Things have a habit of getting lost.
Usually when you most need them.
Things like keys, mobile phones, glasses, your passport.
Sometimes it seems that your mind is conspiring against you or there's some cartoon creature deliberately coming out and hiding the very things you were looking for.
Next time you need to find something you have lost, run through these tips.
Stop looking! There's actually a good chance that when you stop fretting about a lost object it will give up the unasked for game of hide and seek and just materialize.
After all, it's not fun for it any more if you're not looking! Check the obvious places Again.
I know you've already done this but that doesn't mean you did it fantastically well.
Go through the usual places that you leave stuff.
Slowly this time rather than in a blind panic.
And there's a clue in those two words.
Retrace your steps If you've recently misplaced the item then it pays to retrace your steps, maybe literally.
Maybe you were interrupted from your regular routine - the phone rang, someone knocked at the door, whatever.
That can interrupt the normal processes of your mind and cause you to put things down somewhere other than their usual place.
Become a creature of habit The more often you can use a regular place for the items that you regularly lose, the better.
If you always put your keys or your credit cards in one place then that should be the first and last place you need to look.
Of course, this can be a double edged sword.
The moment they're not where they should be your mind can go into overtime worrying about where they actually are.
But the more you can train yourself to use one place and one place only for the stuff you "lose" most often, then the more often the first place you look will be the only place you need to look.
Phone a friend If the last time you saw the missing item was when you were with a friend, phone them and ask if they remember where you put that missing item.
Of course, they may not have been paying attention either.
But at least you've got a second opinion and they could suggest the correct place even if they don't consciously remember you doing anything with whatever item it was.
Check it's not trapped elsewhere Some of the things we misplace can get caught up with other stuff.
If there's paperwork with paper clips, it's really easy for stuff to get inadvertently clipped to other items.
So go through any recent filing.
Magazines and newspapers can also be good hiding grounds for paper based lost items.
If it's on your hard drive, good luck...
Computers are maybe one of the most common places we misplace stuff nowadays.
You know the file was saved somewhere.
You maybe even know roughly when you saved it.
But the file name that made so much sense at the time might as well be written in Martian for all the sense it makes now.
There are programs out there that will help in your search - some are even built into Windows although you'd never know when it's being obstinate - but a good filing system with pre-set defaults is a good start to prevent future problems.
Usually when you most need them.
Things like keys, mobile phones, glasses, your passport.
Sometimes it seems that your mind is conspiring against you or there's some cartoon creature deliberately coming out and hiding the very things you were looking for.
Next time you need to find something you have lost, run through these tips.
Stop looking! There's actually a good chance that when you stop fretting about a lost object it will give up the unasked for game of hide and seek and just materialize.
After all, it's not fun for it any more if you're not looking! Check the obvious places Again.
I know you've already done this but that doesn't mean you did it fantastically well.
Go through the usual places that you leave stuff.
Slowly this time rather than in a blind panic.
And there's a clue in those two words.
Retrace your steps If you've recently misplaced the item then it pays to retrace your steps, maybe literally.
Maybe you were interrupted from your regular routine - the phone rang, someone knocked at the door, whatever.
That can interrupt the normal processes of your mind and cause you to put things down somewhere other than their usual place.
Become a creature of habit The more often you can use a regular place for the items that you regularly lose, the better.
If you always put your keys or your credit cards in one place then that should be the first and last place you need to look.
Of course, this can be a double edged sword.
The moment they're not where they should be your mind can go into overtime worrying about where they actually are.
But the more you can train yourself to use one place and one place only for the stuff you "lose" most often, then the more often the first place you look will be the only place you need to look.
Phone a friend If the last time you saw the missing item was when you were with a friend, phone them and ask if they remember where you put that missing item.
Of course, they may not have been paying attention either.
But at least you've got a second opinion and they could suggest the correct place even if they don't consciously remember you doing anything with whatever item it was.
Check it's not trapped elsewhere Some of the things we misplace can get caught up with other stuff.
If there's paperwork with paper clips, it's really easy for stuff to get inadvertently clipped to other items.
So go through any recent filing.
Magazines and newspapers can also be good hiding grounds for paper based lost items.
If it's on your hard drive, good luck...
Computers are maybe one of the most common places we misplace stuff nowadays.
You know the file was saved somewhere.
You maybe even know roughly when you saved it.
But the file name that made so much sense at the time might as well be written in Martian for all the sense it makes now.
There are programs out there that will help in your search - some are even built into Windows although you'd never know when it's being obstinate - but a good filing system with pre-set defaults is a good start to prevent future problems.
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