Losing the keys to your car or your home can be annoying and time consuming. Whether you hardly ever lose your keys or tend to lose them on a regular basis, this blog is for you. Check out these tips to help you keep track of your keys.
1. Set Up Specific Spots for Your Keys
If you have a specific spot to put your keys, you become less likely to lose them. Ideally, you need a spot for when you are out and about and a spot at home. Choose a spot that you can use consistently.
For instance, at home, you may want to put a key hook or a bowl next to the front door. For days when you are out and about, you may want to select a specific pocket in your bag.
2. Write Down Your Plans
Setting new habits can be hard, and if you currently just drop your keys wherever when you get home, you also have to break yourself of that habit. It can help to write down your plans.
Just write a simple note to yourself such as "when I am out of the house, I am always going to put my keys on the inside pocket of my purse" or "I will put my keys in the bowl on the table next to the front door."
You may also want to put some sticky notes next to the front door or in your car. That gives you an additional reminder.
3. Try to Create a Behavior Chain
People who study human behavior have discovered that it's easier to set a new habit if you link that action to something you already do. To explain, imagine that you when you get to work, you usually grab your backpack out of the passenger seat of your car.
To create a behavior chain, you may want to grab your keys, lock your vehicle and then put the keys into the front pocket of your backpack. The backpack habit is already established, and that makes it easier to chain the other habits to that action.
Eventually, putting your keys in that pocket will become second nature. Then, you're less likely to have to deal with lost keys in the future.
4. Visualize Your New Key Habits
To set these behaviors in stone, you may want to visualize yourself putting away your keys in the same spot every time. Visualizing yourself doing a simple activity activates the same parts of your brain that get stimulated when you do that activity.
As a result, when you get into that situation, you're more likely to follow through with the action. Your neural pathways are set up to guide you along.
5. Retrace Your Steps
In spite of your best efforts, you may occasionally still misplace your keys. If that happens, try to mentally retrace your steps. This technique can often lead you to your keys.
To illustrate, imagine that you getting ready to leave for work but your keys are not next to the door. However, when you trace your steps mentally, you remember that you set the keys down on your kitchen table when you brought in your groceries.
6. Give Yourself Time
It's hard to set a new habit, and it can take three to four weeks to make the process automatic. If you lose your keys during that time, don't be hard on yourself. Just give yourself some extra time.
7. Contact Us for Help
If you've lost your keys and can't find them, don't worry. At Roca Lock and Key, we offer residential and commercial services including making new keys, rekeying locks and more. Give us a call
today.
