Pack for work

#pack#work#backpack#bag#prepare

The last minutes before the door go on remembering the charger, the keys and the lunchbox, while the head is already sitting in the nine o clock meeting. The visual schedule below takes that list over.

A man puts a tablet, papers and an apple into his backpack before work.

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Packing the backpack

A man puts a tablet, papers and an apple into his backpack before work.

The man holds his backpack with a laptop and a notebook packed inside.

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Backpack ready for work

The man holds his backpack with a laptop and a notebook packed inside.

A woman packs a laptop, folder and notepad into her backpack before heading to the office.

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Putting in the laptop

A woman packs a laptop, folder and notepad into her backpack before heading to the office.

The woman fills her backpack on a table with a laptop, notebook and water bottle.

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Packing the bag on the table

The woman fills her backpack on a table with a laptop, notebook and water bottle.

About this visual support

The final five minutes of a morning may be the worst moment of the day for remembering things. Attention has already moved forward in time, to the meeting and to what needs saying there, while the hands are still hunting for keys, charger, headphones and the lunchbox in the fridge. What gets forgotten is rarely the most important item, but it is felt all day.

A fixed row of pictures by the door solves this by moving the remembering out of the head. The eye sweeps the row, the hand collects, and the list stays the same every morning regardless of where the thoughts have gone. For a teenager starting work experience or a first job, the same row becomes a way to practise doing it alone, without anyone prompting.

One tip: put everything that does not need to stay cold into the bag the evening before, and leave only the lunchbox and the keys as morning tasks. Two things can be held in mind, eight cannot. If you would rather have the row in a phone than on the wall, the morning routine can be built with pictures in Routined, which can be tried for fourteen days at no cost.