It’s well established that my mind inhabits one of the most unreliable brains on the planet. That same brain doubles down on fallibility under the influence of narcotics. So, after my ACL surgery Thursday, (I know; I’m sick of hearing about it too!) I needed a way to remember to do some important things like taking medicine and keeping blood flowing to my calf and feet to guard against blood clots. Here’s what I ended up with

OmniFocus

For the pill reminders, I set up a project in OmniFocus. It has two actions—”Take ibuprofen” and “Take antibiotic”—that are “Due again” in 8 hours and 6 hours respectively. When the alert goes off that the task is due, I take the pill(s), slide the alert, check off the task(s), and totally ignore this until the next time it makes a sound. This way, I can focus on things like sleep and consuming narcotics.

Timer

Unfortunately, tasks in OmniFocus can only be rescheduled in some number of hours, so I needed another approach for remembering to flex my ankles. “20 reps every 20 minutes” is the rule. So, I set up a custom timer in Timer by my friends at App Cubby. I set this timer with a simple tap. When it goes off, I silence it, do 20 ankle pumps, and then tap it twice to start it again. (Yes, I know there are ways to do this in OmniFocus, but they had drawbacks for things like sleeping.)

This post is probably a lot of “Yah, duh” to many of my friends and the rest are likely wondering, “Is this all about being doped up on Vicodin?” The point is that, even though you’re probably not hopped up on goofballs most days, your brain still needs permission to not think about the things it knows you have to do at some point but not right now. If you’ve ever found yourself thinking, “I need to call my mom,” or “I’m out of coffee” and holding on to that thought like a mantra you can’t let yourself forget, you’re not doing yourself any favors. Even if you’re not high.

A couple months ago, there were a few blog posts and toots about a little-known feature of 1Password: the 1Click bookmark.

If you’re also an OmniFocus user, here’s a next-level usage for 1Click bookmarks. Enter a task you’re to complete online that also requires a login. Drag that 1Click bookmark into the notes field like so:

Screenshot showing a 1Click bookmark in the OmniFocus notes field

(By default it will create a link with the title of the 1Password login, but I’ve pasted in the raw URL for illustration purposes.)

Now, when you’re ready to complete the task, the URL is there ready to automatically log you in, leaving you an extra 1.5s to savor another sip of that beverage you’re quaffing.