We go through our lives, living in fear. It’s not the fear our ancestors had to deal with, afraid of being stalked and hunted.

The fear of being eaten alive.

Instead, our fear, as knowledge workers, is the fear of forgetting.

Our task list piles up. Endless requests ding us on a dozen mediums.

It’s overwhelming. It puts us in a state of constant overwhelm.

Not as bad as being eaten alive, right?

There are three reasons why we fear forgetting; confusion, information overload, and complexity.

Confusion occurs when we have too many communication and tasking mediums.

You receive an urgent email from a client.

A co-worker sends you a Google Chat message about the status of urgent orders.

You’re sent project updates in Asana.

Because you didn’t reply at 3 am to the client’s email, you now have a Whatsapp message begging to be read.

A co-worker assigns you a task in your project management software.

In a meeting, a co-worker asks if you can check on something for them.

Your Spouse texts you to pick-up groceries for dinner tonight.

The constant inflow is anxiety-inducing.

Complexity occurs when there’s the uncertainty of how something is done, which is often caused by a missing Standard Operating Procedure or one that is riddled with waste.

A knowledge gap also causes complexity. Maybe you haven’t been trained, your skills lack the necessary tools, or you haven’t been proactive enough to learn something on your own.

Whatever it is, complexity seeps into your daily activities.

Information overload is when your world is overwhelmed by an endless sea of inputs.

Every day you get bombarded by emails and messages.

It never ends. It continues, day in and day out, without a mental break.

When you finally have a break, you receive an urgent phone call, an ad teases your focus, or you get caught endlessly scrolling your social feed to make you “feel better.”

In the end, you’re overloaded. Your brain pulsates as if it’s going to burst. 

You’re afraid that your most important priorities are going to be forgotten, you’re going to make a mistake or let someone down.

With the right strategies, the fear of forgetting is manageable.

The first step is to be clear and concise.

A lean thinking principle states to leave things better than you found them, which includes communication. Don’t send a long rambling message when two sentences get your point across.

It’s challenging when it’s your boss or client, but if you make an effort to be clear and concise yourself and ask great questions, it will help tremendously.

The second step is to develop Standard Operating Procedures and eliminate waste for tasks you do regularly.

Creating SOPs allow you to use your mental energy on things that matter.

Third, there’s the law of diminishing returns when it comes to technology.

More is not better. Centralize your communication mediums.

At Skylink, we’re bringing all our internal chats and tasks into our ERP system. This will eliminate three to four technologies we use to communicate.

The fourth step is to schedule two to four ninety-minute focus blocks every day. These are times when you focus on your most important priorities for the day or week. Turn your life on Airplane Mode, and focus.

The fifth and final step is if you lack the knowledge on how to do something, take the initiative to learn it. Read help articles, search them on the internet, or watch a video.

Fear of forgetting exists because we don’t effectively triage everything that is thrown at us. Follow these simple steps so you can free your mind to do bigger and better things.