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One notebook with four sections — Today, Log, People and numbers, How-to — written right after events and read morning and evening.
Paper packet. Every task here also exists on screen, where it is checked automatically; answers written on paper are not assessed by Nydus. When you are back at a device, enter your answers there.
You will set up a memory notebook with four sections, file each entry where you will look for it later, write right after each event, and review the book every morning and evening.
You now have a capture pad, a home for your things, cue cards and a calendar of returns. This lesson gathers the paper parts into one book that holds a whole day. As in every lesson here, the people are invented, the practice is optional and it is not treatment. It records days; it does not measure anyone. Anything new about your memory belongs with your own clinicians.
| Term | What it means |
|---|---|
| Memory notebook | One book, always carried, with a few fixed sections for a day's plans, events, people and steps. |
| Today | The section with a page per date: appointments, jobs, plans. |
| Log | The section that records what happened: who, what, what was decided. |
| People and numbers | Names, what they are to you, and how to reach them. |
| How-to | Steps you will need again: resetting the thermostat, the bus route. |
| Review | Reading the book at fixed times: in the morning to plan, in the evening to close the day. |
The aid is a single notebook small enough to carry everywhere — a pocket-sized ring binder works well, because pages can be added — with four tabs: Today, Log, People and numbers, How-to. Clip a pen to it. Put the date at the top of every Today and Log page.
Some people use a phone instead: the calendar app for Today, one dated note a day for the Log, Contacts for people, a pinned note for How-to. Either works. What matters is the same four jobs, done in one place, every day.
A notebook helps only if two things are true: you know where each kind of entry goes, and you write and read it at moments you do not have to remember. Loose notes on scraps fail both tests.
So the book has a few fixed sections. Today has a page per date with what is planned. Log says what happened: Called the bank — new card in 7 days. People and numbers holds names and how to reach them. How-to holds steps you will need again. An entry goes where you will look for it later, not where you happen to be in the book.
And the book has fixed times. Write right after each event, in one or two lines, while the details are there. Read in the morning to see the day. Read in the evening to tick off what was done, move what was not to tomorrow, and file the capture pad's notes onto their dated pages.
Another way: picture
Think of a ship's logbook. Every watch writes what happened, every captain reads it at the start of the day, and nobody relies on remembering yesterday's weather.
Another way: steps
McKay Moore Sohlberg and Catherine Mateer (1989) described teaching memory-book use in three stages. In acquisition, the person learns the sections and what each is for, until they can answer questions like where do phone numbers go? without looking. In application, they practice with made-up situations: a helper reads out a message and they write it in the right place. In adaptation, the book is used in ordinary life, with a helper checking it at first.
The staging matters because a notebook that is only handed over is rarely used. In a small randomized study, Schmitter-Edgecombe and colleagues (1995) found that people with memory difficulties after a head injury who were taught to use a notebook in this structured way reported fewer everyday lapses than a group who had supportive talks instead. It was a small study, and what it shows is that the book was used and the lapses noticed were fewer; it does not show that anyone's memory itself changed.
Write straight after an event, not at the end of the day: two lines about a visit written at 3 pm are better than a blurred paragraph at 9 pm. Keep entries short and complete: who, what, and anything decided or promised.
Tie the reviews to things you already do. The morning review goes with the first coffee; the evening review with the dishes or the evening news. Some people set a phone alarm labeled Notebook for both. That is supported by research too: Wilson and colleagues (2001) found that people who were sent reminders on a pager carried out more of their planned everyday tasks than without them.
If a day goes by with nothing written, do not start a new book. Write today's date and carry on. The book is useful because it is continuous, not because it is perfect.
The Pew Research Center reported in 2024 that about nine in ten US adults own a smartphone, so a phone is often already in the pocket. A phone version can sound alerts, back itself up and never run out of pages. Paper needs no charging, is quicker to open in the middle of a conversation, and shows a whole day at a glance.
Work through a fictional week for Leon, who tries both. On paper he logs 12 events in 7 days and misses 2 evening reviews. On the phone, with an alarm at 8 pm, he logs 11 events and misses none of the reviews, but twice the phone is charging in another room when someone calls. He settles on a mix: the calendar app for Today, because of the alerts, and a paper pocket book for the Log, because it is always in his jacket. That is a fine answer. The four jobs matter more than the tool, and the right tool is the one that is with you when the event happens.
"I'll write it all up tonight." By evening the details have blurred and two events have merged. Two lines right after each one.
"File it under today, since that's when I heard it." A phone number put on Tuesday's page is lost by Friday. File by where you will look for it.
"Just having the book is enough." A notebook works when it is written in and read at fixed times, and that habit is practiced in stages.
"I missed three days, so the system failed." Write today's date and carry on.
Make four tabs and label them.
Tabs: Today · Log · People and numbers · How-to
Fixed sections mean every entry has one obvious home.
Date the next seven Today pages.
Today: Mon 6 · Tue 7 · Wed 8 · … · Sun 12
Dated pages let a plan be written on its day as soon as it appears.
Copy in the people and numbers you use most.
People: Ana (sister) 555-0110 · Ray (plumber) 555-0142
Starting with real entries makes the section useful from day one.
Tie the two reviews to habits you already have.
Morning review: with first coffee. Evening: after the dishes. Phone alarm: Notebook.
A review tied to an existing habit does not have to be remembered.
A friend visits from 2 to 3 pm; log it straight after.
Log, Tue: Mei visited. Her son starts college in Sept. I promised to lend her the blue suitcase.
Who, what and what was promised, while it is sharp.
The promise is a job with a when, so it goes on a Today page.
Today, Sat: Take blue suitcase to Mei's.
A promise in the Log alone would be read once and forgotten.
The landlord calls at 4 pm with a new number.
People: Mr. Ortiz (landlord) — new cell 555-0177. Log: Landlord called re gutter repair Thu.
The number goes where numbers live; the call goes in the Log.
At the evening review, tick, move and file.
Today, Thu: Gutter repair — be home. Pad: emptied.
The review turns the Log and the pad into tomorrow's plans.
Do the morning review of Wednesday's Today page.
Today, Wed: 10 am: haircut. Call Ana about Sunday.
The review shows the day before it starts.
After the haircut, write the log entry.
Log, Wed: Haircut done. Next one in 6 weeks — mid-Nov.
Log straight after, including anything to act on later.
Where does next one in 6 weeks go at the evening review?
A fictional notebook with four sections: **Today**, **Log**, **People and numbers**, **How-to**. The plumber leaves his cell number: *Ray, 555-0142*. Where does it go?
A fictional evening review. Tuesday's Today page lists 8 jobs. By evening 2 are done, and each done job gets one line in the Log. The rest move to Wednesday's Today page. The Log also has 3 lines for visits and calls. Complete the worked review.
Read Tuesday's Today page and tick what was done.
Jobs listed, done jobs ticked
The review starts from the plan, not from memory of the day.
Move every unticked job to Wednesday.
Jobs carried to Wednesday: a
Nothing unfinished is left on a page you will not open again.
Count the Log lines for the day.
Log lines on Tuesday: b
Done jobs plus visits and calls: the Log is the record of what actually happened.
Five fictional entries from one Tuesday. Write the section each belongs in: **Today**, **Log**, **People and numbers** or **How-to**.
| Section | |
|---|---|
| Haircut Thursday 3 pm | |
| Called the bank; new card in 7 days | |
| New neighbor: Priya, apartment 4B | |
| Thermostat: hold MODE 3 seconds to reset | |
| Book club moved to Friday |
A fictional Wednesday with two events: a visit from a friend and a call from the landlord. Get through the day with the notebook: a morning review, each event logged, and an evening review — never moving on to the next event with the last one unlogged.
This task has no paper form; do it on a device.
Sohlberg and Mateer (1989) taught notebook use in three stages: **acquisition** (learning what each section is for), **application** (practicing with made-up situations) and **adaptation** (using it in everyday life). Write the stage of each fictional activity.
| Stage | |
|---|---|
| Naming the four sections and what each holds | |
| Writing a made-up message a helper reads out | |
| Logging a real call from the bank | |
| Answering *Where do phone numbers go?* |
A fictional switch from paper to a phone. Each notebook section's job is done by one app. Draw an arrow from each section to the app that takes over its job.
This task has no paper form; do it on a device.
Lesson test: one question per skill, one attempt each, no hints. Your answers are checked when you submit.
Four fictional moments from a Friday. For each, write the section it goes in and when it is written: **right away** or **at the evening review**.
| Section | Written | |
|---|---|---|
| Friend's news about her new job | ||
| Pad note: Return library book — Mon | ||
| Mechanic's shop number | ||
| Steps to turn on TV captions |
Label four tabs in a notebook, or four places on your phone, and tie a morning and an evening review to things you already do. From memory, name the four sections and the three stages of learning the habit. Next: holding on to what you read and hear. This is optional practice alongside your own care, not treatment and not a test. If anything about your memory is new or changing, tell your own clinicians. You can stop at any point: close the page and the lesson reopens where you were.
12. Your turn: a morning with the book, step 3
Today, mid-November page: Book a haircut.
A future job found in the Log is copied to a dated Today page.