Even the best card players in the world are prone to forgetting a thing or two through the average day.

Sometimes it slips your mind where you put the car keys, other times it might escape your memory that you had an important game or event to attend today or on the next week. It can leave you feeling totally unprepared or having to back out of the event because you scheduled two important things on the wrong day.

Here are a few easier ways to schedule bridge events for the perpetually forgetful.

The Old-Fashioned Diary

The act of physically writing something down can be a powerful memory tool by itself. This means that a lot of people still prefer the use of old-fashioned notebooks and diaries even in the age of technology.

 If you’re forgetting bridge games and other important events, give a pen-and-paper diary a try for a few weeks. It’s likely that it’ll improve your capacity for routine as long as you remember to make checking your diary part of every morning and night.

The same goes for the old-school Massive Calender On the Wall solution. Mark all bridge events and birthdays with an obnoxious, obvious or slightly nauseating color so that it stands out enough to be remembered.

The Knotted Reminder

If you want to remember something important for the day,  a common memory technique is to tie a colored piece of string against something you frequently use, sometimes around the hand, wrist or finger. Specific  colors mean specific reminders – and when you  see it, you’ll know.

This might work for some readers, but I’ve never used this method successfully. All it tells me is that I’ve forgotten something, and I can never remember what it was from there. (It’s the same unfortunate dilemma that Neville Longbottom shares with the Remembrall.)

The Electronic Calender

If an actual diary isn’t your thing, you can always resort to the use of a scheduling app. There are thousands of different ones out there, some basic and others extremely elaborate, all available from your nearest app store.

When using an electronic calender, make sure that you know where it syncs or backs up to, and how you can access this information or schedule from another device. Nobody wants to lose access to their entire schedule if their phone were to crash and it can be avoided easily enough.

Also make sure whether your online calender is set to private or public. Some send a reminder to everyone on your contacts list, too. This is fine if you’re being reminded to attend a bridge game, but not as fine if the phone reminds you (and your entire list of employers for the year) that you shouldn’t be late for your vasectomy.

The Partnership Reminder

Bridge is played in partnerships, which means that singular bridge players aren’t totally screwed when they forget. If you know that things frequently slip your mind,  be open with your bridge partner and ask them to send you a reminder a few days before something comes up.  You’re meant to work together, after all.

The Desktop Bookmark

For any individuals who are particularly bad at remembering dates, set the wallpaper of your desktop or smartphone to a graphic showing the dates of your next bridge events. It’s obvious enough that you’re bound to see it every time you take a look at your device – and obvious enough that you’ll see it closer to the date of the event, too.

If an entire graphic feels over the top, right click to create a new folder or file and call it: REMEMBER BRIDGE ON [DATE].

Alternatively, create a bookmark in your browser and name it appropriately as a reminder for the coming event.

The Site-Aided Solution

Many club websites integrate their events with scheduling apps these days to make things a little easier.

For some events (and through various calendar and agenda apps), it takes a few clicks to add an event to the app.