Your brain on auto-pilot

Getting involved with Twitter last week inspired me to start a blog. We'll see where this ends up, but I'll try to add posts at least once in a while.

I had an interesting experience getting ready for work this morning. I, as I suspect many people do, have my morning routine (ritual if you prefer) that I follow when getting ready for work. For me this involves eating breakfast, then showering and dressing.

It's the dressing part that got me caught up this morning. I didn't realize how much I rely on procedural cues to keep me on track. One of the last things I habitually do when dressing is to put on my wrist watch. That act forces me to my night stand which also provides the cues to put some cash and my pocket knife in my pocket, and clip my cell phone on my belt.

Well, this morning I changed up the order. No particular reason for that, I just happened to grab my watch while putting on my shirt and then continued with the rest of dressing. It had the effect, however, of not taking me back to my night stand for those other accoutrements on which I rely.

I was most of the way to work when I realized I didn't have my cell phone, my pocket knife, or any cash with me . Lesson learned: don't change the routine!