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Put a future task on a four-line card in order, back-plan from a deadline, and record that the job is done at the moment you do it.
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 put the four parts of a plan in order, find the part a plan is missing, and work back from a deadline to the day to prepare.
You have met every part of a plan for remembering to act: the cue, the time turned into an event, the if-then line, and the kit placed in the way. This lesson puts them in order and adds the last part, a record that the job is done. It is optional home practice with invented scenes, alongside any care you already have. It is not a treatment and not a test.
| Term | What it means |
|---|---|
| Prepare | Get the kit ready and in place before the cue can fire. |
| Cue | The moment or thing that says now. |
| Act | The job itself, done when the cue fires. |
| Check | A record made at the moment of acting, such as a tick, a receipt or a note, that shows the job is done. |
| Back-planning | Working back from a deadline to find when each earlier step must happen. |
The aid is a card, or a page in a notebook, with four lines in a fixed order.
A blank line is easy to see. A plan that lives only in your head does not show you which part is missing.
Every plan for a future task has the same four parts, and they only work in order. Prepare comes first, because a cue that fires before the kit is ready cannot lead to action. The cue has to be set before the moment it is meant for. The act follows the cue. The check comes last, made at the moment of acting.
The check is the part plans leave out, and it does two jobs. It stops omission: a job you think you did but did not. And it stops repetition: doing a job twice because you cannot remember doing it. A routine action leaves a weak memory, because it looks like every other time you did it. A tick made while doing it is stronger than trying to recall it later.
Written plans and checklists are ordinary tools, and they also have evidence behind them. The ACRM review of cognitive rehabilitation (Cicerone and colleagues, 2019) supports compensatory strategies, including external aids such as notebooks and checklists, for mild memory difficulties after brain injury. This lesson is everyday practice, not that therapy, but it uses the same kind of aid.
Another way: picture
Think of a relay race with four runners. Prepare hands the baton to cue, cue to act, act to check. If one runner is missing, the baton is dropped there, and the card shows you which lane is empty.
Another way: steps
Many jobs have a deadline: a return window, a sale day, an appointment. Start from the deadline and work back. First find the last day the act can happen. Then find the last cue on or before it, a Saturday errand or a Tuesday bus ride. The prepare line goes before that cue, usually the evening before.
| Step | Fictional return | Worked out |
|---|---|---|
| Deadline | arrives day 2, 30-day window | 2 + 30 = day 32 |
| Cue | last Saturday errand on or before 32 | day 28 |
| Prepare | the evening before the cue | day 27 |
| Check | at the counter | photo of the receipt |
Aim for the last cue with a spare, not the last possible day. A plan that uses the very last Saturday has no room for a sick day.
A good check is made at the moment of acting, not afterwards from memory. It is visible later: a tick on a card, a receipt photo, a crossed line. And it names the day, so last week's tick cannot be mistaken for this week's. Tick the card is weaker than tick Saturday's box on the card. For jobs that repeat every day, the check becomes a check-off system of its own, which lesson 6 builds.
Amazon's standard policy lets most items be returned within 30 days of delivery; other stores set their own windows, printed on the receipt or the order page. A fictional shopper, Rae, gets a jacket on the 2nd of the month and decides to send it back.
Back-plan: day 2 + 30 days = day 32 of her count, which falls early next month, so she writes the actual date on the card. Her Saturday errands pass a shipping store, and the last Saturday before the deadline is the 28th; she picks the 21st, to leave a spare week. Prepare on Friday the 20th: print the label, tape the box, put it on the launch pad with the keys. Act on the 21st. Check: photograph the drop-off receipt and tick the card with the date. If the refund has not arrived two weeks later, the photo holds the tracking number she needs.
Stopping at the act. Doing the job feels like the end. Without a check, next week you may not know whether you did it.
Setting the cue before the kit is ready. A cue that fires with nothing prepared only reminds you that you are not ready.
Checking from memory later. I'm sure I mailed it is exactly the memory a routine job does not leave. Make the record while acting.
Write the act and its deadline.
Act: renew online by the 30th; the notice has the PIN.
The act and deadline fix everything that must come before.
Write the prepare line.
Prepare, Saturday: find the notice and clip it to the laptop lid.
The PIN must be at hand when the cue fires, or the job stalls.
Write the cue.
Cue: opening the laptop after Sunday breakfast.
It is met weekly and the notice is clipped to the laptop, so it cannot be missed.
Write the check made while acting.
Check: write the confirmation number on the notice; tick Sunday on the card.
The number proves the renewal if the sticker is slow to arrive.
Write the act and when it can happen.
Act: drop the car at the tire shop at 8 a.m. Thursday.
The shop's booking fixes the moment of action.
Back-plan the preparation.
Prepare, Wednesday night: take the gym bag out of the trunk; put the booking email on the phone's home screen.
The trunk has to be empty and the booking to hand before 8 a.m.
Set the cue.
Cue: alarm 7:30 a.m. Thursday labeled car to tire shop.
A clock time needs an event, so the alarm makes one.
Set the check.
Check: keep the work order; tick Thursday on the card.
The work order shows the job is booked in and done.
Write the act.
Act: bring gloves and trash bags to the park cleanup, 9 a.m. Saturday.
The act fixes when the other lines must happen.
Write prepare and cue.
Prepare, Friday: gloves and bags in a tote. Cue: tote on the doormat with the keys.
The kit is ready before the cue, and the cue is in the way.
Write the check.
A fictional plan for renewing a library card: *Tonight, put the card and a utility bill in my wallet. When I park at the library on Saturday, I go to the front desk. I renew the card at the desk.* Which part of the plan is missing?
A fictional school bake sale is on day 16 of the month. Muffins are baked the day before, and the ingredients are bought two days before. Complete the plan.
Set the baking day from the sale day.
16 − 1 = b
Muffins baked the day before are fresh and ready to go.
Set the shopping day from the sale day.
16 − 2 = c
The ingredients must be in the house before baking can start.
Write the cue, the act and the check for the sale morning.
Cue: muffin box on the launch pad with the keys. Act: hand it in at the school gate. Check: tick bake sale on the calendar.
The tick shows the job is done, so nobody drives back with a second box.
Put the four lines of a fictional plan for returning a package in order.
Number the steps in order (write the number in the box):
A fictional plan for dropping off a bag of donated clothes. Label each line with its part: prepare, cue, act or check.
| Line of the plan | Part |
|---|---|
| Bag the clothes on Thursday | |
| Bag in the trunk, note on the steering wheel | |
| Leave the bag at the donation bin on Friday | |
| Cross it off the weekly list and keep the slip |
A fictional month. A jacket arrives on day 2 and has a 30-day return window. The shipping store is on the Saturday errand route; Saturdays fall on days 7, 14, 21, 28 and 35. Find the last return day, the last Saturday on or before it, and the day to prepare the box.
Last return day: a. Drop-off Saturday: b. Prepare on day c.
Somewhere new: a fictional school picture day on Monday. Label each line of the family's plan with its part.
| Line of the plan | Part |
|---|---|
| Iron the blue shirt on Sunday | |
| Shirt hung on the bedroom door | |
| Put on the blue shirt Monday morning | |
| Tick picture day on the fridge calendar |
Lesson test: one question per skill, one attempt each, no hints. Your answers are checked when you submit.
A fictional dance recital is on day 20. The costume must be hemmed two days before, and the hemming tape is bought the day before the hemming. On which day is the costume hemmed, and on which day is the tape bought?
Hem on day a. Buy the tape on day b.
Write a four-line card for one task this month: prepare, cue, act, check. Check that the check names the day. Next: keeping an intention alive when you cannot act at once, and check-offs for repeated jobs. This is optional practice alongside any care you receive, not treatment and not a test of memory. If anything about your memory is new or changing, tell your own clinicians. Stopping is always allowed: close the page, and the lesson reopens where you left it.
12. Your turn: the neighborhood cleanup, step 3
Check: sign the volunteer sheet at the park; tick Saturday on the card.
The record is made at the moment of acting, with the day named.