberry tart. Oh, man is that good! And I can tell you I know exactly where THAT is. Gee, if only everything needed refrigeration...It'd be a lot easier to find things. But then you'd have to have multiple refrigerators. And then you'd wonder which refrigerator did I leave my car keys in? Oh never mind.

[enntense]

I just wanted you to know you helped me to recognize that something was wrong, and at the age of 52, after a month of seeing a psychologist, I was diagnosed with ADHD. Obviously I've had it my whole life and just "got by". They just started me on Adderall. On my first day, I took it in the morning and went out in the garage to work out. In an hour I came inside, very emotional, crying. My wife asked me what was wrong?.. What was it? It was quiet...Almost completely quiet. I'm talking more than audible sound waves. I'm talking about all that white noise constantly flittering around the edges of your attention, competing for your focus. They all got really really quiet...It's was scary quiet. For the first time in my life..

[HCoons]

This explains my joy at finally having a label maker. Kind of reminds me of the physical activity of note taking as a method of recall/learning.

[ghostspore]

What happened to your other videos? I was trying to show my dad but they were gone when I looked for them :c

[littlemissgumflette]

Fantastic advice! My biggest problem has always been my keys, so after 30yrs of being late to pick up the kids or get to work or whatever I finally bought myself a giant lobster clasp & I *TRY* really really really hard to remember to clip my keys to the strap on my handbag & when I remember to actually do it I feel like I’ve achieved greatness!! Unfortunately tho, having put the clasp on my keys doesn’t actually mean I ALWAYS remember to clip them onto my bag.. it’s kinda like writing out your shopping list but either forgetting it or losing it or both & coming home with a car full of groceries, all your money is gone only to realise once you get home that you spent all your money on everything but the 4 items that were so essential you went to all the trouble to write a list for…

[RodTejada]

My dad has ADHD as well as I do, and he loses stuff as often but he drilled into me since I was a kid to keep stuff always in the same spot. That solves it, but hell breaks loose whenever someone non-adhd decides has had enough with the mess and orders everything.

Then I cry.

[alaysiakayebutler]

Just when I start second guessing...here comes another unquestionable description of my ways..lol..I feel better about my challenges that vex me, since I really appreciate, respect, enjoy the "teacher" here, that I relate to so much. So accurate!

[JaneNewAuthor]

I worked out something years ago. Forgive me if it's somewhere in the video and I've missed it.

I call it "making the memory bigger", for when I find a new place for something.

When I put something down or away I say to myself, "My purse is on the bookcase, " and I make the effort to actually LOOK at it.

This works!

You're not always going to be in your own home or workplace.

[jimjungle]

The one diagnosis criteria box that I didn't tick was 'do you often lose things?' and that's simply because my mum's neat and tidy mantra;

"a place for everything and everything in its place"

was drummed into me from a very young age. Keep things in the same place, where they always are, and you never have to look for them. However, do I forget to take things with me when I'm leaving the house, getting tools together for work, packing for a trip.... Oh yes, EVERY time.

:(

[carolyn]

I wish we knew what happened to the old videos and your website! But if you don't want to talk about it, that's cool. Just glad to see you back!

[Jazz_Funk_Kitten]

Why has the TotallyADD channel disappeared? Where are all the awesome videos????

[ginamcdonald]

Thanks for this new video!!! I’ve missed hearing your solutions to so many problems I seem to have!!!

[afrarunduml]

I can really recommend minimalism! I pushing it in my family for some years. My ADHD son loves to clean up his room, he needs just some minutes, even if he played with everything in his room and it is all over the floor. It is so easy to maintain, he just have 5 categories of toys.

My ADHD husband also like our easy to maintain house and that the things have a place. But when he is going to the store, grab quick a few necessary items... Ya you know it, I have a bunch of things again in our house we don't really need :'D

[unfetteredphoenix]

Rick, You Rock!
Not officially, yet hinted at, according to the criteria, plus, taking a questionaire in counselling (for depression & anxiety)... looks like I have it too!
Your vids more than others, especially helped me. At 60 yrs., I had the Mom listen to your Unoffical Test. She smiled, and nodded - it was nice, but not sure it made up for the shame that was laid upon me thru the years. Hey! This is a start, no matter if I feel it's overdue....
Thanks again!!! I Love your humor on the topic! That helps to no

[aromaz]

Love the channel. Are the old videos coming back? I wanted to share them with people to help them understand ADHD a little better.

[juliesmith]

Hi Rick, Thanks for the motivational tips; Losing ‘stuff’ is the bane of my life!! which, sometimes when I’m trying to get into the car and leave the house, can drive me ‘almost’ (very nearly) to implosion. A few useful tips like this can really change a persons world.
Sorry a can’t afford to become a patron (i live in the UK lol, enough said!) but please dont stop sharing . Loads of love, and gratitude xx