I use these for everything...

Alarms

I have an alarm set for my medication, bedtime alarm etc, all because I know I will forget. Also, if you’re a Samsung (phone) user, they have a night time routine that you can set. For example, I’ve added my bedtime alarm and my morning alarm, from which my phone will automatically turn on ‘do not disturb’, darken the screen and turns down my phone sounds and volume. You can also choose to restrict app usage, so if you're also doing this to create a habit and to get off your phone earlier, you can select the apps that way during this window you can’t open them. I don’t know for sure, but I could guess that most other phones will have a similar function if you do not have a Samsung.

I’ve got friends that use an alarm to remind them to take their contraceptive pill too, which is fantastic. Without my alarms for my normal medication I would forget them, however, for one medication I don’t need an alarm in the morning, I just keep the medicine container on my bedside dresser, that way it’s one of the first things I see before I get out of bed and acts as a visual cue. Another thing I always do, mostly out of habit because I often get quite thirsty during the night, is have a bottle of water on my bedside drawer too. That way when I wake in the morning and see my visual cue, I also have water right there and there are no barriers to me taking it right away. All of these also mean that there is a lot less pressure on yourself to remember everything, because we can’t expect ourselves to remember everything. That is exactly why to-do lists were created.

(Google) Calendar

I add all my close friends and family birthdays to my google calendar (I don’t rely on Facebook reminders because I hardly go on it, but it also requires me to open the app to see the reminder), I set an all day event so that it always shows at the top of that days events in my calendar. On top of that, because it’s an all day event, I get a notification at 5pm the evening before and the morning of. That way I won’t have to worry about forgetting or missing them. For those who I actually buy presents for (because who can really afford to buy everyone presents these days), I add extra reminders a month, fortnight and week before. That way I have enough lead time to organise a present and anything else. Once I’ve got it all sorted, I turn off all the other reminders.

I time-block almost everything, so that I can visually see when I’m free and when I should be doing something. This keeps me on-track and productive also because I know when I’m going to get a break.

It is definitely not necessary, but is 100% helpful (for me at least). I will also be uploading how to set custom colours on Google Calendar too so keep an eye out!

Te Ana