Back to the on-screen lesson ·
Make the thing you need into the cue: gather the whole kit the night before, put it in the way, and pair it with your keys.
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 choose where a needed object should go so that it reminds and is ready, gather the whole kit, and send a stand-in when the thing cannot move.
So far the cue has been a place, a moment or an alarm, and you still had to fetch what the action needs. This lesson makes the needed thing itself the cue. It is everyday practice with invented scenes, optional, alongside any care you receive, and nothing here judges your memory.
| Term | What it means |
|---|---|
| Object cue | The thing the action needs, placed so that meeting it is the reminder. |
| In the way | Placed on the path you must take, so you have to touch it or step round it. |
| Kit | Everything the action needs: the item, the paperwork, the tools. |
| Anchor object | Something you never leave without, such as your keys or phone, placed with the kit. |
| Launch pad | A fixed spot by the door where things for the next trip go. |
| Stand-in | A thing placed in the way for something that cannot move there, such as an empty lunch bag on the doorknob for the lunch in the fridge. |
The aid for this lesson is a launch pad: one fixed spot by the door you use to leave, such as a chair, a hook, a basket or a bit of floor. Whatever the next trip needs goes there the evening before, and the keys go on top.
Because the spot never changes, you do not have to remember where you put things. Because the keys are there, you cannot leave without touching the kit. And because only the next trip's things are allowed on it, anything sitting there stands out.
A cue brings an intention back; then you still have to act. If the action needs something (a DVD, a form, a package) you may meet the cue and find the thing is upstairs. Now you must hold the intention while you fetch it, and that is where it slips.
An object cue removes that gap. Put the thing where you will meet it, and meeting it is both the reminder and the start of the action. A DVD on the driver's seat cannot be missed and is already in the car.
Two rules make an object cue strong. In the way: put it on the path you must take, so you have to touch it or step round it. An object on a shelf blends in; an object across the doorway does not. Ready: gather the whole kit, so the action can be done when the cue fires. A package with no stamp reminds you and still cannot be mailed.
People lean on this already. In a survey study, people reported relying on external aids, such as lists and things left in a special place, more than on mental tricks, most of all for remembering to do things (Intons-Peterson and Fournier, 1986).
Another way: picture
Picture the front door with a chair leaning across it and the car keys hanging from the chair. You cannot get out without moving the chair, and the moment you move it you have what you need.
Another way: steps
| Where it goes | Reminds? | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Its usual place | rarely | You pass it every day, so it is background. |
| The launch pad | usually | A fixed spot for the next trip, seen on the way out. |
| In the way, with the keys | nearly always | You must touch it to leave. |
Move up the table as the job matters more. A library book can sit on the launch pad. A passport for a flight belongs in the carry-on, and the carry-on belongs in front of the door with the keys on it.
Some things cannot sit by the door: lunch in the fridge, a cake that must stay cold, a plant that must stay in the light. Then send a stand-in. Hang the empty lunch bag on the doorknob; the bag says lunch, and filling it takes ten seconds. Or move the anchor object to the thing instead: some people put their car keys in the fridge beside the lunch. That is odd, and that is the point. You cannot leave without opening the fridge, and when you do, the lunch is right there.
Check the kit once more before bed. The question is not is it there? but could I do the whole action with only what is here?
Since May 7, 2025, the Transportation Security Administration has required air travelers 18 and over to show a REAL ID-compliant driver's license or another accepted ID, such as a US passport, at airport security for domestic flights. A fictional traveler, Dana, has an older license that is not compliant, so her passport has to come with her. The passport lives in a drawer, which is its usual place and the weakest spot in the table.
Her plan the night before a 7 a.m. flight: list the kit (passport, boarding pass on the phone, phone charger). Put the passport in the carry-on's front pocket and zip it. Stand the carry-on in front of the door, with the phone charging on top of it. In the morning she cannot unplug the phone without touching the bag, and the bag already holds the passport. Nothing about the ID needs to be remembered at 5 a.m.
Putting it somewhere safe. A safe place is usually out of the way, which makes it a poor cue. Choose the obvious place, not the safe one.
Placing one piece of the kit. The package by the door without its stamp, the form without the pen: the cue fires and the action still cannot happen.
Leaving it on the launch pad for days. An object that stays there stops standing out. Clear the pad after each trip.
List the kit.
Drill, its charger, and the case, going to Sam's on Saturday morning.
A drill returned without its charger is a second trip.
Find the path out on Saturday.
Saturday: out the side door to the car at 9.
The object has to be on the path that will actually be taken.
Put the kit in the way.
Case packed and standing against the side door on Friday night.
It has to be moved to open the door, so it cannot be passed by.
Add the anchor object.
Car keys hung on the case handle.
Picking up the keys means picking up the case.
List the kit.
Salad in the fridge, serving spoon, and a cooler bag.
Everything needed at the potluck goes on the list, not only the food.
Find what can move to the door.
The spoon and the empty cooler bag can; the salad cannot.
Cold food must stay in the fridge until the last moment.
Send a stand-in to the door.
Cooler bag with the spoon inside, hung on the doorknob.
The empty bag says salad and is ready to fill.
Move the anchor to what cannot move.
Car keys in the fridge, on the salad bowl's lid.
To get the keys you must open the fridge, and the salad is under them.
List the kit.
Shoes, towel, water bottle, gym card.
A bag missing the card gets you to the door of the gym and no further.
Gather it and find the path.
Pack the bag Monday night; Tuesday you leave by the front door at 7.
Packing the night before leaves nothing to fetch in the morning.
Put it in the way with the anchor.
A fictional Thursday. Eli must return a library DVD on his drive to work tomorrow; the library is on his route. Where should the DVD go tonight?
A fictional return to a store needs 8 things (the item, its box, the receipt, the card used to pay, and so on). 1 of them are already on the launch pad by the door. Complete the evening plan.
Count what still has to be gathered.
8 − 1 = g
A kit missing one piece fails at the counter, so gather it all tonight.
Add the anchor object on top.
whole kit + keys = t things on the launch pad
Nobody leaves without the keys, so the kit is touched on the way.
Say how the cue fires tomorrow.
When I pick up the keys, I pick up the return bag under them.
The object is the cue, and the whole action is ready at once.
Put the steps for setting up an object cue the evening before in order.
Number the steps in order (write the number in the box):
A fictional errand: Ivy must mail a birthday package tomorrow on her way to the bus. Rate each placement: is it in the way, and is it ready?
| Placement | In the way? | Ready? |
|---|---|---|
| Stamped package on the doormat | ||
| Package wrapped in the hall closet | ||
| Gift unwrapped on the doormat, paper on the table |
A fictional Sunday night. Five things are needed on Monday: the gym bag (by the front door), a library book (on the bedroom shelf), lunch (in the fridge), the work badge (on the key hook with the keys), and an umbrella (in the hall closet). How many are already in the way or with the keys, and how many need moving?
Placed well: a. Need moving: b.
Somewhere new: a fictional workday. Choose where each thing goes the night before so it is met at the moment it is needed.
| Thing | Where it goes tonight |
|---|---|
| Dry-cleaning ticket | |
| Headset for the 9 a.m. call | |
| Recycling bag |
Lesson test: one question per skill, one attempt each, no hints. Your answers are checked when you submit.
A fictional Friday: Omar is taking a folding chair to the park concert after work. Rate each placement made Thursday night: is it in the way, and is it ready?
| Placement | In the way? | Ready? |
|---|---|---|
| Chair in the trunk, keys on the hook | ||
| Chair leaning across the front door, keys hung on it |
Choose a spot by your door for a launch pad. Tonight, put one thing you need tomorrow there, with your keys on top. Next: ordering a whole task from preparation to a check that it was done. 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 Tuesday gym bag, step 3
Bag on the doormat, phone charging on top of it.
Picking up the phone means lifting the bag, on the path out.