{"version":1,"type":"rich","provider_name":"Libsyn","provider_url":"https:\/\/www.libsyn.com","height":90,"width":600,"title":"The 3-Step Foolproof Way to Find Lost Things When You Have ADHD","description":" drawing by the author using Adobe Fresco #byHumansForHumans #noAI Raise your hand if you\u2019ve ever found yourself rummaging through drawers, wandering through room after room in your house, checking backpacks and briefcases and pockets repeatedly, all while muttering \u201cI know I saw that somewhere\u2026\u201d \u201cThat\u201d, of course, is a thing that you did not need when you saw it last. It registered as a blip on your conscious mind \u2014 the feeling of \u201cOh, I see that. Good to know I still have it\u201d without the burden of actually remembering where it is located. Then, a few days\/weeks\/months later, you suddenly realize it would be useful for some task or project \u2014 or, worse, it\u2019s essential for it. For example: your partner just surprised you with a getaway to the Caribbean \u2014 where\u2019s my passport? your cat ate one of your earbuds right before your Zoom meeting, but you know you have a spare pair \u2014 somewhere. you accidentally left your glasses at work, but you have an old pair in the junk drawer? No. Closet shelf? No. Dresser? No. The other shoulder bag! No. *sigh* As you\u2019re stumbling around the house with blurred vision apologizing to your boss for the echo while your partner is reminding you that the flights need to be booked, know that there is a straightforward method to finding the thing you need. The 3-step guide to finding that thing. Step 1: Give up. It\u2019s lost. Just admit it. Even if you live in a 600-square-foot house and have rearranged the furniture twice looking for it, it is gone \u2014 vanished through a wormhole to another part of the multiverse. Take solace in the realization that somewhere there is an alternate version of yourself who is holding that thing, muttering \u201cWhere did this come from? I don\u2019t remember having this,\u201d just like you did last week. It\u2019s not personal. It\u2019s just how the laws of nature and physics work. Step 2: Order a replacement. It used to be a lot harder when we lived as hunters and were forced to chip our replacement obsidian arrowheads after searching for hours in the bush by the spot where we missed the capybara. At least there were some nice berries there as a consolation prize as our mates and children watched us with hungry eyes as we made a few more shafts. And I\u2019d like to think there was some consolation in knowing that millennia later some anthropologist would get a byline in NatGeo after finding the one you lost. Now, replacing those things you lost is as easy as a click away \u2014 even if you don\u2019t have next-day delivery, there\u2019s usually a one-week trial you can use. Or get past the free-shipping threshold by ordering two of whatever it is you lost \u2014 that way you\u2019re sure to have a spare in another place you will forget within an hour of carefully placing it there. You must make sure to order it online \u2014 don\u2019t go out and buy it in person. Step 3: Lose something else. This is the tricky part because you can\u2019t fake it. Pretending to look for something else in order to warp the space-time continuum into revealing the thing you actually need almost never works. The universe knows. But if you actually put yourself in a situation where there is another thing (let\u2019s call it Thing 2) that you need, remember seeing recently, but cannot locate in the first, second, or third places you think to look \u2026then you can start looking for this new lost object, again checking through all the same places, bags, cushions, pets, vehicles, plants, light fixtures, and top-shelf kitchen cupboards. You won\u2019t find it \u2014 that\u2019s not going to happen. But along the way, you will find the first thing that you needed but couldn\u2019t find. It will be in a spot you are pretty sure you looked before as if it spontaneously appeared from some alternate dimension \u2014 and indeed, some suggest that is exactly what happened. It will also be in a spot that you remember putting it, your past self placing it carefully because, at the time, it made sense. It\u2019s not your past self\u2019s fault; that ally put it there specifically so that it would be safe, ready for when you needed it. They were wrong. But now you can go back online and cancel that replacement you ordered (well, you would be able to if you had a better functioning working memory. That\u2019s ok \u2014 when it arrives, you get the opportunity to forget to return it). Reflect on how fortunate you are to live in this miraculous age! You can\u2019t un-chip obsidian. What about finding Thing 2? The beauty of this process, like all natural cycles like the seasons and parthenogenesis is that it can be repeated ad infinitum with Thing 3, Thing 4, and so on. Yesterday I found Thing 45,673 \u2014 an old set of Apple AirPods. It was next to the little chest of drawers in my closet. I didn\u2019t need it any more \u2014 I use BeatsPro now \u2014 but it\u2019s nice to know I have it. I also didn\u2019t find the mic stand extender that I was actually looking for when I found the AirPods. That\u2019s ok; I\u2019ll need a USB cord soon, or that notebook where I scribbled that reminder, and the extender will show up. I think the lesson I\u2019m supposed to learn is that it\u2019s not so much about the finding, it\u2019s about the looking. Or non-attachment. Or minimalism? I\u2019m not really sure. I just know that this process has happened enough times to become something that I can rely on. Two alternate methods that also work for finding things: Since you read this far, I will share with you two other techniques that pretty reliably work to find things that you are sure you had, remember seeing somewhere, but are nowhere to be found. 1. When you put something somewhere, tell somebody. This comes from my friend and talented artist Kevin Beck. It\u2019s not about the person he tells remembering it \u2014 they have absolutely no responsibility to even hear him say it. Somehow the act of saying out loud \u201cI\u2019m putting my iPad on the desk\u201d makes it almost impossible to forget. I suspect it has something to do with the fact that while the brain forgets the act of putting the object somewhere, it remembers the act of telling someone about it. Pretty sure if I tried it I\u2019d remember telling the person \u2014 but I wouldn\u2019t remember what I said. Further testing is needed. 2. Ask my partner. Admittedly, I\u2019m not sure this method scales, but the other remarkably successful way I\u2019ve located items is by asking my partner if she\u2019s seen it. Often, even if she doesn\u2019t know what it is, was not around when I put it away, or even was aware that it existed, the act of her suggesting a place where it might be remarkably increases the odds that it will end up being there \u2014 Even if it\u2019s a place I\u2019ve already looked. She denies being magical, and I believe her. Based on Clarke\u2019s Law, she simply has some sufficiently advanced multiversal teleportation technology that happens to be remarkably helpful in my life. I don\u2019t ask. I\u2019m simply grateful. ","author_name":"ADHD Open Space Podcast","author_url":"https:\/\/adhdos.substack.com\/podcast","html":"