A Simple Hack To Remember Your Most Cherished Memories

I remember fondly visiting the small town barge for a warm pumpkin spice muffin in the autumn with my parents in childhood. Then biking back up to our house, fighting with my brother over who would make it up first.

I remember playing Scrabble with my family next to the fireplace in winter. Particularly the anger as my mother won by one point with the word, ze (I still don't think that counts mind you).

We tend to assume the golden memories like these will get tattooed to our brain.

But the fact is if we don't put effort into remembering these nuggets, we won't...

It's a tragedy. We all have moments like these from our lives. Moments that tether us to the ground when we're feeling down. That forms our sense of who we are.

How can we stop ourselves from losing them?

Introducing, Homework For Life, The Solution To This Tragedy

Homework for life is a revolutionary technique I discovered from storytelling expert Matthew Dicks.

It's wonderfully simple. At the end of every day, you sit down and record the most story-worthy moment of my day, even if that moment seemed boring, benign, uninspiring, and not worthy of telling at all. Ask yourself: “If I were forced to tell a story from my day, what would that story be?”

It doesn't have to be long.

Just two to three sentences.

As long as it can put you back in the moment when you read it again, it's good. Most of the time it takes just 3 minutes. I hoped through using this technique I would save one of these cherished moments every month or two.

Instead, something amazing happened.

As I did more homework for life, I started to see more stories every day. Stories hidden in the mundane cracks of life. Moments that usually would get lost in the routine of existence, but now I could catch like a fish on a fishing rod.

I realized my day was full of storyworthy moments, both big and small, all that deserved remembering

Drinking a cup of hot chocolate with my mother under the glistening snow covered sun while snowboarding at Whiteface.

Sitting with my brother as he talked about his difficult romantic relationship break up.

Getting in an ice bath after losing to my family in a blind nut butter taste test battle (yup that actually happened. Ice baths are cold.).

Anytime I read the snippet for these moments I'm back in the scene. And because they are written down, I will have them forever. These moments are without a doubt some of the most valuable things I own.

If there was a fire in my house, my homework for life document is the first thing I would grab.

So, as your new school teacher, I'm giving you your first homework assignment, start doing homework for life.

You don't need to use a spreadsheet. You can use a note on your phone or a leather bound journal. Anything that works.

Don't let these golden moments from your childhood drift away.

Treat them with the care and respect they deserve.