How do you remember the important dates??

How do you remember birthdays? And to buy gifts?

Whenever anyone would ask me “How do you remember the important dates like birthdays or anniversaries? The answer was always simple. I would say that remembering isn’t the issue. Because I’m not going to forget important dates like the ones that have a sentimental value.

I generally refer to my planner or look at my Google Calendar but the truth is that I remember the birthday dates of everyone important to me. I’m not going to forget my mum or dad’s birthday or my husband’s or my best friend’s or their partner’s.

But during those months when life gets busy? I’ve been guilty of not only forgetting completely but rocking up empty handed and feeling awful (my family and friends don’t expect gifts, but I have this thing about wanting to be able to give good meaningful gifts) Birthdays tended to go out the window until the last minute and Amazon would come to the rescue. It didn’t feel good so I started doing something different. It’s a very small subtle shift. And it makes a huge difference. 

Just an FYI - Not buying gifts isn’t an issue, it’s more that it’s been something I would like to be good at without it feeling like YET another thing on my to do list.

I started reverse engineering my planning around birthdays and special days. So, for example if a friend’s birthday is coming up then I put in a reminder in my calendar to buy a gift at least two weeks before. This is more so that I have mental space to actually think about what to get and then go and get it. Then for cards I’m experimenting with buying lots of cards as I see nice ones and keeping them in an envelope. Then, when it comes to the time to giving someone a card, I pick the one that resonates with me the most. It’s kind of like having a card shop in my pocket.

So – 6 months into the year how is it going? Well I’ve had some epic memories and one or two “fails” because sometimes it’s just completely unavoidable. Also does it count if you buy a gift and forget to bring the card? I seem to go all out on the gift and then think about cards after LOL.

This wasn’t really a coaching post or a teaching post just more of a random brain thought that I wanted to share. I hope you enjoyed it and if you want more random brain thoughts head over to my blog and check out some of the older discussions. Don’t forget to subscribe for a free quote board printable.

Have a lovely day