Has This Ever Happened to You? - Palmerton,PA

I keep a tiny pen and paper notebook that I keep in my pocket and when I know I have way too much going on I write everything down to the smallest thing I have to do and cross it off as I do it or I loose something. My husband once asked why I can't do it on something like my phone or something since I have electronics with the same ability and I realized that if I physically don't write it and cross it off I can't remember. Oh I have been there far too many times than I wish to admit!

I’ve spent the last month arranging travel for my boss to China and Amsterdam. The biggest challenge was getting his China Visa and his passport renewed because it takes time. All in all I got his Visa, passport renewed, flights, hotel, driver, etc. I received his Visa a week before he was departing for China. I did good!

So, the next day after I received his passport with his China Visa he informed me that he needed to go to the Middle East in late June and that I had to get his Visas. It would take only about a week to get his M.E. Visa but I decided to jump on it and send his passport to the consulate.

It felt great to be on the ball getting this all taken care of.

Last Wednesday, 3 days before he was leaving for China he asked if I still had his passport….OMG! I panicked! Like an idiot I sent his passport to the consulate for his M.E. Visa! DUH!!!!! Why did I do that knowing he was leaving for China in 3 days???!!!! He asked me why I didn’t wait until he got back and that we had plenty of time. Sheesh!

I frantically called the Visa office asking for his passport and telling them it was urgent. The lady on the phone said it was with the Consulate but she would try to get it and send it back to me Federal Express. I told her my boss was leaving for China in 3 days and she asked “Oh did you not know he was travelling to China and is why you sent it??”

How embarrassing!

I’m sure we’ve all been there, done THAT!!!! LOL!!

That sounds like it hurt alot! Did anyone get mad? I hope you still have your job!

LOL I remember wearing my clothes backwards to the store one day when I had my baby. My husband got home from work and I was feeling energetic, so I showered up, put on make up, fixed my hair and got dressed. :( it was a huge disappointment to feel all pretty but then my shirt tag is flapping under my chin...and I never even noticed!

I used to work at a computer company and I would send laptop files to the server department, cuz one manager's last name was "Clark" and the other was "Clarke". It always happened when I was on a deadline too.

Write EVERYTHING down!

I don't remember any such gaffes happening in real life, but they sure did haunt my dreams when I had a high-stress job with tight deadlines and oh-so-many-things that could go wrong.

It may help you to know that your brain runs on little more than oxygen and blood sugar. A light but healthy late-afternoon snack may be helpful – a few slices of fruit or a power bar.

Yep, totally focusing and forgetting the whole point.. It happens.. As I have "matured" (gotten older) it happens more and more.

I have learned to make a list of even the most mundane parts of a project, so I can check it all off of the list as I go along.

I would forget everything without my to-do list. Old fashioned but NOTHING compares to simple pen and paper. Be easy on yourself, sounds like TONS of pressure....

I love this post and all the answers! I don't feel so alone now! :)

I have a crazy stressful job as well. To much stress and to much to do and the brain starts to shut down and prioritize and you forget stuff.

I have an everything book I carry in my purse. It's a 3 by 4 fat book. I put everything from poetry I write to the organizational things I need for the day.
Appointments everything go in it. I also put the same information about appointments on my computer.
As each purchase or event or research project is finished I cross it off. I have done this for the past four years and it has made my life ever so much easier.

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I am a scientist, and I have woken up at 3AM with the realization that I forgot a step in an experiment. Of course it's too late to to anything about it at that point. It's terrible. I'm glad to hear that this kind of stuff happens to other people too.

Glad I'm not the only one with "brain fog".. Although, these kind of things happen to me all the time...

Hi, L.:
What are you going to do about your stressful job; tight deadlines, financial troubles, short staff, etc....?

Just want to know.
D.