I live...

[hmpf]

... in a place where you can leave an unlocked bike in the street for two days without anybody stealing it.

I found this out by leaving my bike unlocked in the street for two days.

I also forgot a doctor's appointment, a couple of days ago - thought it was a day later than it was.

There's no way I'm ever going to be as reliable as other people. There's no way I can make checklists for *everything*, either. I can't possibly make a checklist item out of something like "lock your bike once you get off it."

Comments

[herdivineshadow]

While it probably won't help with locking up your bike, you might try http://rememberthemilk.com for stuff like your doctor's appointment.

I use it to make sure I don't forget to go to concerts or meet people for lunch and things like that - I put in the date and time of the event and I'll get a tweet (which because of the way I have twitter set up, sends me a text message) and an email to remind me the day before and then half an hour before the time of the event.

[kimboo_york]

I think you're making an untrue assumption about how reliable "other people" are. People remember what is important to them to remember; I'm sure your bike is important, but remembering to lock it clearly is not important, so you don't. So you need to live in a place where it won't get stolen, or live somewhere you can roll it into your foyer/whatever to lock it inside. THOSE are the kinds of decisions reliable people make: they work around their known limitations. Rememberthemilk is another one; hell, I never remember anyone's birthdays and if it weren't for facebook reminding me I never would.

I've missed crucial training sessions at work because I got the day wrong. It happens. I'm really not convinced this signals anything particularly unreliable about you. It's a human condition thing; what is important is not that you forget stuff, but the solutions you put in place.