Place That Thought

“Doors erase brains” is one of those things people say. If you haven’t heard it before, it’s probably because right after you heard it, you walked through a doorway. The erasing happens surgically, affecting the single thought about an important task that you committed to memory. The result is melted ice cream left in the car, no clean clothes for work, and pumping the hand soap to get that little bit hiding behind the air bubble to work its way out of the tube.

The point

I made an app called Place That Thought to solve this problem. It keeps little tasks visible on your iPhone until you do them. This is what it looks like.

Get it on the App Store. It’s the best way to track a small task you know you’ll forget.

What was I talking about?

No, “doors erase brains” is not a real saying. The real name of the thing I couldn’t remember the name of until now is the “Doorway Effect.” Researchers have studied it. They even made a video game in 2006 to study it. They did it again in 2011, IRL.

There are many “analog” ways to defeat the doorway.

1. Chant it. Take the advice of Midwest Magic Cleaning and chant a keyword or two as you walk from room to room.

   Ice cream! Ice cream! Ice cream!

   It works great until someone interrupts your chant to get a moment of your time. Don’t try it at the office unless you want to become known as the “mumbler.”

2. Carry something. Pick up and carry something with you until you finish the task or at least start it. If you use the last of the soap, pick up the empty bottle or soap dish and carry it with you to the home of the new soap (you already bought new soap, right?). If there’s nothing to pick up, tie a string around your finger. Combine it with the chanting tip and chant while you tie it.

3. Go back. Do what I always do and walk back to the place you were when you noticed whatever it is you forgot. Somehow, I always remember where I was, just not what I saw. When you get back, look around until you see the thing that helps you remember the other thing.

4. Stop multitasking. Put your phone down and stop multitasking in general. When you have too much on your mind, there really isn’t room for another task.

5. Write it down. Create another reminder in your to-do app. That way, when you find the melted ice cream, you at least get the satisfaction of checking something off your list. Yes, that one is digital.

The idea

I wanted a digital version of carrying the soap bottle. An app with a bunch of mnemonics (silly pictures) that I could tap to start an instant, conspicuous reminder that would be visible at (almost) all times on my phone.

When Apple announced the Dynamic Island in 2022, there was finally a way to do it. Lots of cool apps use it to share sports scores, flight arrival times, food orders, even digital pets.

I was hoping someone would make an app to put a reminder in the Dynamic Island.

Getting a thought in quickly

I made Place That Thought.

It’s a fast small app. You can create a reminder in less than two seconds. It calls reminders “nudges.”

The app is a set of pre-chosen nudges (you can change them). It starts fast, so you can pick a nudge and see it everywhere.

You can start a nudge without opening the app.

If you don’t like the pre-chosen nudges, change them.

Pro users can also create routines, which are series of nudges.

You can schedule a nudge or routine to start at a certain time every day.

Try it

Download the app from the App Store (where else?).

Next time you’re about to run inside before you bring in the groceries, start a nudge. The ice cream won’t melt.

When you notice the laundry bin is full, start a nudge.

When you use the last bit of soap, pick up the bottle and take it with you. Someone else will need soap soon.